TV preview: Gracie! | School of Saatchi | Paradox

Published on Monday 23 November 2009 15:19

If the British film industry were in better shape, the words "Jane Horrocks IS Gracie Fields" would be appearing outside cinemas, the combination of star playing former beloved star being so perfectly aligned.

Instead she's appearing in the latest in BBC4's series of biopics of some of the popular light entertainment figures of the last century. The twist is that unlike previous films about Hughie Green, Frankie Howerd and last week's Enid Blyton, GRACIE! is not attempting to reveal the dark side – in fact, it's an attempt to reclaim her reputation.

As the naff exclamation mark in the title hints, this is a loving portrait of the Lancashire singer, and it comes as close to hagiography as any old-style Hollywood biopic. Fields emerges as a woman who selflessly devoted every second of her time to entertaining her fans, even at risk of her health and marriage, especially in wartime – those rumours about skedaddling off abroad when the bombs started falling were just malicious lies. It may well be an accurate picture, but the script by Nick Vivian is determined to paint Gracie in the rosiest of hues, complete with dialogue as corny as her sentimental songs. Fields is constantly saying things like: "I'm going to sing to our lads in France and no one can stop me!" or "I can't let my country down".

The drama begins with Fields established as the mill girl turned highest-paid film actress of her day and loved by the public. The story of how she got there would have been an interesting one too, but by restricting the focus to the wartime fall in her reputation it becomes a study of what happens when a celebrity whose image is as someone totally of the people is seen to slip from grace.

In Fields' case, her marriage to an Italian-born Hollywood producer turned her from the nation's favourite to a public enemy; for all her tireless efforts to sing for the lads, Vera Lynn took her place as the Forces' Sweetheart. It's a lesson some of today's stars might like to note: the public is a fickle lover.

But the real reasons to watch Gracie! are Jane Horrocks and Tom Hollander. The former was almost born to play Fields, employing her full range of talents, from funny faces to quiet moments of desperation, and – as Little Voice showed – is more than able to imitate her unusual singing voice, which mixed a touching soprano with Lancashire cheek. Hollander adopts a bizarrely appealing silky accent as her husband; the two are wonderful together, quickly sketching in a relationship between a couple who both adopted comic banter to hide their vulnerabilities but found circumstances pushing them apart. Despite the conventional script, their performances hint at something much more interesting.

Something similar happens in SCHOOL OF SAATCHI, which on the face of it is The Art Factor or Saatchi Idol: ie, it's the art world succumbing to the talent contest behemoth by adopting the Simon Cowell formula to find a young modern British artist for super-collector Charles Saatchi. The elements are all here: the auditions, including the terrible ones put through to be laughed at, such as the man who has just arranged some plastic chairs on the floor in a pattern ("the biggest load of bullshit I've ever seen," says Tracey Emin, playing Cowell).

The good auditionees, though, get little profiles of their families saying how much they support them. While on The X Factor they're expected to say it's their dream and they'll give it 110 per cent, here they're asked to justify why what they do – from video works to installations to more traditional painting – is "art", not so much for the judges but for the audience.

But though the show sets up Saatchi as the ultimate arbitrator, who will eventually award a prize of a studio, a place in his St Petersburg exhibition and, most importantly, his official patronage, he has apparently refused to appear on camera. Instead, a panel of experts, including Emin, draw up the shortlist, while after Saatchi's unseen inspection, his thoughts are relayed by a minion. It's an art in itself, making a TV show around a man who isn't there, and weirdly, it works.

There is some awful drivel talked, of course, particularly about a whistle hung on a string from a handle, which supposedly represents sexuality. And they're awfully snobby about a man whose day job is to commission art, given that the whole premise of the programme is about pleasing one patron.

But there are also some genuinely intriguing ideas and the awkward attempts to describe what art is do at least make you think about what it isn't.

New sci-fi-ish drama PARADOX, sadly, is less interesting than its premise and is a bunch of predictable clichs. Tamzin Outhwaite plays a cop who gets involved with Emun Elliott's "world renowned-scientist", who has received some satellite pictures "from space" which seem to show a train disaster that hasn't happened yet.

He acts completely creepy for no apparent reason, the police characters are annoyingly thick and the time-travelling images are so repetitive that they lose all impact. At one point Dr Creepy tells PC Pointless: "I agree with you, subtlety's greatly overvalued." Not by this programme it's not.

Gracie!

Monday, BBC4, 9pm

School of Saatchi

Monday, BBC2, 9:30pm

Paradox

Tuesday, BBC1, 9pm

This article first appeared in The Scotsman Magazine on 21 November 2009.