PICK OF THE DAY

Extreme Wives

With Kate Humble

9PM, BBC2

Having spent time in many countries, talking to people from different cultures, Kate Humble (right) has been struck by how the everyday roles of women offer a great insight into a society’s values, and how it works. In this three-part series, she meets women from three diverse communities around the world, where the female role is complex and, in some cases, extreme. She begins in the Kuria district of southwest Kenya, where women are caught on the cusp between age-old tradition and the modern world.

The World’s Greatest Bridges

8PM, CH5

Engineer Rob Bell is back on home turf in episode three – Shropshire, to be precise, where the graceful Iron Bridge straddles the River Severn. Completed in 1779, this elegant metal structure was the only one of its kind for more than a decade and, to this day, serves as a proud symbol of the Industrial Revolution.

Porridge

8.30PM, BBC1

The sixth and final episode of this resurrected sitcom finds Fletch and his cellmate, Joe, getting on each other’s nerves. But after receiving some bad news that gives Mr Meekie the chance to crow, a grouchy Fletch soon discovers that it pays to be grateful for small mercies – you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.

Eight Days That Made Rome

9PM, CH5

This week, Bettany Hughes focuses on one of the most famous dates in Roman history – the day in 49 BC on which Julius Caesar led his army across the River Rubicon, effectively declaring war on his rivals. It was a move that would eventually prove fatal to the system of elected officials that had governed for centuries.