TV reviews: AIDS: The Unheard Tapes and The Undeclared War

AIDS: The Unheard Tapes 1/3, Monday 27th June, 9:30pm, BBC Two

1982 was a different world. We were all sat on our garish sofas, in our shoulder pads, drinking Babycham and watching Dallas. I was nine, so I wasn’t actually wearing shoulder pads or drinking Babycham, but you get the idea. Britain was buoyed by the success of the Falklands War, and life was, for most people, relatively carefree and uncomplicated. There was no social media, no cost-of-living crisis, no war in Europe, and no covid.

Except there was a virus. In the early 1980s, news began to emerge about an illness affecting gay men in America. It was initially described as a rare form of cancer. Doctors were mystified. And gradually at first, then more rapidly, it began to emerge in the UK as well. And it was given a name: AIDS.

1982 was also different in another respect. Homophobia was rife. Looking back from today’s more tolerant, open-hearted, accepting world, it seems astonishing, the level of vitriol people were subjected to because of their sexual preferences.

This new three-part documentary series on BBC Two tells the story of what it was like to be gay during the AIDS epidemic. The story is told by medical professionals, HIV experts, campaigners, and members of the gay community. It is also told by those who died.

As the crisis grew, a small group of pioneering researchers began recording audio interviews with infected gay men. These interviews - a frank and intimate account of life at the heart of the AIDS epidemic - were archived in the British Library and have never been broadcast before. The series brings them to life with actors lip-syncing to the original voice recordings.

The first part of this powerful and deeply moving film sees men discussing what it was like to be gay in the early 1980s. Their testimony is – viewers of a sensitive disposition be warned – occasionally sexually graphic. It’s also rather depressing, hearing the lengths they had to go to, to hide their true identities. “Most people don’t like poofs,” says one, with a sense of acceptance and resignation.

Their lives, already hard, were about to get a whole lot worse.

Terry Higgins was a barman at the gay nightclub Heaven. One day, in the summer of 1982, he collapsed while at work, and was rushed to hospital. He passed away of AIDS on 4th July 1982, one of the first people in the UK to die of the disease.

Among those interviewed for this programme are his partner, Rupert Whitaker, who recalls going to visit Terry in hospital and not being allowed to see him. When he went in again on 4th July, he was casually informed that his partner had died.

AIDS quickly began to spread through the gay community. Everyone knew someone who had died. Everyone was living in fear of developing symptoms. Meanwhile, the tabloid press embarked on a grotesquely homophobic and vitriolic campaign o fearmongering and misinformation. (Maybe the world wasn’t so different in 1982 after all).

With the government slow to react to the crisis, Rupert and his friend Martyn Butler, also interviewed for this programme, founded the Terrence Higgins Trust, and began to distribute educational material around gay bars and clubs. Their campaign almost certainly saved tens of thousands of lives.

This is remarkably well-made and powerful television. The taped testimony from the victims of the virus is evocative and sad, and beautifully lip-synced by the actors. The interviews from the living are passionate and rightfully angry. Ultimately, this first episode tells a story about community action, of how a group of people came together in an atmosphere of fear and astonishing hostility, after society turned its back on them when they needed support the most. Thankfully, it seems, we have made significant progress in the last 40 years.

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The Undeclared War 1/6, Thursday 30th June, 9pm, Channel 4

The nature of war, like everything else, changes with time and the relentless march of technology. Once upon a time, wars were fought by men with swords and spears. Then it was men with guns. Then tanks, then planes. More recently, wars have been fought by men sitting in cosy offices as they monitor precision-guided missile strikes.

But there is another form of war that is also going on, every day, unnoticed by most of us: Cyber warfare. Its heroes are probably the tech geeks we denigrated at school. Now this timely and riveting new six-part drama on Channel 4 brings the issue of cyber war vividly to life.

All you really need to know is that it is written and directed by Peter Kosminsky. The man is a walking BAFTA-magnet. In an extraordinary 40-year career, he has amassed seven of the blighters, for a body of work including Wolf Hall, The Government Inspector, Warriors, and No Child of Mine. His work, always meticulously researched and based in fact, holds up a mirror to society and the issues that affect us all in the modern world. He is a national treasure.

And, based on an absolutely gripping first episode, this drama does not disappoint. It’s April 2024. Newcomer Hannah Khalique-Brown plays Saara Parvin, a computer science student who gets a much-sought-after work experience slot at GCHQ. Within five minutes of starting her first day, the UK suffers a cyber-attack, bringing the internet to its knees. The culprit is assumed to be Russia.

Now, the idea of having no internet might be horrifying. No online shopping. No Netflix. No social media (okay, it’s not all bad). But in truth, a cyber-attack like this has much bigger implications. The entire infrastructures of business, transport and medical care are internet-dependent. One of the more salutary lessons of this tale is just how dependent we are on the worldwide web, and just how utterly powerless we’d be without it.

Anyway, back to Saara and her work experience. I well remember my first day of work experience at Channel 4, 30 years ago. I made quite a lot of teas and coffees for people, and even then, I was terrified of messing up. Saara, meanwhile, throws herself in at the deep end, and starts investigating the malware that is attacking the country. She is clearly a genius, but I bet she couldn’t remember how seven people take their coffees. It’s still my crowning professional achievement.

Saara is championed in her efforts by her boss Danny Patrick (the wonderful Simon Pegg, in a rare straight role), who in turn answers to his boss, David Neal, played by Alex Jennings. Meanwhile, Alex Lester plays Andrew Makinde, the UK’s first black Prime Minister, who is fighting a re-election campaign, and is less than delighted with GCHQ’s efforts to counteract the attack. Later episodes bring the prospect of turns from Kerry Godliman, and the remarkable Mark Rylance.

The difficulty in dramatizing a story about cyber warfare is that it is all fought by people in dark offices tapping away at keyboards. It’s all very well being able to make a drama chock full of explosions and gunfights, but a pasty generation-Z techie typing software codes and eating the occasional sandwich does not a gripping story make. Kosminsky’s master-stroke is to be able to keep the pace of the story turning over at a cracking rate, and upping the ante with plenty of pressure from politicians and threats to the very fibre of modern life.

This is intelligent, well-researched and sobering drama, and a look at what may very well constitute the future of modern warfare. Still, if it means the end of the family Zoom quiz, maybe it’s a price worth paying.

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The best… and the rest:

Saturday 25th June

Lost Treasures of Rome 1/6, 8pm, Channel 4: This new series follows international teams of archaeologists as they embark on a season of excavations to unravel the secrets of life in the Roman Empire. Tonight, archaeologists embark on new digs in Pompeii, to unravel the stories of the people who lived and died there.

Billy Connolly: 30 Funniest Moments, 9pm, Channel 5: A celebration of the Big Yin’s career, featuring a selection of stand-up routines from live shows as well as memorable appearances on chat shows. With contributions by Shaparak Khorsandi, Shazia Mirza, Suzi Ruffell, Chris McCausland, Dave Gorman, Richard Herring, Richard Digance, Seann Walsh and Jimmy Tarbuck.

Sunday 26th June

Murder in the Alps 1/3, 9pm, Channel 4: Almost 10 years after the brutal murder of a British family at a beauty spot in the French Alps, the case remains unsolved. Former investigators and the brother of one of the victims - once the prime suspect in the case - tell the story of the mysterious shooting and the sprawling police investigation that continues to this day. The series continues over the next two nights.

Kelly Holmes: Being Me, 10:20pm, ITV: In this deeply personal film, the double Olympic champion opens up about significant parts of her life for the first time. We meet those closest to her and discover the emotional journey she’s been on over the last 30 years, and its impact on her mental health.

Monday 27th June

Wimbledon, 11am onwards, BBC Two and BBC One: Coverage begins of the best tennis tournament in the world, presented by Sue Barker (for the last time) and Isa Guha. Today, Novak Djokovic opens the defence of his championship of Centre Court.

Ukraine: Life Under Attack: Dispatches, 10pm, Channel 4: This documentary, narrated by Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett, tells the story of the battle for Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, through the eyes of the civilians and emergency workers who bore the brunt of the Russian onslaught.

Tuesday 28th June

Why Buildings Collapse, 9:30pm, BBC Two: Documentary examining the collapse of the Champlain Towers South apartment building in Miami in 2021, and looking at the implications for other buildings around the world. The programme explores the factors that might have led to the collapse, and also looks to the future to ask what lessons can be learnt from this disaster.

Thursday 30th June

The Murder of Logan Mwangi, 9pm, ITV: This documentary tells the story of the investigation into the murder of 5-year-old Logan Mwangi, whose body was found dumped in a river just yards from his home. With remarkable access to South Wales Police homicide detectives, the programme captures the arrest and police questioning of Logan’s mother and her partner, alongside the painstaking work to prove who killed him.

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