Catch up TV reviews: Go 8 Bit DLC, The Fake News Show, Ivanka Trump
David Farnor | On 21, May 2017
What’s available on-demand on Freeview? Keep up-to-date with our weekly catch-up TV column, including reviews of shows on ITV Hub, new releases on All 4 and a guide to My5.
(For BBC TV reviews and round-ups, see our weekly Best of BBC iPlayer column. Or for reviews of the shows on All 4’s Walter Presents, click here.)
Go 8 Bit DLC (UKTV Play)
With Go 8 Bit returning for a second season, Dave has now ordered a companion show to go with it: Go 8 Bit DLC. The niftily named programme is a reviews show that sees team captains Steve McNeil and Sam Pamphilon sit on a sofa with resident expert Ellie Gibson to discuss their favourites and also what Ellie’s dad thinks of various games. Dara O’Briain turns up for a brief bit of incompetent gaming, which delivers laughs, but also highlights the relative lack of gameplay action – something that feels notably absent in an age of Let’s Play videos. Indeed, without the studio audience in the room, this low-key affair could struggle to distinguish itself from the copious reviews and news vlogs already populating YouTube in abundance. The secret to standing out in the crowd is finding the right presenter – and that’s where Go 8 Bit DLC gets it really right. Rather than let McNeil or Pamphilon present the programme, Gibson is given hosting duties, and she relishes the chance to rule the roost, combining her wit and zero-effs-given attitude with impressive knowledge and a confidence to put the men around her in their place – including Episode 1’s guest, comedian Jamali Maddix. She’s like the Richard Osman of video games. With Susan Calman, Rhianna Pratchett and Harry Potter’s Weasley twins set to sit on the DLC couch in the future, the prospect of seeing Gibson interact with such a diverse mix of guests is promising indeed. For more button-bashing, meanwhile, there’s always the main show.
The Fake News Show (All 4)
After a one-off pilot as part of Channel 4’s Fake News Week, the broadcaster has commissioned a full series of the panel show devoted to sorting alt-fact from alt-fiction. The initial line-up is a little disheartening for a format so ostensibly up-to-the-minute, with four blokes and only one woman behind the desks. The good news is that the woman is team captain Katherine Ryan, and she knocks her role out of the park – the chance to see her dismantle the “rich, white” Stanley Johnson (father of Boris), who’s on Richard Osman’s team, is worth tuning in for alone. Mikes Jupp completes the ensemble and brings more than enough laughs, benefiting from his topical gig hosting Radio 4’s The News Quiz every Friday. Host Stephen Mangan, meanwhile, is typically smooth and smiling, without skimping on sharp put-downs or left-wing views – both of which are deservedly thrown at Johnson, who calls for tolerance of Trump and cheers on the Tories. After a promising enough pilot, the panel show tweaks the format to fit in with the General Election currently underway, including such puns as “Shamifesto”. Is it good to have yet another comedy panel show on our screens? Not really. But with Have I Got News for You a shadow of its former self, the great irony is that The Fake News Show looks like it might actually be a useful fact-checker every week.
Available until: 8th July (Episode 1)
Ivanka Trump: America’s Real First Lady? (All 4)
Everywhere Donald Trump goes, one thing is constant, apart from the dead animal wearing his body as a reverse hat: Ivanka Trump is always on his arm. Now appointed to an official role within the White House, people are beginning to wonder exactly what political influence she has. This new Channel 4 documentary makes a persuasive (and disturbing) case for her having quite a bit, while giving us an eye-opening profile of a daughter as ambitious, driven and commercially ruthless as her dad. The programme doesn’t shy away from the (already well documented) strange nature of their intimate father-daughter relationship, while also highlighting the way that Donald wears her on his arm as a trophy, whether that’s to ingratiate him with people, to make him look good or to charm Canada’s Justin Trudeau, whom is seemingly carefully sat next to her in one meeting. But it’s the fact that Ivanka has her own enterprise that makes for an absorbing watch, as she appears in TV interviews then promptly markets the bracelet she wore on camera via email. Could she one day be a politician in her own right? That’s less convincing, but there’s a notable absence of actual First Lady Melania, which only makes this profile of an easily overlooked part of the Trump juggernaut more important viewing.
Photo: Sara Jaye/REX/Shutterstock
