THE OTHER ONE, BBC2, 10pm
THIS comedy was quite funny. That’s actually high praise, given how deadened my senses are by the awful stream of “comedy” the BBC are pumping out each Friday in their Comedy Playhouse slot.
Those Playhouse comedies are all pilots seeking commission. If there’s any sense the BBC will forget them, and pick up this one.
A grieving widow gives the eulogy at her husband’s funeral, but soon loses her grip. “You bastard!” she cries at the coffin. “I hope you burn in hell!”
It is revealed her husband had a second family, complete with a mistress and love child, and he lazily chose to call his two daughters Catherine. Now the two Catherines are meeting for the first time. One is sour, uptight and middle class, while the other is chatty, grubby and working class.
Much of the comedy comes from these clumsy class stereotypes, but at least there are some laughs.
WORLD’S BUSIEST CITIES, BBC2, 8pm
THIS week the team are in Moscow, that sprawling, intimidating, mysterious city, to show us how it functions.
Moscow’s metro system must be the most beautiful in the world, with stations looking more like art galleries or theatres. Many stations have marble, chandeliers and huge paintings, and were designed this way to glorify the worker and give him a daily reminder of how good the state was: never mind you can’t buy bread; isn’t your commute grand?
As well as being the most beautiful, the metro is also the world’s busiest, and has some of the deepest stations. They were put so far down so they might also function as bomb shelters.
But even with a gorgeous and efficient underground, Muscovites are buying lots of cars and this rise in car ownership means some people spend three hours driving to work in terrible jams.
We also peep inside the Kremlin, but the best stuff in this episode is outside, with the real Russians.
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