TV not to miss
BBC Four, 7pm
A documentary subtitled Elsa — The Lioness That Changed the World looks at how the adaptation of Joy Adamson’s book, Born Free, had such a huge impact on conservation in the 1960s. Interest in the natural world among the general public increased greatly with Adamson’s true tale of how she raised a lioness and returned it to the wild. Unfortunately, we also hear about the darker side of life in Kenya, as both Joy and her husband George were murdered nine years apart.
BBC Two, 9.20pm
Julien Temple is probably best known for his punk documentaries and also his Absolute Beginners feature, but in this show he turns his attention to his home town of London, to explore some of the Olympic host’s cultural history. As well as archive footage, we hear from a number of modern musicians and counter-culture figureheads.
TG4, 6.10pm
Repeat of the show in which soccer player Andy Reid travels to Garrykennedy, Co Tipperary, to hone his banjo skills with Gerry O’Connor of trad group Four Men & A Dog.
BBC Two, 8pm
It’d be an interesting statistic to compare the number of Chinese restaurants in Ireland to the number of pubs. In the second episode of this four-part culinary tour of the world’s most populous country, Ken ‘King of the Woks’ Hom and Ching-He Huang are in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. Here they sample the distinctive street dishes and fiery spices the region is famous for.
RTÉ One, 8.30pm
A birth plan has become an essential piece of paraphernalia for many women entering the labour ward. Unfortunately, as tonight’s concluding episode of the excellent series shows, Mother Nature often doesn’t read it. We see the team at Cork Maternity Hospital having to pull out all the stops as they are faced with a series of difficult decisions.
BBC Two, 8.30pm
Lorraine Pascale is the latest chef to promise dishes that fit in with our busy lifestyles. Tasty treats on the first episode of the new show include mango, feta and avocado salad and Thai trout cooked in tinfoil.
Sky Atlantic, 10pm
HBO has become the victim of its own high standards following the underwhelming reaction to such much-hyped recent shows as Luck, The Newsroom and Veep. The latter two shows have attracted enough viewers in the US to be renewed for a second run, so tonight’s finale of Veep won’t be the last time you’ll see it.
TG4, 7.30pm
This show looks back on the 1970 arms trial, and includes some interesting new contributions. Back then, politicians Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney were fired for unproven allegations that they were part of a conspiracy to import arms for the IRA and the defence of nationalist areas in the North. A trial they were involved in collapsed. Interviewees include Barbara O’Keeffe, daughter of chief prosecution witness, Jim Gibbons, then Minister for Defence; and Irish Examiner columnist Ryle Dwyer, also a biographer of Jack Lynch.
Sky Living, 9pm
Pop star Rihanna is listed as executive producer of this new series in which 12 aspiring designers vie for the honour of creating her outfit for a concert in Hyde Park, London. Over the next 10 weeks, the hopefuls will undergo a series of challenges in which they design clothes for various celebrities attending particular events. In the usual elimination show format, a panel of three fashionistas will eliminate the least impressive candidate each week.
Participants include Steve, a graduate of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin.
You may remember Max and Karen, two of the participants in the Channel 4 documentary series Seven Dwarves. They’re getting married after a romance that began on that show, and this programme follows them as they prepare for their wedding, and also captures the big day itself.
BBC One, 8pm
New four-part landscaping series in which Anneka Rice, Phil Tufnell and Joe Swift try to change underused plots of land into life-changing spaces. In this first episode, they’re at a nursing home for people with dementia. There is a green area at the hospital, but it has been deemed too dangerous for residents to use. After 10 days of hard work, the presenters and their volunteers reveal how they’ve managed to transform the area.
Channel 5, 9pm
Yes, you may have already seen a series of Celebrity Big Brother this year. The January run was so successful, however, that Channel 5 has rolled out Brian Dowling and co for another go.
Totally unconfirmed press rumours for the series have mentioned such participants as Dog the Bounty Hunter, Julian Clary and Julie ‘Bet Lynch’ Goodyear.
BBC Four, 9pm
The remarkable tale of how Samuel Willenberg and Kalman Taigman escaped from the Nazi concentration camp in 1943. Most of the other inmates who took part in the attempted escape were either shot by the German guards or betrayed by local Poles. This duo’s testimony is all the more important because the Germans destroyed most of the camp near the end of the war in an attempt to cover up their acts.
Sky Atlantic, 8pm
Alan Cumming is in Dublin hanging out in Temple Bar with Sharon Corr and visiting a number of the city’s tourist attractions.
BBC Three, 9pm
Russell Brand says he was inspired by the death of Amy Winehouse to make this film about how he battled to break free from the scourge of heroin addiction 10 years ago. Along the way, he talks to scientists involved in research into addiction, plus a number of addicts — as well as exploring different methods of recovery.
More4, 9pm
Kathryn Bigelow’s real-life account of a US bomb disposal squad in Iraq.
TG4, 11.55pm
Harrowing but enjoyable account of a young criminal’s rampage in Soweto.
