Finally the seasons have turned and the sky is ablaze with quality rays. Also ablaze with quality is this week’s catch up telly recommendations (see what I did?).
Catch these gems before they disappear.
Grace and Frankie
The slick, silver-haired comedy from Friends creator Martha Kauffman is back for a second season.
Straight-laced Grace and free spirit Frankie are both happily married women when their husbands, Robert and Sol, announce that they are leaving them – for each other.
Genuinely touching and regularly hilarious, this show is about making the best of what you’ve got and not giving a damn about what people think.
Grace and Frankie is available on Netflix.
Angela Scanlon’s Close Encounters: Katie Hopkins
(Credit: BBC/Blueprint Pictures/Vinnie Beirne)
In this series Angela meets a range of performers and gets to know the people behind the names.
Katie Hopkins is proud to be known as ‘Britain’s Biggest Bitch’ but watching this programme, you start to see that there is more to the tabloid motormouth than meets the eye.
As she explains the reasoning behind the seemingly senseless headlines, you might start to warm towards Hopkins. Maybe by the end, if you still don't like, you'll at least understand her.
Angela Scanlon's Close Encounters: Katie Hopkins is available on BBC iPlayer.
An Audience with Victoria Wood
This show from the late, great comedy queen Victoria Wood was first recorded in 1988.
Recorded in front of a live audience packed with stars, this show captures Wood at her best, with musical interludes including the hit ‘Ballad of Barry and Freda (Let’s Do It)'.
What better way to remember a comedy icon than with tears rolling down your face as you howl uncontrollably – in a good way.
An Audience with Victoria Wood is available on ITV Hub.
Grayson Perry: All Man
Even if you haven’t yet watched it, it is unlikely that this show has slipped under your radar. Adverts for it have been everywhere, and for good reason.
With his customary deft touch, “life-long sissy” Grayson Perry takes on the task of defining modern masculinity: what is it, and where did it come from?
To begin he plunges into the world of cage fighting in the north of England, examining the masculine ideals of the med who fight for fun. He wonders if this is a reflection traditional breadwinner role, subverted for sport.
Ever the artist, Perry converts what he finds into art, creating a piece that brings to tears many of those he shows it to.
Grayson Perry: All Man is available on All 4
Marseille
Another Netflix entry onto the catch up list, Marseille is a political thriller set against the backdrop of the Marseille mayoral election.
Created by Dan Franck, the brains behind the hit Walter Presents series Spin, and starring Gérard Depardieu, Marseille is a tense, heavyweight political drama.
Depardieu’s character has been mayor of the city of Marseille for over 20 years when he finds his former protégé running for his job. The campaign that follows is as dirty and bitter as mayoral campaigns can sometimes be, and no holds are barred in this explosive series.
Marseille is available on Netflix.
