RHS Chelsea Flower Show countdown, Ben Fogle and the Buried City and The Great British Sewing Bee: TV highlights this week

Words by Sarah Morgan

If an idea’s worth tackling, it’s worth tackling twice.

Well, that’s what some TV producers seem to think anyway. That’s why, when a show does well on radio, it occasionally transfers to TV. It’s often regarded as a promotion, although there are some listeners who claim they still prefer the original incarnations of their favourite shows; others remain blissfully unaware of their origins.

For some reason it tends to be comedies that make the jump. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Mighty Boosh, Count Arthur Strong, Little Britain, The League of Gentlemen and Knowing Me, Knowing You are just a handful to do so over the years. But there’s one major drama that’s also successfully transferred – Annika, which started life as Annika Stranded back in 2013, and told stories purely from the central character’s point of view.

It’s making its debut on BBC One this week, but the series originally aired on the Alibi channel two years ago. Why it took so long to leap from the airwaves to the small screen is a mystery; perhaps its star, Nicola Walker, was deemed not well known enough to carry her own TV series back in the day. That’s certainly not the case now – her lead roles in The Split and Unforgotten have proved she’s more than capable of keeping an audience’s attention.

If you’ve never heard the radio series and/or missed the Alibi run, here’s a quick rundown of what to expect: Annika started out as a detective working for Oslo’s police force, but on TV, she’s moved to Scotland to head Glasgow’s Maritime Homicide Unit (MHU).

As is often the case with small-screen cops, her home life isn’t exactly straightforward thanks to her daughter Morgan, the very epitome of a troubled teen. They’re often locking horns, as are Annika and her former police college classmate, DS Michael McAndrews (Guilt’s Jamie Sives) – he doesn’t take kindly to her arrival, having fancied her job himself.

As with the radio show, the scripts have been written by Nick Walker (who, despite the similarity of their names, is no relation to the star).

“When he started talking about a television series, my first question was, how would you populate the world which has previously only been in Annika’s head?” Nicola remarked while speaking to PBS, who broadcast the series in the US.

“Nick said immediately, ‘we’re going to break the fourth wall!’ So, she still has Norwegian heritage, she is still an outsider, and she still has a different way of coping with life and work, but the hook is the fact that this is the only detective series where the audience is the silent sidekick. We are in cahoots with her.”

Those chats to camera are initially a little jarring, simply because we’re not used to such things, but they really do bring viewers into the drama. So sit back and enjoy as the series begins with Annika meeting her team before investigating a grisly murder involving a harpoon. Unfortunately, the only suspect is killed in a hit-and-run incident.

And if you enjoy this first run, then you’re in luck because a second has already begun filming.

Countdown to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023 (Sunday 21/05/23, BBC One, 6pm)

Words by Sarah Morgan

If your green fingers are itching, it’s probably because they’re aware that one of the biggest horticultural extravaganzas is just around the corner.

This year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show is due to officially open to members on Tuesday, before the rest of the public is allowed in from Thursday. Sadly, one regular visitor won’t be taking a tour – the late Queen Elizabeth II. Instead, organisers will be paying tribute to her and her family via a range of exhibits, including a topiary depiction of Emma, Her Majesty’s pony who memorably stood to attention as her funeral cortege passed by.

“Whilst there will be joyful celebration around the King’s Coronation at RHS Chelsea this year, the absence of our late Queen on the afternoon before we open will be profoundly felt by many,” says Helena Pettit, RHS Director of Shows and Gardens. “So I hope our royal tributes will help keep those happy memories alive.”

The Queen enjoyed her early entry into the event, which allowed her to tour the site and take in its displays without having to fight through the crowds desperate for a glimpse of her. Two people receiving similar treatment in 2023 are Sophie Raworth and Joe Swift, who get the BBC’s coverage going on Sunday afternoon with an hour-long preview show.

Among the highlights they’re expected to feature are entries in the Balcony and Container Gardens competition – for the first time, all the design teams involved are led by women.

“There is much work to be done around increasing diversity in horticulture but it is an encouraging step forward to have a garden category at RHS Chelsea filled with so many women,” adds Pettit. “We hope seeing these women create beautiful gardens at the world’s most famous flower show will inspire the next generation of female designers to pursue a career in horticulture. A celebration of ‘Women in Horticulture’ will also be at the heart of the Great Pavilion this year.”

One of the event’s themes is, fittingly, inclusivity and gardening for all, along with minimum effort for maximum reward, how to garden in an ever changing climate, and uncovering the value of gardening for our health and wellbeing.

All will feature in the BBC’s coverage across the rest of the week, which begins daily from Monday at 3.45pm on BBC One when Nicki Chapman and Angellica Bell bring viewers the latest news. Then, at 7.30pm, switch over to BBC Two for more action with Swift and Monty Don.

On Wednesday and Friday, we’ll see programmes dedicated to the BBC RHS People’s Choice Award, and if you miss any of the programmes, don’t worry, there’s a highlights show next Sunday.

“We can’t wait to see this year’s stunning garden designs and to find out more about the green ethos behind them,” claims Catherine Catton, Head of Factual Entertainment & Events. Her BBC colleague Lindsay Bradbury, Commissioning Editor for BBC Daytime, adds: “I hope we can encourage more people to don their gardening gloves and get the best value out of their outdoor space; our coverage will provide helpful tips.”

Sounds like we need to have our notebooks as well as those green fingers handy.

Maryland (Monday 22/05/23, ITV1, 9pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

As one of Britain’s most popular and successful actresses, Suranne Jones must get her pick of the TV scripts. However, she’s also coming up with her own projects – she co-created her new three-part drama Maryland with writer Anne-Marie O’Connor.

Suranne, who first found fame on Coronation Street before going on to star in the acclaimed likes of Scott & Bailey, Doctor Foster, Vigil and Gentleman Jack, says: “I had an initial idea and I wrote a treatment. It was basically about two sisters finding out their mother was leading a double life, with the premise being ‘How well do you really know your family?’”

The opening episode introduces us to siblings Becca (Jones) and Rosaline (Eve Best), whose lives have taken them on very different paths. They are brought back together by the news that their mother Mary’s body has been found on the Isle of Man – and they have no idea what she was doing there.

As Becca and Rosaline try to learn more about the woman they both thought they knew, they are forced to confront the problems in their own lives.

As the show’s creator, Suranne had the choice of which sister to play, so what made her choose Becca rather than the more ambitious, high-flying Rosaline?

The actress says: “I wanted to play someone recognisable in a very ordinary way. She has two kids, a husband, and she’s a busy mum. The Beccas of this world are perhaps not represented on screen as much as other people – that person who’s a little bit is stuck, works really hard, but doesn’t think too much about herself.”

She admits though that she may have briefly regretted her decision was when she saw the characters’ costumes. Suranne laughs: “I kept saying [to Eve] ‘Oh my God, you look gorgeous, you look beautiful.’ Because all her stuff is cashmere, and beautiful designer coats and bags and sunglasses.

“And then I went, ‘Right, now it’s my turn!’ and we had to rustle up something for Becca straight off the high dtreet so, the costume envy I had with Eve translates in some ways to the characters.”

While she may not have got the clothes she wanted, at least Suranne got her pick of co-stars, including George Costigan, who plays her father, and Hollywood star Stockard Channing, who takes on the role of Mary’s larger-than-life friend Cathy.

Suranne says: “I always had George in mind just because, I love George. I’ve done about five jobs with him now.

“Stockard we actually manifested! Basically, every day in the writers’ room we’d say, ‘Stockard Channing is going to play Cathy.’ And then she did! We still can’t quite believe that.”

So, no wonder Suranne found this project particularly fulfilling as she got to see her creations come to life. She says: “On the first day of filming when Eve was there, and Dean [Lennox Kelly], Andy [Knott] and George, I was just like, ‘Oh! We have invented these people, and here they are.’ So that’s definitely a new buzz…

“I’m not a writer. I’ve tried, but I think there are better writers out there, [but] I definitely enjoy being a creator and a creative producer. That’s what I’m loving.”

Ben Fogle and the Buried City (Tuesday 23/05/23, Channel 5, 9pm)

Words by Richard Jones

Less that 30 years ago, life on the British overseas territory of Montserrat in the eastern Caribbean was idyllic.

However, these days the tiny island, 30 miles from Antigua, is now referred to as a ‘modern Pompeii’, after a long-dormant volcano awoke and almost completely destroyed two thirds the land.

The eruption that began on July 18, 1995, was the first on Montserrat since the 19th century.

When pyroclastic flows and mudflows began occurring regularly, the capital, Plymouth, was evacuated and, a few weeks later, the city was covered in several metre-deep debris.

Then, when parts of the Soufrière Hills lava dome became unstable they collapsed forming the hot, fast moving avalanches of lava blocks, gas and dust.

Two years later, on June 25, 1997, a pyroclastic flow travelled down Mosquito Ghaut, killing 19 people who were in the officially evacuated Streatham village area. Several others suffered severe burns, while earthquakes continued to occur beneath the volcano.

After the 1995 eruption, two thirds of the island became covered in ash making it impossible to get aid to people in need as many roads were impassable.

The ash also polluted the air, increasing breathing difficulties and cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses.

Half of the population were evacuated to the north of the island into temporary shelters, while forest fires and tsumanis destroyed even more farmland, school, hospitals.

The island’s only airport was closed making getting aid into the country difficult.

The eruption also destroyed the two main industries the island relied on; tourism and farming.

The ash covered fields killed crops and meant a year of failed harvest and no income for the many families who reply on it.

Tourism crashed for years with the only visitors coming from cruise ships to look at the famous volcano.

Vegetation was destroyed by acid rain and more than half of Montserrat’s 11,000 population left the island making it even more difficult for the island to recover.

Having previously visited Chernobyl, Ben Fogle now discovers how the Earth’s most powerful natural phenomenon gradually devastated large areas of this tiny Caribbean Island.

He hears what it was like living in the shadow of a violently explosive volcano as he uncovers stories of great heroism and loss.

Today, two thirds of the island remain a natural disaster exclusion zone.

With his local guide, Ben explores the abandoned capital of Plymouth, now an ash-covered, ghost town, with only glimpses remaining of the once thriving capital.

The landmarks of the city’s past, are now gradually being overcome by ash or reclaimed by nature, and they will soon disappear forever.

He also meets the people who remained and refused to be driven from their beloved island, rebuilding and creating new lives in villages in the north, as well as one man who has returned to live in the shadow of the volcano and carve out an existence within the exclusion zone.

Although, some people are finally returning to the island and the population is steadily climbing, there is still a lot of the rebuilding to be done in the place nicknamed the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean.

The Great British Sewing Bee (Wednesday 24/05/23, BBC1, 9pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

As befits the series’ make do and mend ethos, The Great British Sewing Bee has undergone a few alterations over the years.

When it first hit our screens in 2013, it aired on BBC2, was presented by Claudia Winkleman and introduced us to judges Patrick Grant and May Martin. Of that original trio, only Patrick remains – Esme Young took over from May from series four onwards, while Joe Lycett replaced Claudia in 2019, before bowing out himself in 2022, when Sara Pascoe inherited the mantle.

There have also been some moves – the series has been airing on BBC1 since 2020, while the sewing room itself has been transported from London to Leeds.

For the latest run, the Beeb has decided that Sewing Bee isn’t broken, so it doesn’t need fixing – Sara is back, along with Esme and Patrick.

However, there are some old favourites that could do with updating, as the theme of the opening episode is ‘Classics with a Twist.’

For their first pattern challenge, the Class of 2023 will have to show that they can follow instructions as they make a top with a twist at the centre.

They get a chance to show off some of their own personality in the transformation challenge as they are faced with what was for years the standard women’s office uniform of a pencil skirt and blouse. Can they let their imaginations run riot and turn it into something entirely new?

Finally, they get to meet their models for the first time when they are asked to whip up a made-to-measure dress with cut-out details, but at the end of it, one of the contestants will have to pack up their pin cushion.

Whoever leaves first will undoubtedly be disappointed, but one of the reasons that Sewing Bee has proved such a hit is that its joyful rather than cut-throat. Although there may be the occasional scramble to get the best fabric, the sewers tend to be supportive of each other and the judges are definitely constructive in their criticism.

It seems that’s reflected in the show’s fans. Esme says: “Sewing Bee is such a positive programme. Nobody who stops me in the street because they recognise me has ever been negative.”

But perhaps that’s all part of parcel of being a stitcher. Esme was taught to sew at school, and is keen to encourage more of us to give making out own clothes a go.

She says: “We were taught cross stitch, darning and mending, knitting and crocheting. Sewing was the way of the world. Girls were taught sewing at school. It was just something that was done, but it isn’t nowadays.

“It’s a shame, because particularly nowadays in this age of computers, you are being creative with something you can actually touch and feel. It’s good for your mental health. You become part of a little community of people who sew.”

But which member of the latest Sewing Bee community will make the best first impression and see one of their be creations named Garment of the Week?

Whoopi Goldberg: This Cultural Life (Thursday 25/05/23, BBC Four, 9pm)

Words by Richard Jones

Whoopi Goldberg is one of few people who can claim to be an EGOT, having won all four of America’s big awards – Emmy, Grammy Oscar and Tony – for her work in film, theatre and television.

In this revealing interview, she discusses her biggest cultural turning points with John Wilson, whether it be her unusual education, performing for Steven Spielberg and why she regrets nothing she has done.

Goldberg grew up in New York City, raised by her mother, Emma, a teacher. She had no obvious path into acting but credits her mother for never discouraging her unlikely ambition. “She was just odd enough to recognise the oddity in her child,” she says.

Whoopi left school before graduating and made her own education, discovering theatre, and watching free community productions of Shakespeare.

Eventually, as a young adult, she staged her own one-woman show in a small venue, which received a rave review in the New York Times.

One night she was visited by Mike Nichols, the Oscar-winning director of The Graduate who asked if she wanted to do the show for Broadway?

“I thought he was kidding,” she says.

Nichols wasn’t kidding and the Broadway transfer became a hit.

Goldberg’s big film break was in Spielberg’s 1985 drama The Color Purple – which is being shown at 9.30pm after this programme.

It saw her play a woman, Celie, who suffers horrible abuse throughout her life but eventually finds a sense of self-worth.

“I wrote a letter to Alice Walker [the author of The Color Purple],” she recalls. “I thought the book was magnificent and I said, ‘If they ever make a movie I would like to play dirt on the floor’.”

Unbeknown to Goldberg, Walker had seen Goldberg’s Broadway show, was impressed, and sent that letter to Spielberg.

As part of the audition process, Spielberg wanted to see Goldberg’s show, but he couldn’t make it to New York, so had her come perform it for him in Hollywood. Spielberg loved it and the rest is history.

Goldberg’s work has sometimes been controversial. Her one-woman show was a series of monologues about people from many different walks of life, including a drug addict and a teenager who’s just self-administered an abortion.

“The things I’ve done, there’s always been a reason,” she says. “Just because someone looks physically different doesn’t mean they’re not entitled to the same loves, the same heartbreak, the same everything as the rest of us.”

Goldberg has also had a hugely successful film career, receiving an Oscar nomination for The Color Purple and winning one for Ghost. She has also hosted the Academy Awards ceremony four times.

Once upon a time, she was also the best paid female star in the world – for the first Sister Act film she was paid $7million and for the sequel, $12million.

“For about 10 minutes, I was the highest paid woman in Hollywood,” she says.

Here, Goldberg also discusses her latest film, and passion project, Till, which was released in January and chronicles the brutal 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till and his mother Mamie’s quest for justice.

Goldberg, also a producer, plays Till’s grandmother. “We’ve been trying to do it for 18 years,” she says. “It’s taken forever, but I suspect now it’s happening at the right time.”

Finally, looking to the future, Whoopi, reveals she wants to keep working and even has ambitions to make a scary movie.

“I love horror,” she says. “No-one will let me [be in one]. I keep saying to people, ‘Who better than me?’”

Hidden Treasures of the National Trust (Friday 26/05/23, BBC2, 9pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

When some people think of National Trust properties, they may think of grand stately piles that were in the same family for generations.

However, the latest episode of Hidden Treasures of the National Trust takes us behind the scenes of a very different house owned by the organisation – 20 Forthlin Road, a modest, mid-terrace two-up-two-down in Liverpool.

While it may not seem to be of particularly architectural interest, the building does have a very strong claim to fame. Between 1955 and 1963, it was home to Paul McCartney and his family, and is considered by some to be the birthplace of the Beatles. It’s certainly the place where Paul and John Lennon wrote and rehearsed some of the group’s earliest hits.

Although it seems unlikely they ever imagined it would one day be owned by the National Trust, or be a place of pilgrimage for fans from around the world some 60 years later, by the time the McCartneys left the house, Beatlemania was already starting to take hold.

To deter souvenir hunters, the property was quickly redecorated – which caused problems when the Trust took possession of it in 1995.

Every effort has been made to restore the house to how it looked when the legendary songwriter lived there, including the striking decoration in the living room.

Paul’s younger brother Mike told The Mirror: “My mum wanted the best of what we could afford – but we could only afford end-of-roll paper so we had three different lots of paper in our living room. I never saw it at anyone else’s house, just ours.”

The National Trust was able to track down two of the three designs, but the last one has remained elusive.

Here, we see how curator Katie Taylor and house manager Michelle Yunque are trying to recreate the look, drawing on Mike’s own photographs. He says: “For years, I’ve been saying, ‘You’ve got to sort the wallpaper out!’ It’s intrinsic to our memories of 20 Forthlin Road and our mum.”

Meanwhile, wall paintings conservator Tobit Curteis takes on an unusual assignment in the upstairs toilet…

Staying in Liverpool, cameras also travel to 59 Rodney Street, a four-storey Georgian town house that was once the home and studio of one of Britain’s most significant photographers, Edward Chambré Hardman.

He left behind a vast collection of around 100,000 prints and negatives, and the episode learns more about the work involved in cataloguing and cleaning them.

Finally, there’s a trip to Dudmaston Hall in Shropshire. It’s home to one of the Trust’s most important 20th century art collections, including sculptures by Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, but it’s a freestanding wooden structure called Spaceframe by Anthony Twentyman that’s currently causing concern.

Made in 1985, it’s beginning to rot away, leaving the specialist craft team looking for the best way to preserve it for the future, while also saving as much of the original as possible.