Pick of the week
In Vogue: The 90s
“Would you mind awfully taking your sunglasses off?” Predictably, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour has no intention of complying with her interviewer’s request. It sets the tone for a series that leans into the mythology around the fashion era it documents. This is history told by the winners and, as such, is immaculately primped, entertaining and never particularly revelatory. The “Warholian legend” that is Wintour is at the heart of the action but – as it explores everything from the dawning of the supermodel era to the seismic arrival of Kate Moss to the awful toll taken on the industry by Aids – the series is carefully curated, perfectly sourced and slightly short on real drama.
Disney+, from Friday 13 September
***
Emily in Paris
Paris needed a break from Emily Cooper. And finally it’s getting one: as the second half of season four of this self-consciously mindless show arrives, Marcello, a further potential love interest with a tenuous business connection to Emily’s company, has been offered as bait. Accordingly, Emily has been packed off to Rome to mix business with pleasure. But will she get carried away as her inexplicably gilded life offers up yet more adventure? Certainly, Rome appears to have at least as much pure beefcake as Paris. Perhaps the show will soon need a new title?
Netflix, from Thursday 12 September
***
Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter
Cathy Tarkanian put her daughter up for adoption at 17. But, like many young parents in similar circumstances, she’d always wondered about the fate of her biological child. This two-part documentary (produced by Charlize Theron) tells the strange story of the mystery that unfolded when, 35 years later, Tarkanian discovered that her child had gone missing from her adoptive family back in 1989. She decided to do whatever it took to find her daughter – and got rather more than she’d bargained for. The story is told in slightly melodramatic style but it’s a remarkable testimony to maternal devotion.
Netflix, from Thursday 12 September
***
Pickle Storm
Most of the best kids’ TV shows have a mildly psychedelic quality and, with its garish colour palette and fantastical creatures, Pickle Storm is no exception. The titular Pickle is a nine-year-old who, like most children, takes refuge in a fantasy world – in her case, it’s called Kleftania. When she and her family have to flee Kleftania, they travel through a portal and find themselves in a dismally familiar place called Middlington. Will the realm of imagination survive contact with grey reality? A charming fable about outsiderdom and making the best of things.
BBC iPlayer, from Monday 9 September
***
Jack Whitehall: Fatherhood With My Father
Jack Whitehall continues to parade his cheerful ineptitude in this series in which he faces becoming a dad by, perhaps inevitably, going on a road trip with his own father. Whitehall senior has a somewhat old-school set of attitudes towards gender roles (“Don’t get down to the business end of things,” he advises) but, as ever, he’s pretty game, exploring parenting retreats and technological innovations in the service of helping his son. The shtick is very familiar, of course, but if the Whitehall charm is your bag, you won’t be disappointed.
Netflix, from Tuesday 10 September
***
Billionaire Island
The world of salmon farming is the unlikely (but surprisingly intense) setting for this Norwegian comedy drama from the creators of Lilyhammer. It’s an entertainingly quirky and occasionally brutal affair – Julie Lange is the cartoonishly ruthless head of a small but ambitious company planning a hostile takeover of a local competitor. She has her eye on becoming the world’s largest salmon producer but she’s tangling with a family whose roots in the industry go deep – and they won’t be giving up their fishy territory without a fight.
Netflix, from Thursday 12 September
***
The Grand Tour: One for the Road
It is easy to understand the appeal, to gentlemen of a certain age, of these Clarkson, Hammond and May travelogues: their substance and value system (road trips, blokey oneupmanship, bootcut jeans, 70s rock) are a neverchanging constant in a confusing world. However, this is the trio’s final jaunt – will their interactions be underpinned by an elegiac tone? Very much not – and it’s still accidental Partridge all the way as the lads banter relentlessly, show precious little interest in the location of their tour (Zimbabwe, as it happens) but take everything to do with cars much too seriously.
Prime Video, from Friday 13 September
