NEIL GAIMAN’S LIKELY STORIES, SKY ARTS, 9pm
NEIL Gaiman writes and presents this anthology of creepy stories – “I’m not gonna tell you true things. I’m gonna lie to you” – but let’s not pretend they’re any match for The Twilight Zone or Tales of the Unexpected. Maybe I’m stuck in the past, but those older series came from a time when the world was harsher and stricken with nuclear and post-war anxieties. Aren’t we a bit softer now?
The first stars a very sombre and downbeat Johnny Vegas and he’s great in the role, completely abandoning his usual squeaky-whiny comedy persona.
He plays Daniel, a struggling writer who’s drowning his sorrows in a dingy pub. Fellow drinkers gather round to hear his disturbing story which takes him back to his childhood and into a nightmarish forest. The second tale concerns a photographer's story about the perfect model.
GOING FORWARD, BBC4, 10pm
IN the last of this very short series, Kim and Dave face troubles stemming from their miserable jobs. As ever in this gentle comedy, family offers the only comfort: a steely, trying day at work can be always be softened with some warm, babbling chatter at the breakfast table.
The episode opens at 4.30am as Kim and Dave lie awake discussing her mum’s stroke. She’ll need tests to see if she qualifies for NHS care. Dave sees through the bureaucratic jungle to the weird logic tangled in the undergrowth: “She’s gotta take tests and fail ’em and then we’ll be in the clear?”
At work, Kim greets her elderly clients with politeness: “I’m just going to empty your catheters. Who wants to go first?” A weaker comedy might have ended the scene on that line, but not when Jo Brand’s in charge. Kim proceeds to kneel, pull on the rubber gloves, get the measuring jug out and start fiddling with tubes, all while keeping up the cheerful chatter.
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