FARGO, C4, 10pm
PART of Fargo’s genius lies in its ability to create wildly different stories each season, and yet still keep the same distinctive atmosphere and blackly humorous style.
You know instantly you’re back in Fargo whether you have a nervous Martin Freeman on screen, a satanic Billy Bob Thornton, or, as with this series, Ewan McGregor playing the two main roles.
It changes every season, yet stays the same. It throws off favourite characters yet loses nothing.
In last week’s opener, we were asked to feel sorry for hapless Ray, cheated out of his inheritance by his flashy brother Emmit, who now lives a life of luxury. However, Emmit’s luck runs out spectacularly tonight as the dodgy company he took out a loan from insists it was never a loan, but an investment, and now send their heavies into the office to get their snowboots well and truly under the table.
But there’s some cheer for Emmit when Ray suggests they try to be friends again – but it’s only a distraction so his dodgy girlfriend can ransack the house.
THE TOWN THAT THREAD BUILT, BBC2, 9pm
PAISLEY, Scotland’s largest town, and one which is often traduced, was once a “hive of industry”, busy with thread mills which employed 12,000 people. The companies exported their product across the world and often sent its staff to Brazil, Germany and Jamaica, and they brought stories and experiences back home, enriching Paisley even further.
The mills even changed the colour of the river, with staff taking bets on whether the dyes would create a yellow river that day, or perhaps a purple one, or maybe black... Then the mills closed.
In this documentary, often sad but never sentimental, former employees walk around the quiet streets and talk about the empty mills.
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