The very best of the week ahead
Today Dynasties BBC ONE, 8.30PM
David Attenborough’s latest epic natural history series (this one following five endangered species) begins with an alpha male chimpanzee (also called David) in Senegal, who must defend his family, turf and mates from younger, perhaps hungrier rivals. To say more would run the risk of spoilers, but suffice to say, it demonstrates a primate’s capacity not only for ruthless violence, but also tenderness and empathy. The show’s narrative is so impeccably structured, so riddled with twists and turns, that you might be forgiven for thinking it has been fabricated. The now-customary On Location postscript says otherwise, though: anthropologist and adviser Jill Pruetz followed David and his troupe for almost two decades, and the crew itself spent two years documenting them. Maybe the conservation message is traditional, but it truly hits home here, as we’re shown some shocking statistics that tell of how humanity’s capacity for destruction dwarfs that of anything in the animal kingdom. Gabriel Tate
World War One Remembered BBC ONE, FROM 10.00AM; BBC TWO, 7.00PM
David Dimbleby presents live Remembrance Sunday coverage from the Cenotaph, joined by historian David Olusoga and novelist Sebastian Faulks, before the afternoon service from Westminster Abbey is introduced by Sophie Raworth. A highlights show follows at 7.00pm. GT
Monday Liam Bakes BBC ONE 9.00PM
Really, it sometimes pays to be a loser. Despite not even making it to the semi-finals in Channel 4’s inaugural series of The Great British Bake Off, 19-year-old drama student Liam Charles made an impact with his cheeky charm and kooky creative ive bakes. An agent pounced, and now, after livening up Channel 4’s comparatively dreary sister show Bake Off: The Professionals and publishing a cookery book in the summer, Charles gets to present his very own half-hour series. It’s more than a little self-consciously “street”, with a bangin’ grime soundtrack playing over shots of graffiti-slathered tunnels and London tower blocks – none of which really matches Charles’ rather camp style, nor his primarycoloured and sugar-laden creations. Take the opening bake: a cola-flavoured choux-pastry popping-candy éclair, which features plenty of cream, icing and some concentrated cherry jam. And that seems almost low-calorie compared to his mega-choc cupcakes or his salted nutter cake. You’d need to have a supernaturally sweet tooth just to stand in the same room as half of that… Still, it’s good fun, and Charles really is a natural in front of the camera, so expect to see lots more of this young chef and his lethally calorific c confections. Gerard Ge O’Donovan
Manchester’s Narco Kings: Blood & Fear CHANNEL 5, 10.00PM
A new series of murky true-life tales about Britain’s most powerful gangsters starts in Manchester, with this story of three brutal brothers who dominated crime in the Eighties and Nineties by controlling the supply of drugs to the city’s wild club scene. GO
Tuesday Open Heart Surgery Live CHANNEL 5, 10.00PM
Yes, the title sounds exploitative, but this fly-on-the-wall series, which runs for the next three nights, is actually an admirable attempt to demystify the surgical process. The producers have been given rare access to theatres at two hospitals in the capital, the Royal London and St Bartholomew’s, and thanks to the remarkable sanguinity of the patients involved, each film is broadcast live from within the operating theatre, allowing us to follow the operations in their entirety. Out of the three, Tuesday’s first procedure is potentially the riskiest. The cameras follow a patient who’s undergoing open-heart surgery, an operation that involves the opening of their chest cavity and the temporary stopping of their heart. As you might imagine, the live aspect adds another level of stress to proceedings – as does the decision to film the patients’ families while they wait patiently, and more than a little nervously, outside the operating theatre. Sarah Hughes
Stacey Dooley: The Young and the Homeless BBC ONE, 10.45PM
This hard-hitting film by investigative reporter (and current Strictly favourite) Stacey Dooley looks at the bleak reality of life for homeless teens. Dooley pulls no punches: we see long queues for a hostel space and the despair of those with no home. SH
Wednesday Trust BBC TWO, 9.00PM
While it never quite blossomed into the must-watch series it promised to be, Trust has offered an abundance of pleasures over the past 10 weeks. This week, Sam West and Patrick Marber are the British Museum mandarins fending off Donald Sutherland’s increasingly deranged J Paul Getty and his interest in the Elgin Marbles. It’s one of several intentionally anticlimactic plot strands in the aftermath of Little Paul’s return from self-imposed kidnapping; others follow Little Paul’s wedding, the kidnappers’ family problems and Bullimore the factotum’s breaking point (a whisky mac, as it happens). In the end, all the Getty men, to some degree, look set to spend the rest of their lives unhappy and alone. It’s a small, sad ending to a big, brash show – which is perhaps just how it should be. GT
The Bisexual CHANNEL 4, 10.00PM
Sadie (Maxine Peake) has news for Leila (Desiree Akhavan) that leaves her reeling, with Gabe (Brian Gleeson) her only remaining confidant. This brutally funny, ultimately tender and quite unapologetically metropolitan comedy concludes. GT
Thursday Inside the Foreign Office BBC TWO, 9.00PM
Documentary-maker Michael Waldman gets off to an excellent start with his behind-the-scenes look at the fascinating and strange world of British diplomacy. We begin in June 2017, when Boris Johnson was the foreign secretary, and we’re in New York to see how our men and women in the Big Apple cope with the extreme demands of a UN General Assembly. Britain’s permanent seat on the UN Security Council helps us, as they say, to “punch above our weight”. We also meet the woman with one of the trickiest roles in diplomacy today: Judith Gough, the British ambassador to Ukraine, whose job puts her on the front line when juggling the UK’s tricky relationship with a newly belligerent Russia. GO
Our Classical Century BBC FOUR, 9.00PM
Lenny Henry is the first of four guests joining Suzy Klein for an exploration of the past 100 years in British classical music. This opener covers 1918 to 1936, exploring the impact of the First World War on composers from Gustav Holst to Vaughan Williams, the dawning of the Jazz Age, and how the opening of Glyndebourne saw the start of a new chapter for opera in Britain. GO
Friday Children in Need 2018 BBC ONE AND BBC TWO, FROM 7.00PM
The annual charity spectacular returns with Tess Daly, Mel Giedroyc, Graham Norton and Ade Adepitan overseeing a packed programme. The night begins with Alex Jones and Matt Baker in Salford for the end of the Rickshaw Challenge. Then comes the main event, which promises the usual mix of A-list performances and fundraising work. Among the highlights are a Strictly Come Dancing special, which sees the four members of Boyzone compete for the Pudsey Glitterball Trophy, and a special performance from an unnamed West End musical cast (please let it be Hamilton). Over on BBC Two, Celebrity Antiques Road Trip sees Al Murray and Paul Chowdhry hunt for bargains, while Stephen Mangan hosts a oneoff edition of Mastermind. Marvin and Rochelle Humes will join Rob Beckett at the end of the night to announce the final total. Can it surpass last year’s record of £60.7 million? SH
The Kominsky Method NETFLIX, FROM TODAY
Don’t be misled by the fact that this new sitcom is written by Chuck Lorre ( The Big Bang Theory) – it’s a very different beast. Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin are old friends navigating old age in a show that’s decidedly more Curb Your Enthusiasm than Big Bang
in tone. SH