THE CARS THAT MADE THE WORLD

Sky History, 9pm

Another enjoyably over-the-top import from America, this one weaving the birth and evolution of the automobile with the

Looking back at three of Rod Stewart’s biggest hits

lives of its creators and innovators, themselves fuelled by rivalry and obsession (as represented by an actor angrily sweeping a pile of documents from a desk). We begin the four-part series with the great Carl Benz, the ill-fated Gottlieb Daimler and a cameo from one Charles Rolls, in a story ripe with silly reconstructions, ludicrous accents, forensic engineering detail and some eyecatching anecdotes.

ROD STEWART: SECRETS OF HIS BIGGEST HITS

Channel 5, 10.55pm

Sailing, Do Ya Think I’m Sexy? and Young Turks might not be three of pop’s more enigmatic opuses, but this retrospective attempts to prise out the hidden stories behind a trio of classic Rod Stewart songs guaranteed to split an audience more or less straight down the middle. GT