BACK,
C4, 10pm
TRY to lower your expectations if you are planning to watch this new sitcom. They will be insanely high because it stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb, ie the two leads in the brilliant comedy that was Peep Show, so you will tune in with your eyes wide, your fingers crossed, and your hopes high.
It’s not as good as Peep Show, but then, few things are, so perhaps I’m being harsh. Yet it’s impossible to judge it on its own merits, especially when Mitchell and Webb, particularly the former, are playing their old Peep Show characters.
Mitchell is dreary little Stephen, a middle-aged man who has always been in the shadow of his confident father. Now dad is dead, and Stephen has quiet hopes of finally becoming a patriarch and taking over the family pub, but he is overshadowed once again when a former foster brother (Webb) turns up at the funeral and starts charming everyone.
WORLD’S BUSIEST CITIES,
BBC2, 8pm
THIS week we’re in the insanely crowded Mexico City, which sprawls out over 1000 square miles and is home to an incredible 22 million people.
We start off strolling through the markets where street food is “almost a religion”. People seem too busy to stop for a proper sit-down meal, so the stalls feed them on the move, but still provide a chance for them to socialise. The markets feel almost cosy and rural even though they’re in the midst of urban chaos. They also reinforce Mexican culture, with authentic food on display, not endless McDonald’s and Subway branches.
The intense pressure of people and resources in the city means many build their own houses, and they’re especially vulnerable to the earthquakes which often threaten Mexico. The lack of space also forces people to live farther and farther away from the centre, and they must then spend hours commuting back in.
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