THE AMERICANS, ITV ENCORE, 10pm
THE ideological fire which carried “Philip” and “Elizabeth” from their beloved Russia into the heart of decadent America is beginning to show a tiny sign of dampening.
On being given their latest assignment – travel to Kansas each weekend to seduce a targeted man and woman – they looked weary. They have so much on their plate! They’re so busy! Their daughter is giving them hassle. They’ve got a school meeting about their son. Couldn’t someone else do it?
But you don’t say no to the KGB. Soon they were donning their wigs and glasses and heading into the bleak Midwest. But I wonder if it’s notable that, for once, these deadly spies looked a bit jaded and weary.
But they’re about to be deeply shaken as Philip’s secret son has been smuggled out of the USSR and has landed at JFK, desperate to find his legendary father, and they receive stunning news about one of their past operations.
CONVICTED FOR LOVE, MORE4, 10pm
I READ an old pamphlet recently saying mankind will only be rid of nuclear weapons when we evolve and grow up a bit more. One day, assuming we make it that far, we’ll look back on nuclear missiles from a position of enlightenment and will shudder at how barbaric, dangerous and ignorant we used to be. We’ll regard them with the same humiliating horror we feel on remembering how we once indulged in things like cannibalism, slavery and child labour.
Likewise with homosexuality. For young Westerners it’s almost impossible to think it used to be illegal and that gay people could be sacked, banished, blackmailed and ruined because of love.
This documentary tells the painful stories of four gay men who suffered under Britain’s harsh laws before partial decriminalisation in 1967.
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