The very best of the week ahead
Today
Sanditon ITV, 9.00PM
Ever since Colin Firth’s wet-shirt Mr Darcy moment in the BBC’s 1995 Pride and Prejudice, any combination of veteran screenwriter Andrew Davies and the novels of Jane Austen has been regarded as the ultimate period-drama dream ticket. This new eight-part series, though, doesn’t hold out quite the same stellar promise, as the novel that Austen was working on at the time of her death in 1817 was only a working draft and less than a quarter finished. And, even that, Davies has taken considerable liberties with her. Still, if you like lavish period romps seen through a decidedly 21st-century lens, this will fit the bill. Rose Williams is terrific as Charlotte Heywood, who’s invited to stay at the South Coast’s newest but not-yet-fashionable bathing resort, Sanditon, by the entrepreneurial Mr Parker (Kris Marshall) and his family – with her father warning not to be seduced by the townies’ modern ways. There she encounters the dragon-like Lady Denham (Anne Reid) and the poisonous brood of relatives jostling to inherit her fortune. Gerard O’Donovan
Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes GOLD, 8.00PM
This is the first of three superbly recreated lost episodes of the classic sitcom. The scripts are reliably funny and the low-budget production values are much truer to the TV series than the recent, creaky Dad’s Army movie. But the brilliant casting is what works best with Kevin McNally as Captain Mainwaring alongside Robert Bathurst’s Wilson, Kevin Eldon’s Jones, David Hayman’s Frazer, Timothy West’s Godfrey and, prominent in this opener, Mathew hew Horne’s Horne s Walker. Continues tomorrow morrow and Tuesday. GO
Monday ay
Poldark BBC ONE, 8.30PM
Sharper than a stab from Poldark’s tricorne orne hat will be the pain ain of bidding farewell well to this much-loved ved Cornish bodice- ceripper. But after fter five seasons of masculine asculine derring-do and nd romantic wrangling set against Cornwall’s crashing waves, this saga sails into the sunset. Whether the love of Ross and Demelza Poldark (Aidan Turner and Eleanor Tomlinson) can manage to withstand this final mission – whether Ross even survives it – are tantalising questions. The action opens five months after last night’s instalment, when our politically engaged hero embarked on what he called his greatest gamble: pretending to plot with the French to overthrow the English government, in order to expose corruption. But what began as a ruse to save his own neck seems to have consumed Ross, Ross and even led him to stray from the marital bed. Debbie Horsfie Horsfield’s revival has been an enjoyably enj soapy gallop through thro Winston Graham’s novels n and Sunday nights will never n be quite the same. Vicki Power P
A Black Blac and White Killing: Killi The Case That T Shook America
BBC TWO, 9.00PM
The recent white supremacist rallies in Portland, Oregon, make this documentary series more pertinent. Mobeen Azhar was there last year when feelings ran high, as a white supremacist was tried for the murder of a black man. In this concluding episode (the first one airs on Sunday), Azhar examines tensions on both sides as the verdict is delivered. VP
Tuesday
The Great British Bake Off CHANNEL 4, 8.00PM
Along with falling leaves and ripening hedgerow fruit, the return of The
Great British Bake Off is a sure-fire portent of impending autumn. As they enter their third year in the tent, Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding are now comfortable enough to swap double for single entendres in an opening episode that manages to be both utterly filthy and entirely family friendly, from the opening
Wizard of Oz skit onwards. Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith are willing foils as ever, while an extra baker adds a twist to the format. The contestants are another appealing bunch, from manbunned support worker Dan and vet Rosie (she proves her dough in her python’s tank) to irrepressible-bordering-on-slap-dash youth Jamie and straightarrow chorister Henry. Week one is Cake Week, which means a Signature fruitcake, a retro classic for the Technical and a Showstopper based on dream childhood birthday cakes. Gabriel Tate The Affair SKY ATLANTIC, 9.00PM
It may be a series too far for a show which lost sight of the narrative quirk that made it unique – playing a quartet of unreliable narrators off against each other – in favour of a parade of lurid plot twists held together by its excellent cast. Still, here we are at the end of the road, with Anna Paquin joining the cast as Joanie, daughter of Alison (Ruth Wilson), who explodes into the lives of Noah (Dominic West) and Helen (Maura Tierney). GT
Wednesday
Cannabis: Miracle Medicine or Dangerous Drug?
BBC TWO, 9.00PM
In November 2018, medicinal cannabis became legal in the UK, prompted by the case of seven-year-old Alfie Dingley whose chronic epileptic seizures were drastically mitigated by its use. But despite the growing clamour for access to the drug, said to relieve complaints from anxiety to cancer, the science behind its effectiveness is worryingly nebulous. Step forward suave A&E doctor Javid Abdelmoneim, prepared to go the extra mile to pin down whether cannabis harms or helps us. He finds plenty of those in the pro-cannabis camp, including evangelical patients in Israel where it’s been prescribed for 20 years and Danish scientists supplying demand to Europe for a hefty profit. At the same time however, there’s controversy over how to balance out levels of CBD – the part of the plant said to be curative – with THC, its psychoactive or “high-making” component, which has links to mental illness. Toby Dantzic
Who Do You Think You Are? BBC ONE, 9.00PM
“I have no idea if I’m related to the Duke of Cumberland or any other pub,” quips Paul Merton before exploring his family tree. In Ireland, he learns about his rebellious grandfather who became involved in the early form of the IRA. TD
Thursday
China: A New World Order BBC TWO, 9.00PM
Could there be a better moment for this new three-part series on President Xi Jinping’s six-year period as leader of the People’s Republic of China, and the far-reaching changes that he has introduced to the country and the ruling Communist Party? When Xi took over as leader he was almost unknown in the West but China’s economy was the fastestgrowing in the world, its influence over emerging economies was enormous, and the country appeared to be on a path towards greater openness and tolerance. This first episode explores how, just six years later, with the Chinese economy slowing and a major trade war with Trump’s US administration in the offing, much has changed already. GO High Life BBC ONE, 10.35PM; N IRELAND/WALES 11.05PM
This multi-award-winning drama, previously aired on BBC Three, is about an overachieving 17-year-old, Genevieve (Odessa Young), whose privileged life begins to unravel when she experiences the first shocking symptoms of bipolar disorder. GO
Friday
Fosse/Verdon BBC TWO, 9.00PM Last week’s episode of this showbiz drama was a sharply drawn triumph, beautifully playing out over a strained weekend in the Hamptons. Tonight the show reverts to its familiar flashback-heavy structure, jumping between time frames in a scattershot style that both complements and muddies the main storyline. It’s now 1974 and Fosse (Sam Rockwell) is finding himself under enormous strain, as he tries to finish the edit on his movie about Lenny Bruce, which is beset by problems, even as he starts rehearsals for Chicago, the Broadway project of estranged wife Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams). TD
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance NETFLIX, FROM TODAY
Jim Henson’s Eighties fantasy film
The Dark Crystal was a sinister cult delight. Now this 10-part prequel takes us back to the planet Thra, where a trio of Gelflings spark a rebellion against their birdlike nemeses the Skeksis. Voiced by Helena Bonham Carter, Taron Egerton and Eddie Izzard, it’s full of beauty and action. TD