This week, it is a warm welcome back to Scandinavian drama and a new 6-part drama on BBC 4: Prisoner starring Sofie Grabol as a prison warden. I am expecting it to be gripping, compulsive viewing with a fair measure of violence – I think we can guarantee it absolutely will not pull its punches. The BBC’s archive also comes up trumps again with a Tolstoy adaptation that I don’t think has been transmitted in over 60 years, although BFI Southbank does programme TV drama from this period, from time to time.
QUO VADIS, AIDA? (2020) Saturday 24 February 11.00pm-12.40am BBC 4    P             
No, not the 1951 epic with Robert Taylor and Deborah Kerr; rather, we have a Bafta-nominated drama new to Freeview. The year is 1995, the Bosnian War is ongoing, and UN translator Aida is torn between duty and family. The TV premiere of the 1951 Quo Vadis was my first entry when I started to keep viewing lists (Tuesday 2 September 1975). A lot of films have flowed under the bridge since that memorable evening . . .
THE RESCUE (2021) Sunday 25 February 9.00-10.45pm BBC 2    P             
The Rescue is a tense, absorbing, quite brilliant documentary, even though everyone knows the outcome. Broadcasters all over the world followed the desperate attempt to save, in 2018, the Thai youth football team trapped in caves as heavy rain fell. You might also remember the unsavoury comments on Twitter that followed it.
TIME LOCK (1957) Wednesday 28 February 11.00am-12.35pm Film Four             
To start the day, we have a good little B-movie that generates a fair amount of tension. A small boy is locked accidentally in a bank vault, and then it is a race against time before his air runs out. Director Gerald Thomas and screenwriter/producer Peter Rogers were soon making the Carry On films; lead actor Robert Beatty the TV series Dial 999 (which still holds up due, in large measure, to its location filming in London); Sean Connery – here billed as welder number 1 – went on to James Bond and superstardom.
ANNA KARENINA (1961) Wednesday 28 February 10.15pm-12.05am BBC 4             
Wow! Not a film, really – but equivalent to a TV movie and as rare to view as gold teeth, so I have to include it. It was a BBC production that was based on an adaptation for the stage. Claire Bloom plays the title role (and does an introduction at 10pm), and Sean Connery and Frank Williams (Captain Pocket in The Army Game and, later, the vicar in Dad’s Army) are also in the cast.

Norman Jewison passed away on the 20th January, aged 97. He was one of the newer breed of Hollywood directors (although he was born in Canada and his mother was English) who started out in television: first with the BBC, then in Canada, and finally with the CBS network in the US. He began his film career in light comedies with Tony Curtis and Doris Day, but after replacing Sam Peckinpah on The Cincinnati Kid (1965), he showed quickly – with the brilliant In the Heat of the Night (1967) – that he could direct films with more challenging themes. Later work included The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Rollerball (1975) and Moonstruck (1987).
The Bafta Awards presentation is on BBC 1 Sunday evening.
FULL TIME (2021) Saturday 17 February 9.00-10.25pm BBC 4    P             
It’s a warm welcome back to quality, if modest, subtitled drama on BBC 4. It is quite an incisive look at modern lifestyles, as single mum Julie works all hours in a Paris hotel, but still hopes to beat a train strike to get to an important job interview.
MOONFALL (2022) Saturday 17 February 9.20-11.55pm Channel 4    P             
Alternatively, you might want to watch something completely bonkers! Halle Berry leads a team of astronauts on a desperate mission to stop the Moon colliding with planet Earth. Yes, really!
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (1973) Sunday 18 February 12 noon-1.40pm BBC 2             
And FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (1971) 1.40-4.35pm
BBC 2 presents a double bill of iconic musicals, both directed by Norman Jewison. And there will still be time to make a quick dash and join us for Tori and Lokita!
BENEDICTION (2021) Sunday 18 February 11.00pm-1.10am BBC 2    P             
Terence Davies died in October 2023 and, whilst his films tended to disappoint members, his voice was a distinctive one and will be missed. His last film should appeal more to us, as the subject is the poet Siegfried Sassoon.
THE KID DETECTIVE (2020) Thursday 22 February 9.00-11.00pm Film Four    P             
This is a brave effort to do something different with a gumshoe drama. Adam Brody made a great child detective before his skills deserted him – now in his 30s, can he make a comeback? The student who asks for help is played by Sophie Nélisse who first came to our attention in The Book Thief.
VISITING HOURS (1982) Friday 23 February 9.05-11.20pm TP (Channel 82)             
Why include a slasher movie that has only 2-stars in the Radio Times and a BOMB rating in Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide? Nostalgia, I suppose. I saw it on release – in Louth’s Playhouse cinema on a double bill with Escape from New York, as best I recall. It has a good actress, Lee Grant, as the reporter and Michael Ironside as the stalker plus one William Shatner. And we can always start a small cottage industry discussing films that we might prefer to Aftersun . . .

Haunted house dramas did not start with The Amityville Horror in 1979 (yes, I saw it on release, but haven’t been watching the Origin Story currently on BBC 2) or even the splendid The Haunting in 1963. I have just pre-ordered the original The Cat and the Canary (1927) from Eureka; I have seen Bob Hope’s 1939 version and the 1978 update, but not this one. The director Paul Leni died much too young – of blood poisoning in 1929 – as did F.W. Murnau, of course; he was killed in a car crash in 1931.   
AFTERSUN (2022) Sunday 11 February 10.00-11.35pm BBC 2    P             
!! Well, would you Adam and Eve it – the Freeview premiere for our lowest-rated film ever! Actually, some members (not many) have been wondering if they misjudged the film, so it gives us an opportunity to take another look. It might just play better on TV, too, and subtitles will help compensate for those Scottish accents. The Radio Times gives it 4 stars and is another media outlet that says it “leaves a lasting impression”.
BLACK TUESDAY (1954) Sunday 11 February 10.05-11.45pm TP (Channel 82)             
We have a clash this evening, so Aftersun might have to be postponed to later on BBC iPlayer. (Black Tuesday is repeated on Thursday, but see the final entry below.) This film is a short, ferocious and rare crime drama starring Edward G. Robinson. He and Peter Graves play convicts who escape from death row. I haven’t seen it, and can hardly wait!
THE ETERNAL MEMORY (2023) Tuesday 13 February 10.00-11.25pm BBC 4    P             
The Eternal Memory is a moving and sensitive documentary from Storyville. Actor (and politician) Paulina Urrutia allowed a film crew to document her husband’s fight against Alzheimer’s.  It has been nominated for a 2024 Oscar. Pablo Larrain (Jackie and No) supported the project as a producer, and director Maite Alberdi’s The Mole Agent was equally well received.  
ONE DAY (2011) Wednesday 14 February 6.40-9.00pm Film Four             
Happy Valentine’s Day! Even if you agree that, structurally, it needs the new Netflix 14-parter to do justice to David Nicholls’ novel, there is still enjoyment to be had watching the cinema original. It had a successful run at the Regent, as I recall.
THE LAST LETTER FROM YOUR LOVER (2021) Wednesday 14 February 10.40pm-12.25pm BBC 2    P             
Reminiscent – in a modest way – of The French Lieutenant’s Woman in that it weaves the present day with past events. A journalist uncovers some love letters from the 1960s; cue flashbacks to the time and place.
THE THREE FACES OF EVE (1957) Thursday 15 February 9.00-10.30pm BBC 4                 
Joanne Woodward won an Oscar for her performance as a young married mother with split personalities. It isn’t as well known as other films of that era, but is worth a look. Who knows – in another life, LRFS might have programmed it!