2017-01-24

Sunday
Notable Continuing Series: Call the Midwife, 8.00pm, BBC1
Dragons' Den, 8.00pm, BBC2
Endeavour, 8.00pm, ITV
Walking the Americas, 8.00pm, Channel 4
Apple Tree Yard, 9.00pm, BBC1
9.00pm Special Forces BBC2 - 22 of Britain's toughest civilians face a fortnight of hell. Living in an isolated military camp deep in the heart of South Africa, every recruit is pushed to their breaking point under the direction of six former veterans of some of the toughest special forces units in the world. Fresh off the plane, the recruits are ambushed by their first Special Forces expert, Clinton Agnew, a former Colonel in the South African Special Forces Brigade, otherwise known as the Recces. Clinton takes the recruits through 48 hours of misery with authentic selection methods that are designed to break recruits and force them to work as a team.
11.20pm The Boy Who Tried to Kill Trump BBC1 - In June 2016, 20-year-old Briton Michael Sandford was arrested at a Donald Trump rally after trying to take a police officer's gun in a bid to shoot the then republican presidential nominee. Michael immediately found himself at the centre of a media storm and at the mercy of America's notoriously harsh justice system. After pleading guilty, he faced years behind bars. But how did a young middle-class boy from suburban Surrey who suffers from Asperger's end up thousands of miles from home? And what drove him to attempt to kill one of the most powerful men in the world? This programme follows Michael's family as they travel to the US for his sentencing, unsure of when they might see him again. Set against the backdrop of Trump's remarkable rise to the White House, the documentary explores Michael's complex past while using exclusive eye witness interviews and never-before-seen archive to piece together the elaborate assassination plot and attempt to find out why he did it.
Monday
Notable Continuing Series: Silent Witness, 9.00pm, BBC1
The Undateables, 9.00pm, Channel 4
9.00pm George III - The Genius of The Mad King BBC2 - The secrets of George III revealed as Robert Hardman explores his private files. After 200 years under lock and key, all the personal papers of one of our most important monarchs are for the first time seeing the light of day. In the first documentary to gain extensive access to the Royal Archives, Robert Hardman sheds fascinating new light on George III, Britain's longest reigning king.
10.00pm Crackanory Dave - Dave's original short story series returns with Dara O Briain narrating. A Roman slave helps his playwright master finish his latest opus - but at what cost?
Tuesday
8.00pm Tales from the Coast with Robson Green ITV - Robson Green travels along some of the nation's most fascinating stretches of coastline. In this episode, he visits the shores of North Devon - the location of some of his most precious childhood holidays - where he traces the origins of the British love affair with the coast.
9.00pm Sicily -Wonder of the Mediterranean BBC2 - Historian Michael Scott begins his journey through Sicily on the slopes of Mt Etna, Europe's largest active volcano. For the Ancient Greeks, the island was a land of gods and monsters - a dangerous and unpredictable world.
Notable Continuing Series: Silent Witness, 9.00pm, BBC1
24 Hours in A&E, 9.00pm, Channel 4
This is Us, 11.00pm, Channel 4
10.00pm The Modern British Slave Trade Channel 4 - One-off documentary giving a portrait of the dark world of forced labour through the eyes of the people involved. The British government estimates that there are approximately 13,000 people forced into slavery in the UK today and this documentary provides a unique insight into this hidden criminal world, from the 'slaves' themselves to the investigators and the people who are trying to tackle this criminal industry. From agriculture to nail bars, the programme explores the dark world of modern-day slavery and many of the people trapped in plain sight.
Wednesday
8.00pm Trust Me, I'm a Doctor BBC2 - Michael Mosley and the doctors set up experiments to get to the truth behind health claims and headlines.
Notable Continuing Series: Hospital, 9.00pm, BBC2
No Offence, 9.00pm, Channel 4
9.00pm DIY SOS: The Big Build BBC1 - Nick Knowles, Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen and hundreds of Worcestershire volunteer builders rescue 17-year-old Antonia Payne-Cheney, who has been kept prisoner in hospital for the last three years by Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a debilitating and rare condition. Until 14 she was a healthy girl, enjoying gymnastics and cheerleading, but now she is hospital bed-bound. Her joints regularly dislocate and she is unable to eat normally, so she is fed through a line directly into her heart. As a result of her complex condition, Antonia will remain in hospital until the necessary home adaptations have been made. To give Antonia the freedom to return home, the ambitious DIY SOS build features a functional sterile space for medical procedures in her own bespoke bedroom, a specially adapted wet room that offers her freedom and dignity and an accessible space for her to socialise with family and her friends.
Thursday
8.00pm The Great Pottery Throw Down BBC2 - For the brand-new series of The Great Pottery Throw Down, hosted by Sara Cox, ten home potters return to Stoke-on-Trent and compete to become the new champion of British pottery. The judges, master-potter Keith Brymer Jones and ceramic-artist Kate Malone scrutinise their work over three gruelling challenges.
8.00pm The Secret Life of Five-Year Olds Channel 4 - The Bafta award-nominated series that lifts the lid on the uncensored drama of life in the playground returns. This time, as a new intake of fascinating five-year-olds arrive for work and play, the programme explores the difference between boys and girls, seeing how they interact with each other, how their sense of gender roles is ingrained at such a young age, and whether there is a marked difference in their behaviour.
9.00pm Natural World: Cheetahs: Growing Up Fast BBC2 - David Attenborough narrates this astonishing story of a wild cheetah family, revealing in intimate detail what it takes to turn tiny cubs into accomplished predators.
Notable Continuing Series: Unforgotten, 9.00pm, ITV
9.00pm Escape to the Wild Channel 4 - In the first episode of a new series, Jimmy Doherty heads to Indonesia to meet a young British couple, and their 18-month-old toddler, who have abandoned the rat race in the UK for a new life on a tropical island in the Pacific Ocean. After an epic and eventful journey, Jimmy finally reaches Sophie, Simon and their young son Max. With lush rainforest and beautiful coral reef, their island hideaway appears to be the stuff of dreams. But Jimmy soon discovers that paradise comes with some hidden dangers. From lethal centipedes to monitor lizards and water pythons, the island is teeming with potentially deadly wildlife. Jimmy is struck by the primal nature of the place, and can't help but question the couple's lifestyle choice. Does living such an isolated existence require unique strength of character?
10.00pm Parenting for Idiots Channel 4 - Parenting for Idiots features a cast of famous faces sharing their own comedic parenting magic moments and horror stories, while child-free celebrities experience for themselves a few of the realities of looking after a child. The series celebrates all sides of being a parent, from the immense satisfaction of getting your child to eat three more mouthfuls of broccoli, to the mind-boggling risk analysis that accompanies every trip to the swings, and acknowledges the painful truth that parents can be afraid to admit: nobody really knows what they're doing.
Friday
9.00pm Piers Morgan's Life Stories ITV - Nigel Farage talks to Piers Morgan about his extraordinary life and career. In this revealing interview, Britain's most controversial politician reflects on his numerous brushes with death, including a road traffic accident aged 21, his battle with testicular cancer a year later, and surviving a horrific plane crash in 2010. Piers grills Nigel about his two marriages, his close friendship with new US President Donald Trump, how his life has changed since achieving his ultimate goal in the 2016 EU referendum, and stepping down as leader of UKIP.
9.30pm Tracey Ullman's Show BBC1 - All of British life is present in the new series of the comedy sketch show. Delinquent Dame Judi Dench is back, but will being a national treasure be enough to save her this time? Nicola Sturgeon has her sights set on more than just Scotland, and Doctor Peluzzi can cure your bad knee and make you run faster than anyone else - but is it legal? There's also a heartfelt song from a lonely Angela Merkel.

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