THIS WEEK’S TOP TV PICKS
DRAMA Unsaid Stories Monday to Thursday, ITV, 9pm
Nothing could be more topical than this series of four short dramas, addressing the issues of race raised by the Black Lives Matter protests and made under the coronavirus filming restrictions. Generational (Monday) examines the relationship between a father and daughter. In I Don’t Want To Talk About This (Tuesday, with Joe Cole and Adelayo Adedayo, above) a middle-class black woman runs into her white working-class ex-boyfriend. A couple on a date are traumatised when they are stopped by the police in Look At Me (Wednesday), and in Lavender (Thursday), a white woman struggles to deal with her mixedrace daughter, who is having a baby with a black partner.
FLY ON THE WALL The Yorkshire Vet Tuesday, Channel 5, 8pm
There were no alpacas roaming the Yorkshire countryside when James Herriot was treating the local animal population. Goodness only knows how he would react if he saw his modern counterpart, vet Julian Norton (above), rushing off to help a member of the species who recently gave birth. What he would recognise, however, are the poor driving conditions on the roads in the area – Norton’s mercy dash is hampered by tractors. The opening episode of the charming fly-on-the-wall documentary series’ 11th run also sees Peter Wright visit the farm of Steve and Jean Green, who describe what life was like for them during lockdown.
DOCUMENTARY Reported Missing Wednesday BBC1, 9pm
The programme that follows searches for members of the public who have vanished from their homes is back for a new fivepart series, narrated by Indira Varma. The opening episode has at its centre an issue that’s been discussed a great deal – PTSD in current or former services personnel. Cheshire police are called in by the friends and family (including his wife Denise, above) of exsoldier Mark Smith. Shortly before his disappearance and while in despair, he posted on social media that he wanted to end it all. Cameras chart the progress of Sgt Paul Chadwick as he assesses the case, which he believes, due to Mark’s background, has the potential to become volatile.
COMEDY Mandy
Thursday, BBC2, 9.30pm and 9.45pm
You probably know Diane Morgan best as Ricky Gervais’ co-worker in After Life, or as Liz, the acerbic straight-talker in Motherland, but that may change once this promising sitcom is shown. It was commissioned following a successful pilot last year and is something of a labour of love for Morgan (above), who not only takes the title role but also wrote and directed each 15-minute episode. Mandy is a woman with big dreams, the biggest of which is to become a leading doberman pinscher breeder. But in the first two episodes her time is taken up with fruit-picking and frying chicken. Sean Lock and Maxine Peake guest star.
PROFILE The Life And Times Of Captain Sir Tom Thursday, ITV, 9.15pm
He is the Second World War veteran who had a single aim: to raise £1,000 for a pandemic-beleaguered NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden to celebrate his 100th birthday. But that simple plan seized the imagination of the country at a time of crisis, and after more than £32 million poured in to his fund, Captain Tom Moore (above) was elevated to the status of national hero and honoured with a knighthood. In this documentary, Sir Tom looks back over his long and extraordinary life, from his childhood in Yorkshire to Army service in the Burma campaign, and then raising a family with his wife Pamela. An unmissable profile.