THIS WEEK’S TOP TV PICKS
GARDENING
The Best Of RHS Chelsea Flower Show Sunday, BBC1, 5.50pm; Monday-Friday, BBC2, 8pm
The coronavirus lockdown means that this year the springtime crowds can’t flock to the Chelsea Flower Show, but there’s a feast of gardening programmes launching on Sunday as Sophie Raworth and Joe Swift look back over the past decade, including the winners of the RHS Best Show Garden. In Your Chelsea Flower Show (Mon-Fri, BBC1, 3.45pm), Nicki Chapman and her team offer tips for making the most of your garden. Meanwhile, Monty Don (above) joins Swift to look back over Chelsea’s rich history (Mon-Fri, BBC2, 8pm), in which Joanna Lumley and Mary Berry provide forthright views on the Best Of British (Mon).
DAYTIME
Ross Kemp And Britain’s Volunteer Army Monday-Friday, BBC1, 10am
A few weeks ago, ITV managed to find some PPE from somewhere, allowing Ross Kemp (right) and a camera crew to find out how frontline workers were coping with their traumatic shifts at the Milton Keynes Hospital Trust during the pandemic. Now the EastEnders actor turned daredevil presenter is returning to his old BBC stomping ground for this new daily series in which he meets – at a distance – some of the 750,000 people who volunteered to work alongside NHS staff to ensure various services could continue during the crisis. Kemp also gets the chance to do his bit for his community.
DOCUMENTARY
The Queen: Inside The Crown Thursday, ITV, 9pm
Her Majesty’s efforts to comfort the nation during the Covid-19 crisis via a heartfelt public broadcast take centre stage in this eye-opening programme, during which we also learn more about Prince Charles’s battle with the virus and how close the Queen herself came to catching it. Plus, there are insights into key events in her reign, from taking on the mantle of monarch at the tender age of 25 to this year’s VE Day celebrations. But the most intriguing moments are about her relationships with world leaders – in particular her efforts to avoid despot Nicolae Ceausescu by hiding behind a tree at Buckingham Palace.
SCIENCE
Monkman And Seagull’s Genius Guide to Britain Monday, BBC2, 9pm
Odd-couple presenters Eric Monkman (right) and Bobby Seagull hit the road again – though clearly the series was filmed before the Covid-19 outbreak. The first run was applauded for the obvious warmth between the two University Challenge veterans, as well as the knowledge they imparted on a range of engineering marvels, from Blackpool Pleasure Beach to the ejector seat. This time the duo are concentrating on innovations from the Industrial Revolution and the Victorian age. They begin in Greenwich, where they test clockmaker John Harrison’s 18th-century marine chronometer.
HEALTH
What’s The Matter With Tony Slattery? Thursday, BBC2, 9pm
He was a shining star of comedy who rose from the Cambridge Footlights to find fame on Whose Line Is It Anyway? thanks to his gift for on-the-hoof comedy. But then, a quarter of a century ago, Tony Slattery (above) vanished from public life virtually overnight in a losing battle with substance abuse and mental illness. Now, in a desperate bid to recover, he hopes doctors will at last give him a definitive diagnosis – but he has to get his drinking under control. A moving film follows Slattery and his partner Mark Hutchinson on a journey that reveals the toll that psychiatric disorder has taken on someone who once enjoyed all the gifts and riches of celebrity.