Best on TV
Radio 1’s Big Weekend 2012
BBC Three, 7pm
With the absence of Glastonbury this year, this BBC-sponsored series of concerts from Hackney Marshes is a welcome addition to the schedule. Tonight’s acts include Emeli Sandé, Ed Sheeran, Nicki Minaj and Kasabian. Tomorrow includes Jessie J, Florence Welch and Rihanna.
The Graham Norton Show
TV3, 10.15pm
Guests in tonight’s repeat show are comedian Greg Davies, actress Miriam Margolyes and the irrepressible Will.I.Am.
The Ring Two
RTÉ Two, 12.20am
The sequel to one of the creepiest horror films of the decade doesn’t quite have the same scare factor, but another fine performance from Naomi Watts under Japanese director Hideo Nakata does make it worth a look.
Julius Caesar
BBC Four, 8pm
Shakespeare’s great play can be described in today’s terms as a thriller, or even a bromance. Famously, Julius gets stabbed in the back by his buddy Brutus, and the mob begins to turn against the conspirators after Marc Antony’s classic funeral oration. This production by the Royal Shakespeare Company also hints at how issues such as the unpredictability of political assassination are still relevant today.
Lifers
Channel 4, 9pm
This documentary in the Cutting Edge series was filmed at HMP Gartree, where many of the people convicted of murder in Britain are housed. It gives an insight into their daily lives, and explores the courses and psychological interventions the killers are expected to undergo as part of their rehabilitation.
Up in the Air
BBC Two, 9pm
George Clooney stars as ‘downsizing executive’ Ryan Bingham in this 2009 comedy-drama. He travels around the US informing workers that they’ve been fired, using a barrage of corporate-speak to make the process go as smoothly as possible for the company concerned. Suddenly his air miles are put under threat by upcoming new executive, Natalie (Anna Kendrick), but he does manage to become embroiled in a trans-American relationship with a fellow traveller. Written and directed by Jason Reitman (Juno).
Wimbledon Beo
TG4, 1pm
Get out the strawberries — it’s the first day of tennis action from the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Nadal abú.
The Ronnie Wood Show
Sky Arts, 8pm
The Rolling Stone welcomes 70-year-old Beatles member Paul McCartney for a chat about the business, and they also play a few songs.
Panorama
BBC One, 8.30pm
Blaming ordinary Greek people for their crisis is about as valid as pointing the finger at your friends and family for the state of Irish economy. This show, entitled Life & Debt: A Greek Tragedy, looks at the real impact of the austerity measures we’ve heard so much about. From families forced to live on the streets, to seriously ill people not being able to afford or even find medicine to alleviate their conditions, it all makes for a fairly grim outlook. Perhaps it may even provide some relief in this country to know that there are people in worse predicaments than ourselves.
Alan Partridge: Welcome to the Places of My Life
Sky Atlantic, 9pm
As other networks roll out the repeats and generally try to convince you that you should not be watching TV through the summer, at least Sky Atlantic is offering some decent new fare. In this show Steve Coogan reprises his one genius creation to bring us on a guided tour of Norfolk — “the Wales of the east”. We hear about such amazing features as Norwich’s 20 car dealerships and the Nazi lion statues at town hall, as well as getting a Ray Mears-style guide on how to turn a branch into a walking stick. Coogan was overly-ambitious in trying to stretch his material to an hour, but fans of Partridge will get a few laughs.
CSÍ
TG4, 7.30pm
Tonight’s show revisits the 1923 shootings of two Jewish men in Dublin who were on their way home to an area off the South Circular Road, known then as ‘Little Jerusalem’. Other attacks on Jews also occurred around this time, and this documentary reveals how the circumstances of the events remained a mystery until 2007.
Mad Men
Sky Atlantic, 9pm
Episode two of the first series as Sky Atlantic continues its plans to show the entire show from the beginning. It will really take you back to 2007.
Subculture
Channel 4, midnight
The Fred Perry-sponsored documentaries on British music and fashion continue with a focus on the punk and 2 Tone subcultures of the late 1970s.
Stonewall Uprising
RTÉ One, 12.15am
Documentary on the police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, New York, in 1969 that led to a major riot and the birth of a new civil rights struggle.
The Men Who Made Us Fat
BBC Two, 9pm
The final part of the excellent series examines assumptions about what is and isn’t healthy in terms of food. For instance, clever marketing won’t mention the high sugar content of some mueslis and juices. A former consultant for a major supermarket also traces the growth of the organic food industry, linking it to public concerns about salmonella, BSE and GM crops.
The Circus
UTV, 9pm
Ever dreamed of joining a circus? This documentary might help convince you one way or the other. Entertainment tastes are changing, and this look inside a circus family shows how it’s becoming increasingly difficult to make a living in the industry.
Episodes
BBC Two, 10pm
Second last episode of the current series has Matt LeBlanc upsetting his fierce ex-wife.
