PICK OF THE DAY

Children In Need 2018

7.30PM, BBC1

Tess Daly (right) and Ade Adepitan host this year’s TV telethon – with help, as the night goes on, from Graham Norton and Mel Giedroyc, Rochelle and Marvin Humes and their new co-host, Rob Beckett. In addition to entertainment, music and surprise guests, there will also be reports on the fundraising challenges that people up and down the country have undertaken. Last year’s on-the-night donations reached a total of more than £50 million, so dig deep and help to fill the Children In Need coffers.

Alone At Home

8PM, CH4

Last week’s trio of youngsters were actually pretty wellbehaved during their four-day stint at home with no parents. For this second episode, the eldest of Alison’s brood is Charlie, 15, who has Down’s syndrome. Alison thinks that people underestimate him, and hopes that the separation will give Charlie a confidence boost.

100 Years Of The RAF

8PM, CH5

Broadcaster Martyn Lewis narrates this documentary on the Royal Air Force in its centenary year. Paying tribute to the courage and innovation of those who defended the nation during two world wars and beyond, this one-off film features powerful archive footage and first-hand testimony.

Portillo’s Hidden History Of Britain

9PM, CH5

This week, former Defence Secretary Michael Portillo visits ‘a secret Cold War fortress’ in Cambridge that was one of our best hopes for surviving nuclear war. He also uncovers chilling evidence of how vulnerable we were, and how close we came to annihilation during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.