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WHAT’S HOT TO WATCH TODAY
HIT the open road with Angela Rippon tonight as she meets that rare breed, female truck drivers, in LORRY LADIES (7.30pm, BBC1).
Rippon – who, fact fans, was the very first presenter of Top Gear when it launched in 1977 – chats to women who love going full throttle in big lorries, yet who make no apology for decorating their trucks in pink and filling them with soft furnishings. Others spend their weekends at truck festivals, showing off their rigs in the hope of winning prizes. AND Strictly favourite Shirley Ballas waltzes back in time to explore her ancestry in WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? (9pm, BBC1). As with so many of the celebs’ tales, it’s an emotional rollercoaster.
Shirley heads to Cape Town to explore a rumour that she has black ancestors on her father’s side, which leads to a sad discovery. But Shirley is most moved by the story of her maternal grandmother, who attempted to re-invent herself by upping sticks and moving to America in 1919, a path that Shirley herself followed decades later. A word of warning – Shirley’s story ended rather better than her grandma’s. GUY MARTIN has been an amusing travel companion in OUR GUY IN RUSSIA: THE ROAD TO CHERNOBYL (9pm, Channel 4), approaching his adventures with enthusiasm.
Tonight, TV’s favourite lorry mechanic heads to Chernobyl, site of the 1986 nuclear meltdown, to learn all about the new solutions for making the area safe. Another global danger zone is explored by presenters Rick Edwards and Ortis Deley in THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE ENIGMA: LOST AT SEA (9pm, Channel 5), where they go in search of planes that crashed there.