Tuesday 10th
IMAGINE….MY CURIOUS DOCUMENTARY, BBC1, 10.35pm
This is a film about a play about a book… The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a spectacularly successful mystery novel, narrated by a young boy, Christopher. It’s about the gruesome killing of a dog and Christopher’s attempts to find the culprit, but he has autism and “finds other people frightening and confusing”, so this quest pushes him into new and anxious situations and allows the reader to see the world from an autistic person’s point of view.
The book sold ten million copies and was then adapted for the stage where it won seven Olivier Awards and transferred to Broadway. This documentary is about the preparations to stage the play and follows its director, producers and actors from rehearsal to opening night.
Honouring author Mark Haddon’s mission to make us view the world from an autistic perspective, the film is punctuated with subtitles which are written on graph paper in very simplistic language. I considered this rather patronising, but then I know little about autism so perhaps this was indeed the effect the author and film-makers were looking for: compelling viewers to adopt a different perspective.
Besides the theatrical people, we hear from youngsters with autism and about the loneliness and alienation they often feel, and there is a visit to a specialist school where the headmistress explains their philosophy.
MASTERCHEF: THE PROFESSIONALS, BBC2, 8pm
The attraction of shows such as Masterchef and The Great British Bake Off is watching anxious amateurs take part; there’s hope for us all if a nervous student, housewife or accountant can slip on an apron and become brilliant.
This new series lacks that jovial element because it’s professional chefs who are cooking, so where’s the fun in that? They literally do it for a living so there’s no thrill, but there will be exquisite food, such as blue steak and an ile flottante.
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