British Telly

She made the brave decision to make this emotional documentary. Plus: Saudi Arabia’s prince shells out for a Leonardo. Here’s what to watch tonight

8pm, BBC One

When Strictly dancer Amy Dowden was diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer in May 2023, she made the brave decision to allow cameras to follow her during treatment. This film is the result and, as you might expect, it’s an emotional rollercoaster involving surgery and chemotherapy – but also uplifting moments, including her appearance in last year’s series finale. It has been a difficult few months in Strictlyworld but this story, at least, offers some redemption. Phil Harrison

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Crime and corruption in the former coalfields as Monica Dolan and David Harewood join the cast. Plus, what becomes of a dangerous illegal dog? Here’s what to watch this evening

Sunday, 9pm, BBC One.

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cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16589411

The old eat the young. That is the back-of-a-beermat pitch for new Channel 4 drama Generation Z. And because the Z stands for zombie, the eating is meant literally. “I loved the idea of a horror story about societal breakdown, told from the perspective of different generations,” says its writer-director Ben Wheatley. “Once I started writing it, I couldn’t stop.”

The film-maker’s first original series for TV begins with an army convoy crashing outside a care home. The subsequent chemical leak turns the residents into marauding monsters who attack local youngsters. “It’s a bit of a Brexit metaphor,” admits Wheatley. “But it’s by no means binary. We discuss it from each generation’s viewpoint, exploring the notion that boomers have ruined the lives of the young. Because it’s a genre piece, that’s basically by biting their hands and eating their brains.”

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“I love telly and watch a lot of it – Battlestar Galactica, The Sopranos and Deadwood were the golden age for me – so I was keen to play with a different train set,” he says. “It was exciting to write in longer form, rather than the sprint that is a film script. In terms of production values and cinematic scale, TV has closed the gap on film. It’s like the difference between a single and an album. Actors move freely between the two now. The skillset’s no different. Any stigma has long gone.”

Fittingly for a series punctuated by gruesome deaths, he’s assembled a killer cast. Playing the pensioners are veterans such as Sue Johnston and Anita Dobson. “Sue’s first day on set, she was biting someone’s nose off,” he says. “They got to do stuff they don’t usually do, running around covered in gore, and had a blast doing it.” The gore is created the old-fashioned way. “Everything is practical, with prosthetics or models. There are very few CG effects. When arms are ripped off and blood spurts, there are people pumping plasma just out of shot. We use jelly when organs need to be edible. It’s all very visceral.”

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Generation Z is coming to Channel 4 this autumn.

The pop-soul star performs orchestral versions of their hefty back catalogue. Plus, a sunny jaunt for Tory traveloguer Michael Portillo who visits Lisbon. Here’s what to watch this evening.

8.25pm, BBC Two

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Nigella’s ‘meecro-wah-vey’ and a Bake Off controversy are just some of the topics covered. Plus: Brian May goes to battle for badgers. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, Channel 4

Pedro Pascal’s brutal Game of Thrones death, a controversy on Bake Off and Nigella Lawson’s “meecro-wah-vey” are just some of the topics in Jimmy Carr’s ultimate quiz on all things television. Babatunde Aléshé, Daisy May Cooper, Natasia Demetriou, Jamie Demetriou, Judi Love and Russell Howard form the teams. Hollie Richardson

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cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16514035

Blake’s 7 is one of British sci-fi’s greatest, most subversive cult classics. From the mind of Doctor Who scribe Terry Nation—after he’d sent the nation into Dalekmania in the ’60s—the 1978 show was wildly ahead of its time, with ideas as bold as its budget was threadbare. Imagine if classic Doctor Who had less money and more balls, and you get a rough approximation of what Blake’s could be at its very best. Now, at long last, the series is getting a familiarly loving home release treatment.

Today the BBC lifted the lid on a brand-new Blu-ray remaster, Blake’s 7: The Collection. Styled in the vein of the corporation’s lavish Blu-ray remasters of classic seasons of Doctor Who, the first of Blake’s four series will release later this year. Including a brand-new remastering of the series—available for the first time on Blu-ray after an infamously rough home release history on VHS and DVD decades prior—complete with all new practical model work for the show’s VFX sequences, the first volume of Blake’s 7: The Collection will include all 13 episodes from series one, as well as new interviews with surviving cast and crew, and a previously unreleased documentary planned for the show’s DVD release, The Making of Blake’s 7.

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Blake’s 7: The Collection series one releases in the UK November 11.

Negan and Maggie get their own show. Plus: a surprise or two for Paddy McGuinness. Here’s our pick of what to watch this evening

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How to create a property portfolio with an Instagram account. Plus: the brilliant Celebrity Race Across the World continues. Here’s what to watch this evening

12.05am, Channel 4

The average deposit for a house in the UK is £53,000. This, along with extortionate rents, has made home ownership a distant dream for many without the financial help of parents. The hardest hit are Black people, with only 32% across all ages groups owning their own place. In this report, Daisy Maskell investigates the young Black people creating property portfolios and showing exactly how they do it on social media, which they also use as a tool to raise the money they need. Hollie Richardson

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cross-posted from: https://fedia.io/m/teletext/t/1103403

In 1974, a brand new technology called teletext was being rolled out. It would, over the next few decades, have far-reaching implications, not only in the UK but worldwide. These are the stories of those involved in the production, restoration and art of the blocky medium that graced UK TV screens until 2012. You’ll hear from the pioneers, those who made teletext tick, and the newcomers keeping the medium alive 50 years after its inception. This is a social record of teletext, and these are the teletext people.

The eight-parter focuses on the Rwandan genocide. Plus: remarkable doctors in Saving Lives in Cardiff. Here’s what to watch this evening

10pm, BBC Four

“The images of that haunt us all,” said Bill Clinton, then the US president, on a visit to Rwanda in 1998. A few years earlier, as many as 1 million people had been murdered in the country over a 100-day period – and yet the US had not acted on the genocide being waged against the Tutsi minority as it unfolded. This powerful eight-part series continues to examine global atrocities and ask: what happened to “never again”? Former members of the US government, including Madeleine Albright, share their thoughts. Hollie Richardson

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Big problems lie ahead when tetraplegic Freya moves in with her new lover. Plus: the rise of Mohammed bin Salman. Here’s what to watch this evening

10pm, BBC TwoThis cracking, sexy comedy drama upends the usual telly tropes about disabled women’s lives. It was created by Lee Getty and Kyla Harris, with Harris starring as the sardonic thirtysomething Canadian artist Freya, who is tetraplegic and was “disabled way before it was cool”. Freya is living in London with her new lover, Abe (Darren Boyd) – who has left his wife and is “having a midlife crisis, albeit a very inclusive one” – and she asks her chaotic friend Jo (Elena Saurel) to be her personal assistant. But a rift between Abe and Jo suggests big problems ahead. It’s inspired by the time Getty was Harris’s PA in real life, which explains the great writing. It will have you laughing loads. Hollie Richardson

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Jay reads Shakespeare while Judi works on a market stall in this delightful doc. Plus, Team GB’s Olympic heroes are welcomed home. Here’s what to watch this evening.

9pm, Channel 4

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The singer, writer and sculptor offers a priceless insight into his creative processes. Plus: a UK K-pop reality experiment. Here’s what to watch this evening

10pm, Sky Arts

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This opener sets the tone for the grubby takeaway-set cartoon series. Plus: modern movie soundtracks at the Proms. Here’s what to watch this evening

10pm, BBC Three

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Two sisters and their sweet but pathetic dad hit rock bottom. Plus: the boxing star who became mayor of Kyiv. Here’s watch to watch this evening

9pm, BBC ThreeSex Education’s Aimee Lou Wood proves her comedy chops once more in this new father-and-daughter sitcom. She plays Gemma, a spirited twentysomething hairdresser who gets pregnant after a one-night stand, and panics when her flatmate moves out. To solve her financial worries and living situation, she moves in with her sweet but slightly pathetic dad, Malcolm (David Morrissey), who is struggling after Gemma’s mum left him and took their money. To make this family dynamic even messier, Gemma’s mouthy but lovable sister Catherine (Sharon Rooney) is in prison. Cue a sweet, funny and touching story of repairing relationships after things hit rock bottom. Hollie Richardson

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Revisit Chloe Ayling’s shocking story of being drugged and held for ransom in 2015. Plus: adventurous celebs attempt to navigate South America. Here’s what to watch today

9pm, BBC ThreeA dramatisation of a disturbing true story: in 2017, 20-year-old British model Chloe Ayling was kidnapped in Milan on her way to a shoot. She awoke, drugged and tied up, in the boot of a car and was taken to a remote farmhouse. The kidnapper, Lukasz Herba, demanded €300,000 for her release and threatened to sell her into sex slavery. This series has been made with the blessing of Ayling herself and stars Nadia Parkes in the lead. Phil Harrison

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The ex-cricketer takes his teenage team from Preston on a life-changing trip to India. Plus: two celebrity cook-offs. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, BBC One“I wanted the boys to learn to be outside their comfort zone.” Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff was planning this follow-up to his 2022 show about a cricket club for teenage boys in Preston when the unthinkable happened and he was dragged outside his own comfort zone. This series was shot before and after Flintoff was involved in a car accident on the set of Top Gear, which left him with serious injuries. In this first episode, his team are off to India. It will be an intense and life-changing experience for everyone involved, Flintoff included. Phil Harrison

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Most excellent. More please!

Conservationist’s personal and moving documentary follows big cat clan in northern India. Plus: a forensics team heads to a murder scene. Here’s what to watch tonight

9pm, BBC TwoTigers, it seems, get their claws into you. This documentary is a very personal reminiscence from film-maker Valmik Thapar who, decades ago, left Delhi behind and headed for India’s northern tiger reserve of Ranthambore. He never left. Instead, he filmed generations of tigers as they were born, had families, were menaced by poachers and eventually thrived. It’s a fascinating and moving record of a life well lived. Phil Harrison

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Paris promises a spectacular end to the games, including a Hollywood stunt. Plus: rooftop races and fisticuffs in Vienna Blood. Here’s what to watch this evening

7pm, BBC One

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Inside the turbulent but fabulous life of a Hollywood great. Plus: the touching finale of Alan Carr’s comedy. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, Sky Documentaries

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Celebrity PopMaster TV is back with Toyah Willcox, MistaJam and others in the music business put to the test. Plus Miriam Margolyes in Australia. Here’s what to watch today

8pm, Channel 4Ken Bruce’s amiable – if frequently pretty challenging – music quiz returns with a pair of celebrity editions. Can the people who earn their living from music retain the same exhaustive knowledge as the fans? This opener features Toyah Willcox, Richard Blackwood, Sally Lindsay, MistaJam and Kimberly Wyatt. Phil Harrison

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An engaging film history looks at the enduring tale of forbidden love. Plus: the presidential scandal of Watergate. Here’s what to watch today

8pm, Sky ArtsA new series of Ian Nathan’s engaging film histories begins with David Lean’s masterpiece. It is often described as the most romantic film of all time, but did its story of transient, forbidden love strike a chord because of its timing? Released in 1945, it marked the end of fear and uncertainty, but also a return to normality after the second world war. And what role did the hidden sexuality of its writer, Noël Coward, play in its themes? Phil Harrison

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Matt Frei looks at how Kamala Harris has shaken up the US election. Plus: Irvine Welsh’s Crime returns. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, Channel 4With less than four months to go until polling day, the US presidential race has suddenly become very interesting indeed. Joe Biden’s withdrawal has seemingly supercharged Democrat hopes of averting the catastrophe of a second Donald Trump term. Kamala Harris presents a very different kind of challenge and suddenly Trump is the candidate looking elderly and vulnerable. Matt Frei presents this documentary exploring the race. What does Harris stand for? Will the Republicans have to completely rethink their campaign, thanks to her arrival? And what on earth was Trump thinking when he chose the abrasive, charmless JD Vance as his running mate? Phil Harrison

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The First Dates restaurant opens its doors again. Plus: Linford Christie faces off against Ellie Simmonds in the kitchen. Here’s what to watch this evening

10pm, Channel 4The funny, sweet and occasionally toe-curling dating show is back, with Fred Sirieix welcoming a varied bunch to his restaurant. There is William, a 24-year-old who has never kissed a girl and is on his first date; Glen, who, rather boldly, compares himself to Christian “Fifty Shades” Grey; and, perhaps most memorably, Sarah, who has a pornographic Marge Simpson tattoo on her arm and is looking for “someone who’s not an arsehole”. Good times await. Phil Harrison

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