TV & Radio
Highlights and listings.
DRAMA
Black Narcissus
This three- part adaptation of Rumer Godden’s brooding classic novel stars Gemma Arterton as Sister Clodagh, a strict and faithful young sister superior tasked with establishing a mission in the remote Himalayas.
Set in the 1930s, the series faithfully captures the novel’s themes of forbidden desire, religion, and sexual repression, as Clodagh is increasingly haunted by an event from her past that first drove her to take her vows, and which now, years later, fills her with longing.
The late Diana Rigg plays Mother Dorothea who is sceptical of Clodagh’s pride and sends Sister Ruth ( Aisling Franciosi) to accompany Clodagh to the Himalayas, where already tense relations between the two women slowly turn poisonous. Tomorrow to Tuesday, BBC1, 9pm
DRAMA
The Serpent
Inspired by real events, BBC1' s new eight- part drama, a co- production with Netflix, tells the remarkable story of how the conman and murderer Charles Sobhraj ( Tahar Rahim) was brought to justice.
Posing as a gem dealer, Sobhraj and his girlfriend Marie- Andrée Leclerc ( Jenna Coleman) travelled across Thailand, Nepal and India in 1975 and 1976, carrying out a spree of crimes on the Asian ‘ Hippie Trail’ and becoming the chief suspects in a series of murders of young Western travellers. As Sobhraj repeatedly evades arrest, Herman Knippenberg ( Billy Howle), a junior diplomat at the Dutch Embassy in Bangkok, unwittingly walks into his intricate web of crime. Knippenberg sets off an extraordinary chain of events that will see Sobhraj become Interpol’s most wanted man, with arrest warrants in multiple continents. New Year’s Day, BBC1, 9pm
DOCUMENTARY Last Woman On Earth With Sara Pascoe
Writer and comedian Sara Pascoe is learning how to do the world’s most endangered jobs – from ice carving in Finland to climbing trees to make a coconut sweet treat in Cuba. Visiting a different country each week to meet some of the last generations performing these dying crafts, Sara embarks on a mission to learn some of the fading trades before they are lost forever.
Tomorrow, BBC2, 9pm
NATURE
Meerkat: A Dynasties Special
Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, Meerkat: A Dynasties Special follows the dramatic story of a young meerkat queen called Maghogho on a quest to establish her dynasty in one of the harshest places on earth. Her kingdom is at the limit of what meerkats can endure – the empty beauty of the Makgadikgadi salt pans in Botswana. It’s so hot and dry here that almost nothing can survive – and yet it is here that she must raise her pups.
Monday, BBC1, 7: 30pm
COMEDY
Two Doors Down – Christmas Special
The award- winning Scottish comedy takes viewers on a Christmas getaway as the neighbours head off on a rare trip away from Latimer Crescent.
But a Christmas holiday break at Colin ( Jonathan Watson) and Cathy’s ( Doon Mackichan) Luxury Lodge in the Scottish Highlands threatens to derail the neighbours’ friendship when Cathy pushes Beth, played by Arabella Weir, too far.
Monday, BBC2, 9pm
MUSIC
The Nine Lives Of Ozzy Osbourne
This film follows Ozzy Osbourne’s journey from his poor childhood and time spent in prison, to fronting metal band Black Sabbath and his solo career, to his role as rock’s elder statesman and a lovable 21st century TV dad. Wednesday, BBC2, 10pm