The very best of the week ahead
Sunday
Roadkill
BBC ONE, 9PM
David Hare’s recent forays into television drama have underwhelmed but, on the basis of this opening episode of four, Roadkill feels both less didactic and daft than Collateral, and its dialogue sharper than in the Johnny Worricker trilogy starring Bill Nighy. As always, he attracts a fine cast, led by Hugh Laurie’s populist Conservative cabinet minister and smooth, self-made political operator Peter Laurence. Having successfully sued a newspaper for libel after they claimed he had lied about exploiting his position for financial gain, Laurence shrugs off any residual sense of remorse in pursuit of a promotion in the PM’s (Helen McCrory) reshuffle. But the skeletons in his closet rattle ever louder, with a mistress (Sidse Babett Knudsen), a rumoured illegitimate daughter, shady connections and further professional malfeasance threatening to surface. Roadkill is by turns withering, witty and despairing; Laurie’s impeccably slippery performance steers the many narrative twists and turns. Gabriel Tate
Michael Palin: Travels of a Lifetime
BBC TWO, 8PM
Michael Palin’s third travel series Full Circle was, he believed, “the ultimate, final Palin journey” – 50,000 miles around the Pacific Rim. His adventures made for remarkable, sometimes heart-wrenching television and another agonising climax, covered in a sometimes frantically paced retrospective. GT
Monday
The Billion Dollar Art Hunt BBC FOUR, 9PM
There are tall tales, and nd then there are Irish tall all tales. This tantalising g story follows BBC arts ts journalist John Wilson down a rabbit-hole of rumour regarding a Dublin connection to America’s greatest unsolved art heist of the past 30 years. Last st year, Wilson was contacted by the renowned art detective ive
Charles Hill, with the jaw-dropping tip-off that a billion dollars’ worth of Degas, Manet, Rembrandt and Vermeer paintings – missing since being stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990 – were actually languishing behind a false wall in a violent criminal’s suburban “safe house” in West Dublin. That this flies in the face of every crumb of evidence gathered by the FBI over thr three decades only makes t the story more intrigui intriguing, especially when links to a publicity-hungry former associate of the notori notorious Vermeerpinch pinching Irish gangster Martin “The General” Cahill are hinted at. As Wilson fl flits between London, Boston an and Dublin digging through the various theories surrounding th the theft, there’s a developing se sense of a bigger, more sinister g game being played behind the sce scenes in which a BBC film crew is ju just another pawn. Gerard O’Don O’Donovan
Who Do You Think You Are? BBC ONE, 9PM
“He’d make t the perfect Britain’s
Got Talent contestant,” quips David Walliams on discovering his great grandfather was a blind, itinerant organ-grinder and showman. The comedian’s findings are not the most exciting, but a forebear’s story highlighting the devastating impact of shell shock on First World War veterans has all the poignancy this series is famed for. GO
Tuesday
The Third Day SKY ATLANTIC, 9PM
Dennis Kelly’s immersive slice of folk horror will have undoubtedly polarised viewers but, for those of us who have loved it, this is a supremely satisfying conclusion to a beautifully balanced story of grief, loss and regret. It’s notable how different each segment has been: Summer sticky with woozy mystery and suppressed secrets, the ground-breaking Autumn sequence, which saw the Punchdrunk Theatre Company take the reins for 12-hours of hypnotic mayhem, and Winter, co-scripted with Kit de Waal and Dean O’Loughlin alongside Kelly, an altogether bleaker yet more
grounded affair. Tonight’s gripping final episode delivers everything you would want from a drama. It sees Osea turning in on itself as Jess (Katherine Waterston), newly delivered of a baby girl, prepares to face off against Sam (Jude Law) for control of the island, even as Helen (Naomie Harris) tries desperately to keep her two daughters safe. One of the best things on TV this year. Sarah Hughes
Out of Her Mind BBC TWO, 10PM; NOT NI
The trouble with this new Sara Pascoe comedy is that it tries to have its cake, eat it and stuff it down the audience’s throat, all at the same time. The basic premise is that Pascoe plays “herself ” as a woman on the verge of breakdown. When not trying to befriend strangers, she spends her time fighting with her family and addressing the camera about “her show”. There’s an awful lot going on here, much of it only halfworked through. SH
Wednesday
Billions SKY ATLANTIC, 9PM & 10PM
It’s a good decision to serve up a double helping to get us hooked into the fifth season of the fabulous high-stakes business drama. Because, after the intoxicatingly nefarious double dealings that brought the last run to such a satisfying close, the opening hour feels very much like a pause to catch breath and regroup. Yes, the delightfully vicious rivalry between Wall Street power-player Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) and New York state attorney Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) has been reignited. But there’s also time for fun at Chuck’s father’s wedding, for Bobby to do some unlikely howling at the Moon after reaching an important milestone, and for Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) to show their true colours again now they’re back at Axe Capital. GO
The Noughties BBC TWO, 10PM
Presenter Angela Scanlon invites comedians Ellie Taylor and Geoff Norcott to join her for a jog through the highs and lows of the decade that introduced the 21st century. They cover everything 2000, from the Millennium Bug to Kylie Minogue’s gold hotpants. GO
Thursday
The Trump Show
BBC TWO, 9PM
Events during the Trump administration have moved so fast that much of this absorbing series has felt like ancient history. Tonight’s edition recalls the investigations into Russian electoral interference and the sexual scandals that engulfed both Donald Trump’s campaign and his presidency. The downside of all this looking back is that we have to once again hear from members of Trump’s circle whom it would be a relief never to hear from again (Steve Bannon, Sean Spicer, Rudy Giuliani), frequently defending the frankly indefensible. But even if this series fails to provide any new revelations, it still feels like a valuable reminder of the dysfunction that has surrounded the President for years. GT
Celebrity Juice ITV2, 10PM
The deathlessly popular panel show returns for a 24th run with the same host in Keith Lemon, but new captain-scum-targets Laura Whitmore and Emily Atack. The first panellists are actor Will Mellor, Radio 1 DJ Clara Amfo, musician Tom Grennan and comedian Jimmy Carr. GT
Friday
Count Basie through His Own Eyes
BBC FOUR, 9PM
Probably the greatest jazz pianist of all time, Count Basie was also a notoriously private man. This enthralling film from veteran director Jeremy Marre, who died earlier this year, uses access to Basie’s letters and diaries alongside family footage to piece together a picture of a highly intelligent man who knew his own worth. At the story’s heart is the musician’s relationship with two women: Catherine, the wife he adored but regularly cheated on, and Diane, his only child, who had severe learning disabilities and was not expected to live to adulthood. That she thrived was a testimony to Catherine’s strength – refusing to send her daughter away (a common practise at the time), she taught her to walk and swim and built a safe, warm home for her. Her father, too, clearly adored her – the film is filled with loving letters to a daughter who could never respond. An engaging, well-made film, even if Marre does skate over some of the darker moments. SH
Gogglebox: Celebrity Special for SU2C / The Last Leg
CHANNEL 4, 9PM/10PM
A double bill for Stand Up to Cancer sees Mo Gilligan and Babatunde Aleshe among the celebrities yelling at the TV for Gogglebox before The Last Leg lads return with a 90-minute special. SH