The very best of the week ahead Today
Louis Theroux’s Altered States: Love Without Limits
BBC TWO, 9.00PM; N IRELAND, 10.30PM
There’s always been a strain of voyeurism in Louis Theroux’s style of documentary, so it’s especially funny to see him going to Portland, Oregon – America’s capital of polyamory – and getting directly involved with sexual experimentation. It’s a terminological nightmare and an emotional minefield too, as Theroux soon discovers. In the end, there’s only one thing for the intrepid film-maker to do – dip a toe in the water himself. The result is a wonderful and surprisingly touching piece of documentary-making. Gerard O’Donovan
Arena: Make Me Up! BBC FOUR, 10.00PM
Art doesn’t come more subversively camp than multimedia artist Rachel Maclean’s feature-length film, which is a jab, in the form of a pink Barbie doll, at the paternalism of artists and the art world through the centuries. But it’s also a comment upon the pressures that women face from advertising and social media – and it’s delivered in the ghostly voice of Kenneth Clark, the gatekeeper of Civilisation himself. It’s definitely something different. GO
Monday Doing Money BBC TWO, 9.00PM
Fresh from her sprightly take on Vanity Fair, writer Gwyneth Hughes shows her versatility with this uncompromising, fact-based drama about slavery in modern Britain. The film’s searing exposition unfolds through the eyes of Ana (Anca Dumitra), a young Romanian woman snatched from a London street and trafficked to Ireland, where she’s forced to work in a series of brothels. Alongside Ana’s fate, we follow the police investigation ion headed by DI Dougie Grant ( Downton Abbey’s Allen Leech), which falteringly attempts to bring her trafficking pimps s to some semblance of justice. ustice. Dumitra, surrounded d by an excellent cast of co-stars, charts Ana’s descent into abuse with ith real intelligence and sensitivity. It’s a hard d watch, but worth it.
Toby Dantzic
Harry & Meghan: The First Tour ITV, 9.00PM
Royal darlings and parents-to-be the Duke and Duchess of Sussex set off on their triumphant maiden tour last month, visiting Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. Chris Ship documents their progress, starting at the Invictus Games in Sydney. TD
Tuesday School BBC TWO, 9.00PM; SCOTLAND, 11.15PM
It isn’t just the NHS creaking after years of austerity cuts and mis management. If the first episode in this th new three-part documentary series is anything to go by, the education system is also in a sorry so state. Filming the three schools run by Gloucestershire’s Gloucest Castle School Education E Trust (CSET), (CSET) director Tim Lawton Lawto begins at its biggest, bigge The Castle, where whe he finds pupils, weighed we down by exam e pressure as their GCSEs loom, and in need of pastoral care that’s no longer available due to budget cuts. The morale among the staff is poor too, as they face the familiar prospect of doing more with less, and a determined campaign of vandalism further chips away at their spirits. The stories – one pupil targeted by racist abuse, another battling anxiety – are compelling, and the contributors are articulate and remarkably reasonable, given the difficult circumstances. “That’s the picture of education now,” says form head and geography teacher Andy Grant. And a bleak one it is too. It’s anger-inducing viewing. Gabriel Tate
The Deuce SKY ATLANTIC, 10.00PM
The second season of the drama set in Seventies New York concludes with the premiere of “artistic sex film” Red
Hot, where Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Harvey (David Krumholtz) and Frankie (James Franco) find themselves caught between rival investors. The third season will be the final one, but this drama has been a triumph for David Simon. Its analysis of the American urban underbelly has been every bit as forensic and compelling as The Wire or Show Me a Hero. GT
Wednesday Grand Designs: House of the Year CHANNEL 4, 9.00PM
It’s that lovely time of year again when Kevin McCloud teams up with the folk at the Royal Institute of British Architects to have a nose around the most enviable homes built in the past 12 months. As ever, McCloud brings his particular wit to the proceedings, dividing this year’s longlisted houses into four categories: there are houses with a past, houses made from interesting materials, extreme houses and, in this opener, houses that dare to be different. The five homes featured are daring in strikingly diverse ways: a “grey monolithic slab that rejects conformity” in Hackney, London; a sleek modernist masterpiece that had its riverside neighbours fuming (and had to go to the High Court for planning permission) in Henley-onThames; a warmly woody Victorian conversion in north London; a semi-attached shared house built into a Newcastle hillside; and an end of terrace “marvel of layout in a bright red onesie” in (again) London. The only thing that connects them, really, is the fact that they’re all uniquely fabulous – and most of us would give our eye teeth to live in any one of them. GO
Killer By the Lake CHANNEL 4, 10.35PM
The latest offering from Channel 4’s Walter Presents foreign-drama strand follows on from last year’s French thriller Vanished by the Lake, with detective couple Lise (Julie de Bona) and Clovis (Lannick Gautry) relocating to another scenic waterhole – this time in Annecy – and taking on another perplexing case. GO
Thursday Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70 BBC ONE, 9.00PM
Although the younger royals have stolen much of the limelight in 2018, it’s the turn of the Prince of Wales to take centre stage in honour of his 70th birthday next week. Unlike ITV, who have a variety show in the works, the BBC are playing safe with a bio-documentary. The film-maker John Bridcut, who’s collaborated with the Prince before, has been following the heir to the throne for a year, both at work and at play, at Highgrove and Birkhall in Aberdeenshire. The highlights here include Princes Harry and William discussing their father, their upbringing and their feelings about his various causes célèbres. The Duchess of Cornwall also makes an appearance to talk about her husband. There’s plenty of behind-the-scenes footage too, showing the Prince with his mother, the Queen, at Buckingham Palace during Commonwealth meetings, or meeting and greeting dignitaries at home and abroad as he takes over more and more of her duties. Bridcut’s “intimate portrait” is an affectionate, respectful tribute to the Prince – and it’s another enjoyably upbeat addition to this year’s slew of televised royal occasions. Vicki Power
The Russell Howard Hour SKY ONE, 10.00PM
Russell Howard’s comedy-and-politics vehicle returns for a new run. The first guest is the New York Times’ Islamic State expert Rukmini Callimachi. Light relief comes in the form of slots such as “Playground Politics”, in which children discuss global news stories, and “Live Forever”, where Howard teams up with fellow comedians – this time, Greg Davies and Jimmy Carr – to try out supposed life-prolonging practices such as Nordic cuddling. VP
Friday Alone at Home CHANNEL 4, 8.00PM
After the triumph of The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds and its spin-off Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds, which was built around play-dates between pensioners and youngsters, Channel 4 can’t be blamed for trying another hiddencamera social experiment. This time, groups of older siblings must live together for four days without any parental supervision – though there are independent experts standing by in case of an emergency. As the four-parter begins, the camera lenses are trained on Surrey-based sisters Millie (16) and Laurel (13), and their stepbrother Ethan (14). Will they descend into Lord of the Flies- style chaos, or rise to the occasion without their hovering mother? Future episodes will feature younger children and even one with Down’s syndrome: they’re sure to pack a punch. VP
The Great Model Railway Challenge: The Final
CHANNEL 5, 8.00PM
Britain’s next top modeller will be named in this final of this jolly and surprisingly technical competition. The finalists, all of whom are men, are given their last challenge, to create five separate layouts that must be knitted together to form a 50-footlong super structure. VP