British Telly

It’s been two decades since the original eye-popping Tribe series. Plus: Dreamers is an invigorating new dance drama. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, BBC Two

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It’s going to be a night to remember for Soho’s underworld. Plus: so much fun to be had in 99 to Beat. Here’s what to watch this evening

9.05pm, BBC One

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Clemency Burton-Hill recorded her journey after being left unable to speak or walk. Plus: the twist-filled season finale of Death in Paradise. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, BBC Two“Music was my greatest ally, and now it’s like my toxic friend.” A film following the remarkable story of Clemency Burton-Hill, who was 38 years old when a brain injury left her unable to speak or walk. Before that, she was a violinist who had also achieved a double first from Cambridge and had a successful career as a broadcaster and writer. Through recordings from her early days of recovery, we trace an inspiring journey as she is reunited with her “ally”, the violin. Hollie Richardson

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A devastating documentary about the teenager’s life, murder and legacy. Plus: the people trying to flee Putin’s kill list. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, ITV1The last text Esther Ghey sent to her daughter, Brianna, said “how good it was” that she was going out and re-entering society. Esther doesn’t know if she ever saw that message – Brianna was murdered in 2023 by two 15-year-olds, one who she believed was her friend, in a brutal attack partly motivated by her transgender identity. This devastating and brave documentary tells Brianna’s story, from the sparkling, beloved girl she was to how the disturbing online world affected her wellbeing. It also examines the legacy she has left, as her mother continues to campaign for social media reform. Her friends help paint a picture of her, while journalists and police give insights into a case that shocked and saddened the nation. Hollie Richardson

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Rose Ayling-Ellis is inspirational as she meets a retirement community ready to learn new skills. Plus: the finale of an excellent true crime drama. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, BBC OneIt’s not an easy pitch for deaf actor and Strictly champion Rose Ayling-Ellis to teach sign language to a retirement community. But she finds a group of enthusiastic 65-95-year-olds, some of whom are experiencing hearing loss. Along with charismatic teacher Marios Costi, she determinedly starts a two-part experiment to highlight the increasing need for signing. This is moving, inspirational television – with added bingo and karaoke. As one of the students says: “We’re not old people; we’re recycled teenagers.” Hollie Richardson

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The Change is funnier than ever, as Linda continues her journey of self-discovery. Plus: the gripping finale of Sky’s Mussolini drama. Here’s what to watch this evening

10pm, Channel 4

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I gave it a look because it's been in the news a bit and friends gave it the thumbs up. It's a bit heavy, but not overwhelmingly so, and I enjoyed it. I'm not sure I'd put it up there as a great bit of TV, but certainly the message about what kids have to go through these days is interesting.

Catey Sexton’s documentary remembers how Covid-19 changed us all. Plus: Crongton is a bold new comedy. Here’s what to watch this evening

8.30pm, BBC One“It feels like we’re in a rush to forget and move on,” says film-maker Catey Sexton, in her feature documentary marking five years since the Covid-19 outbreak. But, as family members and friends of the more than 230,000 people who died tell her, life will never be the same again. Sexton’s own mother lost her life to the virus, and she wants to hear about the experiences of other people behind the numbers in a moving, lovely but heart-rending testimony. Hollie Richardson

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cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/26208881

"Stop getting Bond wrong!"

This City Is Ours is an addictive new crime series also starring James Nelson-Joyce. Plus: a goose-pimply look at Britain’s last witch. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, BBC One

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99 to Beat is a new gameshow that spirals out of control. Plus: a musicals extravaganza full of belting performances. Here’s what to watch this evening

6pm, ITV1

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Red noses on for a huge night of emotions and entertainment. Plus: Deborah meets a rival in cracking comedy Hacks. Here’s what to watch this evening

7pm, BBC OneIt’s that time of year again – the fundraising marathon returns, packed with sketches, heart-tugging stories and downright bizarre moments. And this is its 40th anniversary! Davina McCall, Joel Dommett, Alison Hammond and AJ Odudu are among the night’s hosts, with Strictly, Gladiators and Beyond Paradise some of the shows getting the comic treatment. Hollie Richardson

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The businessman and TV personality talks about his life, career, The Apprentice and Donald Trump.

It’s a chaotic start to the third blood-soaked series. Plus: the concluding part of the shocking spycops scandal. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, Sky Atlantic

The goriest gang drama in recent times – starring Joe Cole, Michelle Fairley and Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù (above) – returns for a third series, as blood-soaked as ever. London’s criminal underworld is still at war for control (shocker!) and the chaos is turned up when clubbers who have sniffed things they shouldn’t get one hell of a Just Say No lesson. With accusations of a spiked shipment, trouble erupts as alliances and enemies are made. Hollie Richardson

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Will racing driver Billy Monger, who lost both his legs in an accident, finish a gruelling triathlon? Plus: Gareth Southgate’s inspiring lecture. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, BBC One“This is the year that took me to the edge.” A big statement coming from racing driver Billy Monger, who lost both his legs in a racing accident when he was just 17 years old. Here he is today, taking on one of the most extreme endurance challenges on the planet – an Ironman in Kona, Hawaii, where he’ll need to swim 2.4 miles in the ocean, cycle 112 miles and run 26.2 miles. It’s all for charity, so prepare for an emotional journey. Hollie Richardson

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Dan Reed catches up with Jackson’s accusers as they pursue the singer’s estate. Plus: Bradley Walsh has alternative theories about the pyramids. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, Channel 4Dan Reed’s documentary about Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who alleged they were sexually abused as children by Michael Jackson, rocked the world in 2019. This follow-up film delves into their 10-year legal journey to get Jackson’s estate to accept their claims that they were abused, while lawyers share insights. The documentary ends on an astonishing note, and not just because it shows the opening of a hit Jackson musical in the West End of London. Hollie Richardson

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Nearly four years ago, back when Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield were still mates, and both still employed by ITV, it felt normal to watch the two This Morning hosts get emotional as they embraced through a “cuddle curtain” – a thick sheet of plastic with arm sockets. “Why does it feel like we’re in prison?” laughed Schofield. “This is what the internet was made for!” yelled guest Ant McPartlin, sitting on the sofa a safe two metres away.

It was proof that coronavirus had turned television completely upside down.

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It was a relief when audiences slowly started to return, albeit masked and sitting two metres apart. “The best description of what it was like came from Frank Skinner, who looked at an audience and said: ‘Doing this show is like waking up in an operating theatre.’”

This was quite a feat for other shows that lost live audiences, too, such as Strictly Come Dancing (the crew stepped in, whooping and hollering), Question Time and Have I Got News For You. Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway even received its highest ever ratings. Then again, that is hardly surprising, given that the alternative was buying a dry scotch egg with a QR code in a pub.

Behind the scenes, though, TV production was in crisis. In April 2020, the TV and Film Charity reported that 93% of industry freelancers were not working because of the pandemic. Many struggled to obtain government recognition to qualify for sick pay and financial support. By 2021, Creative UK Group said one in 20 screen industry jobs in Britain had been lost.

It was bleak. Many productions downed tools, while quiz and cookery shows filled the schedules. Even the soaps had to pause production. Luckily, most filmed up to six months in advance and episodes could be rationed. But what next?

“The soaps have never shut down for anything. It was scary,” ITV’s executive producer of continuing drama, Iain MacLeod, tells me. “But soaps are incredibly adept at responding to catastrophes – we’ve had 60 years of practice.”

Emmerdale was the first to return with new episodes in June 2020, using two-hander lockdown episodes. EastEnders stopped broadcasting for three months – its first ever break – and came back in September. Coronation Street came back in between, in July, with a “light touch” inclusion of Covid into the storylines.

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There was still plenty of ready-made TV to distract us – and all Covid-free! An increasingly sex-deprived nation made horny drama Normal People the BBC’s most watched show of the year, while the utterly absurd Tiger King provided the ultimate Zoom catch-up conversation starter, and Quiz – based on the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? cough scandal – tapped into the nostalgia we felt, longing for simpler times.

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This is a strange anniversary to be marking: for many of us, lockdown was a discombobulating, scary period made slightly better by morning telly mishaps and wild Netflix shows; for hundreds of thousands of others it was a time of utter grief, anger and injustice that would go on to fuel devastating dramas. For plenty of us, it was probably a bit of both. That was Covid: laughing at a chatty kid crashing her mum’s serious interview one minute and crying at televised powerpoint charts of mass deaths the next.

A documentary follows the controversial water company on the verge of collapsing. Plus: the long-term effects of lockdown on our kids. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm**, BBC Two**

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Protection is the twisty drama about a family shot dead while under witness protection. Plus: meet the new Celebrity Bake Off judge. Here’s what to watch this evening

Sunday, 9pm, ITV1

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The popular professor starts her odyssey in Thessaloniki. Plus: the tense finale of Welsh thriller The One That Got Away. Here’s what to watch this evening

8pm, Channel 4

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Krishnan Guru-Murthy reports from an African disaster zone. Plus: ballet superstar Steven McRae’s gruelling road to recovery. Here’s what to watch this evening

7.30pm, Channel 4This documentary strand may be a bleak testimony to the amount of misery the world is capable of generating, but it remains as essential as ever. Krishnan Guru-Murthy is in Sudan exploring the horrific facets of the ongoing civil war: about 30 million people need humanitarian assistance, certain regions are experiencing famine and the conflict rumbles brutally on – bombings, executions and sexual violence are rife. Phil Harrison

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Dooley speaks to women who have reported being raped by someone they know. Plus, the story of the miners’ strike’s ‘Polmaise Piranhas’. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, BBC ThreeProsecuting rape is notoriously difficult in the UK, with an estimated 5% of cases making it to trial, and only about 45% resulting in a conviction. Amid such discouraging headlines, four young women have allowed Stacey Dooley to tell their difficult, complex stories about reporting being raped by someone they know, in the three-year run-up to trial. Ellen E Jones

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The bloodthirsty roomies are back in What We Do in the Shadows. Plus, the genius Am I Being Unreasonable? finale. Here’s what to watch this evening

10pm, BBC TwoMatt Berry, Natasia Demetriou and Kayvan Novak are back with a fifth series of their bitingly funny vampire mockumentary. Human familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) is acting oddly, and the vampires think it’s because they missed his birthday (a “terrible day” for humans). But the reality is that Guillermo has done something his masters won’t be very happy about at all. Hollie Richardson

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A gripping film about how the persecuted spiritual movement took on their repressive state. Plus: London teens exchange places with high-schoolers from the US. Here’s what to watch this evening

10pm, BBC Four

In 2002, activists from the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong managed to commandeer a Chinese state news broadcast to rebut what they saw as slander by the authorities. Two decades later, the comic-book artist Daxiong has painstakingly researched the guerrilla operation that changed his life. Featuring striking animation, this gripping film dramatises the hijack and its aftermath, including police raids that forced Daxiong – a blacklisted Falun Gong follower – to flee the country. Graeme Virtue

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The Welsh actor buys £1m worth of debt in this powerful documentary. Plus: chess is officially the most exciting game! Here’s what to watch this evening

Monday, 9pm, Channel 4

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