Tv PICKS OF THE WEEK
PARKINSON AT 50 Tonight, BBC1, 8.30pm
On June 16, 1971, Michael Parkinson welcomed viewers – and his guests, royal snapper Ray Bellasario and actor Terry-thomas – for the first edition of what was supposed to be a 10-week filler show.
Instead, it went on to become British TV’S most iconic chat show, running for over 650 episodes featuring interviews with more than 2,000 guests. The BFI included it in its top 10 of the all-time best UK television programmes, and Parkinson was knighted in 2008.
Now, to mark the show’s 50th anniversary, 86-year-old Michael looks back over its history and his own remarkable career in an interview with his producer son.
VERA
Tomorrow, ITV, 8pm
Brenda Blethyn is back for an 11th series of the crime drama as DCI Vera Stanhope. Hopefully her detective instincts are as sharp as ever as she begins with the case of local builder Jim Tullman, who is found beaten to death on the steps of the Collingwood Monument in Tynemouth.
Jim was a popular, if imposing, figure, making the vicious attack all the more puzzling. However, Vera discovers he was due to testify against Marcus Hynde (Lewis Cope), a promising cadet footballer facing charges of GBH. Is there a link between the two cases, or is the answer closer to home?
SURVIVING 9/11 Monday, BBC2, 9pm
Next Saturday marks 20 years since the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in the USA, and this powerful documentary from Bafta-winning director Arthur Cary brings together 13 people who were caught in the horror. Unfolding almost in real time, the harrowing story of that bright, sunny day is told through the testimonies of survivors, first responders and victims’ families, offering an insight into was it like to actually live through, and asking how difficult it has been to move on.
LONG LOST FAMILY Tuesday, ITV, 9pm
Have the hankies on standby for this week’s episode. Retired merchant seaman Roy David was born in the former British Guiana and met his first wife Sylvia in New York while working there.
They had a daughter, Cheryl, but there were tensions within the family, leading to him and Sylvia separating and eventually losing touch.
He hasn’t seen his daughter for nearly 60 years, since she was a little girl. Now, with his 87th birthday looming, Roy wants Cheryl’s forgiveness for not trying harder and standing up for his rights as a father, .
However, his search sparks another one and affects people across the globe and across the generations...
LEE MACK’S ROAD TO SOCCER AID Wednesday, ITV, 9pm
Cameras follow the sharptongued comedian’s journey to get match fit, improve his technique and banish his footballing demons, as he sets out to score at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium on
September 4. After three penalty misses in three consecutive Soccer Aid matches, Lee has decided to pull up his socks and pull out all the stops to make the grade this year, with a little help from some of his famous friends.
SIXTEEN: CLASS OF 2021
Thursday, Channel4, 9pm Christmas looms, there are only six months left of school and the students are anxious about the impact of lockdown on their ambitions.
QUESTION OF SPORT Friday, BBC1, 7.35pm
It’s the dawn of a new era for this long-running, much-loved sporting quiz show as Paddy Mcguinness steps into the shoes of Sue Barker to take over presenting duties.
He’s not the only new face to be gracing the studio either, as team captains former field hockey international Sam Quek and ex-rugby union international Ugo Monye take their seats, replacing Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell.