Television Choices: From tattoos to tans - Grayson Perry's guide to Britain's tribes

 

Gerard Gilbert
Thursday 31 May 2012 17:15 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

TV pick of the week

All in the Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry

Tuesday 10pm Channel 4

The "transvestite potter" – as Grayson Perry described himself on winning the Turner Prize in 2003 – indulges a lifelong fascination with what lies behind people's choices in self-decoration by "going on safari through the taste tribes of Britain". He begins with working-class taste, often dismissed as "blingy" or "tacky", travelling to Sunderland to see ex-miners and shipbuilders pumping iron in the gym (their form of male comradeship in the absence of industry, reckons Perry), and visiting tattoo and spray-tan parlours before dressing up in female clothes to go for a night on the town. Such courageous fieldwork will lead him to create six tapestries presenting his view of 21st-century life in the UK.

The Voice UK: the Final

Saturday 7.20pm BBC1

You won't get very attractive odds on either Ruth Brown or Jaz Ellington winning BBC1's latest incursion into Simon Cowell territory, but the question for those who think that The Voice turned into a pallid The X Factor facsimile once the blind auditions ended (and the swivel chairs stopped swivelling) is whether the series will be back next year – with or without judge Jessie J.

The Apprentice: the Final

Sunday 8.30pm BBC1

The final interview round always feels anti-climactic – even if it does reveal the contestants more starkly than any of the tasks. But then do we really watch this show to find out whom Lord Sugar is going to annoint as a business partner? Dara O Briain understands that we don't, and he hosts the amusing after-show, The Apprentice – You're Hired, after his lordship's decision is revealed.

The Diamond Jubilee Concert

Monday 7.30pm BBC1

You don't have to have been ennobled by the Queen (or one of her children) to perform tonight but it obviously helps as Sir Tom Jones, Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Cliff Richard and Dame Shirley Bassey are joined by such commoners as Jessie J, Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams, JLS, Annie Lennox, Madness, Stevie Wonder and Grace Jones.

The Secret History of Our Streets

Wednesday 9pm BBC2

Charles Booth's vast 1886 Survey of London ranked each of its streets according to the class of its residents. This new series follows the fortunes of six thoroughfares over the past 125 years, starting on Deptford High Street, known in Booth's time as the Oxford Street of south London. Today, marooned amid 1970s housing blocks, it's fallen from grace.

The House the 50s Built

Thursday 9pm Channel 4

Brendan Walker is an experimental engineer, a fact advertised by his choice of spectacles, and his new series looks at the science behind inventions that changed the typical British home of the Fifties. Inhabiting a test home, he begins in the kitchen, where free-standing cupboards, mangles and larders were replaced with fitted units, twin-tubs and refrigerators.

Match of the Day Live: Euro 2012

Friday 4.15pm BBC1

Here we go, here we go, here we go... a fairly unremitting summer of sport kicks off with the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine – and it's the Poles who get the tournament underway, playing Greece. Gary Lineker is the anchorman. The opening day's second encounter, between Russia and the Czech Republic, is on ITV1 at 7.15pm.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in