John Hannah and Karen Gillan in Radio Times' "TV to look forward to"

Radio Times presents their guide to some of the best television programmes to look forward to this year:

A Touch of Cloth (Sky 1)

'The motivation behind A Touch of Cloth was simple', writes the show’s creator Charlie Brooker. 'Along with my co-writer, TV Burp’s Dan Maier, I wanted to create the silliest programme we could muster, but disguise it as the most serious. Writing this was a joy: we all sat round a table attacking our favourite clichés and lobbing in as many extra gags as possible.'

The result is a deadpan spoof of detective shows like Messiah and Luther, starring John Hannah as DI Jack Cloth and Suranne Jones as DC Anne Oldman.

Expect lots of moody glances, disturbing flashbacks, gruesome crime scenes, and bits where a maverick cop battles with demons. Inner demons, not actual outer demons, obviously. Inner demons are cheaper to shoot – you don’t need CGI.


We'll Take Manhattan (BBC4)


In her first leading television role without the Doctor by her side, Karen Gillan will be stepping out of the TARDIS and into the shoes of 60s supermodel Jean Shrimpton. We’ll Take Manhattan tells the story behind David Bailey’s photo shoot with Shrimpton for Vogue that changed fashion photography forever.

“I was quite interested in David Bailey’s photographs, and in the 60s in general” says Gillan. “Whenever I’d send pictures to stylists of the sort of things that I liked, she was always in the pictures. So when I saw this script, I thought it was perfect!”

The drama chronicles not only the legendary photo shoot but the love affair between the rebellious but talented Bailey and his young muse. Full of nostalgic 60s fashion and gorgeous young things frolicking around New York, it presents the modelling world as incredibly glamorous and exciting.

Gillan was in fact a model herself while she was trying to make her break into acting, but for her it wasn’t quite the exhilarating experience it was for Shrimpton.

Now that Amy Pond is soon to meet a “heartbreaking” end on Doctor Who, would she ever consider returning to the catwalk? “I don’t think so. It was just a way to get by, to be in London and to go for auditions.”

Read more at Radio Times