PICKS OF THE DAY
Gardening: Love Your Garden, ITV, 8pm
Alan Titchmarsh (left) and his trusty team of gardening experts visit Chippenham, Wiltshire, to create a traditional formal garden for an inspirational couple. Richard Warren has been a serving Special Constable for 52 years, and dedicates much of his spare time to running marathons to raise money for charity, and caring for his wife Lynette, who has multiple sclerosis. Elsewhere, the team shares solutions for unsightly spots in the garden and tips on how to mark out an oval lawn.
Documentary: Kate Garraway: Caring For Derek, ITV, 9pm
Follow-up to the moving documentary Finding Derek, which charted how Derek Draper and his wife GMB host Kate Garraway (above, with Derek and their children) coped while he was critically ill in hospital with Covid-19. This time, cameras follow Kate and their family from the first moments Derek arrives home in April, and the countdown to Christmas 2021 – a period of considerable upheaval and uncertainty.
Film: Captain Fantastic, BBC2, 11.15pm
This 2016 fictional comedy tells the story of parents Ben and Leslie Cash who have gone against societal norms to live a life off the grid with their six children. Ben is dedicated to raising his brood with not only rigorous physical and intellectual education, but with an emphasis on Left-wing politics. However, following a family tragedy, the Cash clan are forced to leave their cabin in the woods to return to society where they find “normal life” to be an overwhelming and frightening challenge. Written and directed by Matt Ross, starring Viggo Mortensen, George MacKay, Annalise Basso, Samantha Isler, Shree Crooks, Nicholas Hamilton and Charlie Shotwell (all left).
Reality: Yorkshire Firefighters, BBC2, 7pm
Plummeting winter temperatures and snowfall add to the problems posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, as the West Yorkshire firefighters (above) are put to the test by a series of challenging fires and nightmarish driving conditions. In tonight’s episode, a village near Halifax is shaken by a devastating gas explosion, while reports of distinctive smoke coming from a house in Leeds uncovers a huge cannabis farm.
Travel: Gareth Edwards’ Great Welsh Adventure, BBC4, 7pm
Stress levels are running high tonight when rugby legend Gareth Edwards (right) and his wife Maureen face their first lock on the Montgomery Canal. Later on, the pair enjoy a spell on a horse-drawn narrowboat, finally experiencing the tranquillity of near silence drifting through a pristine landscape without the hum of a boat engine. At a section of canal that is still impassable, they discover plans to restore the canal back to its former glory.