QUESTION TIME LEADERS SPECIAL, BBC1, 8.30pm
UNDERSTAND Theresa May doesn’t want to meet the public and I get why she’s reluctant to debate. Those things are totally acceptable but, with those hang-ups, why would you go into politics? Would you become a surgeon if you were scared of blood? Would you be a clown if you didn’t like juggling?
I’m sure May is perfectly nice and decent. I’m not being sarcastic; I do. I like how dour and serious she is but, if you’re not doing what’s required, why are you here? You have to chap the doors and kiss the babies, and you have to show up and answer the questions.
If you are squeamish about this, it suggests you live in an ivory tower surrounded by a barbed wire of contempt. Why should we vote for such a frosty soul? This is a special edition of Question Time, coming from York, where David Dimbleby will sit in between Corbyn and May as they take questions from the audience.
They won’t debate one another, but will sit apart like two bad children separated in class.
HOTEL ADLON, ALL4
HERE’S another stylish German drama. Last week, I recommended The Same Sky (Netflix). Hotel Adlon has a softer, more glamorous setting, with the stark landscape of East Germany in the 1970s replaced by the decadence, gowns and chandeliers of turn-of-the-century Berlin.
The story starts in 1904 as the Hotel Adlon is being built. It’s a real hotel near the Brandenburg Gate, which even now retains its glittering reputation and top-hatted doormen.
Described as “a complex family saga” it follows those who ran the hotel across 90 years of glamour, secrets, illegitimate children, and the rise of the Nazis.
It pulled in 25 million viewers when broadcast in Germany, though Channel 4 seems willing to dampen our expectation by likening it to ITV’s Mr Selfridge.
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