WHAT TO WATCH ANTON FERDINAND: FOOTBALL, RACISM & ME

BBC One, 9pm; Scotland, 10.45pm

“I just wanted the FA to deal with it so that I could play football,” says Anton Ferdinand during this important documentary about the way in which the national game engages with racism. Ferdinand was at the heart of one of football’s biggest stories of the past decade when Chelsea captain John Terry allegedly racially abused him during an overheated clash against QPR in 2011. Watching the footage it’s clear that

Terry almost certainly made the poisonous comments and his defence that he was only repeating what Ferdinand had accused him of saying worked in Court but not at a subsequent FA hearing. Terry, claiming to have “moved on”, has refused to appear in the film, while Ferdinand and his family subsequently suffered online abuse, affecting his mental health and career. His main issue, though, is not with the former England captain but rather with the way that the game itself is run.

There are eye-opening interviews with campaign Kick It Out’s Troy Townsend, and Heather Rabbatts, the first woman and person of colour to be appointed to the FA’s board. The main takeaway is that, despite solid intentions, the FA has yet to truly tackle the rot at its core. Sarah Hughes documentary on royal Christmases. From parlour games (Ibble Dibble?) to post-dinner weigh-ins – not forgetting the competition for best joke present, which memorably saw the

Duke of Sussex present the Queen with a very cheeky shower cap.

HOSPITAL BBC Two, 9pm

Tonight’s episode is all about the second wave of Covid-19. Staff at the Royal Free Hospital in London are under an increasing amount of pressure thanks to a patient backlog and an evergrowing number of elderly admissions, many from large care homes.

Anton Ferdinand and John Terry clashed on the field