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How To Build A Girl 

In 2014, Caitlin Moran’s novel How To Build A Girl became a bestseller.Based loosely on her own experiences, it tells the story of teenager Johanna Morrigan, who decides to reinvent herself as rock music critic Dolly Wilde, complete with outlandish clothes, dyed hair and a top hat. 

Moran has co-written this feature-length adaptation, which retains the book’s warmth and charm.American Beanie Feldstein – sister of Jonah Hill – is an odd choice to play Johanna (her accent leaves something to be desired), but the cast, which includes Paddy Considine and Emma Thompson, is exceptional. From Friday

 

Jim Gaffigan: The Pale Tourist 

Gaffigan is a best-selling author, actor and comedian who often pokes fun at his own life and sold out Madison Square Garden – one of only ten comics to do so.This two-part special was created during a world tour in which he aimed to sample the culture and food of as many countries as possible before writing and performing all-new material based on his experiences for a local audience. From Friday

 

Breathe: Into The Shadows 

Nine months after their daughter was abducted, Dr Avinash Sabharwal and his wife Abha are contacted by Siya’s kidnapper and told they have to carry out a series of murders if they want their child returned. 

The planned killings seem to be linked to a figure from Hindu lore.This 12-episode series has a twist that takes some swallowing but a lot of the enjoyment comes from watching a glossy thriller set in Delhi. 

Dr Sabharwal is played by Abhishek Bachchan, whose recent positive test for Covid-19 was huge news in India.Available now

 

The Island 

Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson and Sean Bean star in a sci-fi action thriller that was released in 2005 and set in a dystopian vision of 2019.In the nightmare world, humans live in a confined indoor community after ongoing abuse of the Earth has rendered most of the planet inhabitable. 

One of the only places in the outside world still capable of sustaining life is an idyllic island where citizens are chosen to live through a lottery.But all is not as it seems. From Tuesday

 

Cougar Town 

It’s been five years since the plug was pulled on this hit sitcom, but it’s lost none of its shine in the intervening years.Now all six series are being made available, and they feature arguably the best work of Courteney Cox – yes, even better than her performance as Monica in Friends. 

She plays Jules, a fortysomething, newly divorced woman living in a small Florida town. She spent her early adulthood married and raising her now-teenage son, so is keen to let her hair down by dating younger men – while also hoping to fall in love all over again. 

Watch out for Cox’s former colleagues Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Matthew Perry, who pop up in guest roles; her then-husband David Arquette also appears. From Monday

 

This Is Us 

Bereavement, addiction, adoption and depression are just some of the weighty issues compassionately tackled in this show as we follow the lives of the Pearsons: dad Jack, mum Rebecca and their triplets Kate, Kevin and Randall. 

Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore lead the strong cast as Jack and Rebecca and flashbacks to the triplets’ childhoods, and those of their parents, effectively build emotional suspense guaranteed to tug on your heartstrings.Available now

 

iPLAYER, ALL 4

The Young Offenders 

All six episodes from the new third series of this Irish sitcom, which has been hailed as the BBC’s answer to Derry Kapashera Escorts Service 9810848045 Kapashera Call Girls, are now available as a box set for fans to binge-watch. 

The action centres around the antics of Conor and Jock (Alex Murphy and Chris Walley, pictured, right, with baby Star), two teenage tearaways from Cork.By the third series, the hapless pair, have been expelled from school and are trying to make ends meets while also navigating young adulthood and the perils of parenting. 

The first two series are also available. BBC3/iPlayer, available now

 

Who Do You Think You Are? 

With no new run of the show on the horizon yet, the BBC is dusting down the most recent six series for our perusal.Among the highlights are Julie Walters learning more about her Irish great-grandfather and Brian Blessed discovering his ancestor, Jabez Blessed, was a real-life Oliver Twist. 

Others uncovering family facts include Billy Connolly, Ian McKellen, Daniel Radcliffe and Olivia Colman. However, the best of the lot has to be EastEnder Danny Dyer, whose hilarious reaction to finding he has a royal lineage is one of the high points of the show’s 15-year stint on our screens. BBC iPlayer, available now 

 

First Night Of The Proms 

Two nights ago, the world’s greatest classical musical event kicked off its 125th season with a performance that came courtesy of the BBC Grand Virtual Orchestra, made up of 300 musicians from the Beeb’s orchestras and choirs. 

For the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, they performed a unique reworking of all nine of the German maestro’s symphonies, individually recorded from the musicians’ homes. 

And thanks to BBC iPlayer you can enjoy the whole thing again from a virtual front-row seat.The only thing missing from the Proms experience is the rush to the bar at the interval… BBC iPlayer, available now

 

W1A 

Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville, right), the former head of London Olympic Deliverance (as seen in the comedy series Twenty Twelve), joins the BBC as Head of Values. 

On his first day he has to take part in a Senior Team Damage Limitation meeting with the Director of Strategic Governance, once he gets a digital handshake session with the Senior Technical Services Choreographer out of the way. 

The internal workings of the BBC are lampooned over the course of three short series in this mockumentary about the well-meaning but largely inept and jargon-bound Corporation. BBC iPlayer, available now

 

George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces 

Charismatic architect Clarke (right) explores the extraordinary world of small builds in the popular series in which people turn tiny spaces into the most incredible places to live, work and play. 

If you haven’t seen it before, it is essentially Grand Designs without the schadenfreude.People undertake ambitious projects, then complete them without defaulting on their mortgage payments or getting divorced. 

One memorable episode shows a man and his dad building a Hobbit house for £479 from old logs, featuring a tree at its heart and a blackboard that turns into a bed.All episodes of series nine are now available to watch. All4, available now

 

Staged 

David Tennant and Michael Sheen star in a supremely witty series in which they play versions of themselves, stuck in lockdown and attempting to rehearse for a postponed West End show. 

However, the competitive actors, who co-starred in Good Omens, actually spend much of the time bickering.The series, which is in six 15-minute episodes, also stars Tennant’s wife Georgia and Sheen’s girlfriend Anna Lundberg. 

Look out for brilliant cameos from Judi Dench and Samuel L. Jackson. BBC iPlayer, box set available now

 

The Long Song 

A reshowing of the 2018 adaptation of Andrea Levy’s acclaimed novel.Told over three parts with a script by Sarah Williams, it’s set in 18th Century colonial Jamaica during the final years of slavery and focuses on the stories of plantation worker July (Tamara Lawrance) and her vile owner Caroline Mortimer (Hayley Atwell). 

The impressive supporting cast includes Lenny Henry, Leo Bill and Sharon Duncan-Brewster.BBC iPlayer, available now

 

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