What not to miss in the week ahead
HISTORY
Britain’s Most Historic Towns
Professor Alice Roberts studies key periods in Britain’s past by telling the story of a single historic town or city in this interesting new six-part series.
Exploring how people might have lived in each period, Roberts attempts to storm a Norman castle, takes a crash course in 19th century female etiquette in Victorian Belfast and is subjected to some humiliating Tudor justice in Norwich. Cutting edge CGI allows long lost monuments to be brought back to life, while aerial archaeologist Ben Robinson shows how the layout of each town reflects a historical era to this day.
Episode one features Roman Chester, and includes a radical theory that there were once plans for the town to become, not only the capital of Roman Britain, but a staging point for the Roman Empire to invade Ireland. Future episodes visit York, Norwich, Winchester, Cheltenham and Belfast.
Today, Channel 4, 8pm
REALITY
This Time Next Year
This triumph-over-adversity show follows the efforts of people as they try to change something in their lives for the better over the course of a year. Davina Mccall is on hand to ramp up the emotion as their year-long story is revealed. In the first episode, Mccall meets parents Charlotte and Nathan and their daughter, four month old Olivia, who was born profoundly deaf. Will cochlear implants allow her some form of hearing?
Meanwhile, overweight mother and daughter, Nichole and Laura, try to lose 15 stone between them and Sarah-lee and David from Peterborough have a final round of fertility treatment.
Tuesday, STV, 8pm
MUSIC
Folk Awards 2018
All the best moments from the Radio 2 Folk Awards 2018, which were this year held in Belfast and presented by Mark Radcliffe and Julie Fowlis. The show welcomes an array of guests and sees performances from Cara Dillon, Paul Brady, Eliza Carthy and The Wayward Band, Lankum, Dónal Lunny and the Armagh Pipers Club.
Tomorrow, BBC4, 9pm
LIVING HISTORY
Secret Agent Selection: WW2
This interesting five-part history show sees a group of volunteers try to pass the selection criteria to join the nascent Special Operations Executive, whose mission, according to Churchill, was to “set Europe ablaze” in the Second World War.
Monday, BBC2, 9pm
THEATRE
The Olivier Awards 2018
Catherine Tate hosts the Olivier Awards from the Royal Albert Hall, with performances from Hamilton, which is nominated for a record-breaking 13 awards, plus a special celebration to mark the 50th anniversary of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Tomorrow, STV, 10:20pm
DOCUMENTARY
Made In Yorkshire
Former deputy prime minister John Prescott may have been born in Wales, but he is most closely associated with Yorkshire, his adopted county. In this two-parter, Prescott goes behind the scenes of some of Yorkshire’s most famous producers to discover the secrets behind the region’s iconic foods. Stops include chocolate makers Whitakers of Skipton.
Tuesday, Channel 5, 9pm
SPORT
Golf: The Masters Live
Dunkeld’s Eilidh Barbour takes over from Hazel Irvine to present the final two days’ play of The Masters from Augusta, the first major of the year. ■
Today and tomorrow, BBC2, 7:30pm, 6:30pm