WHAT TO WATCH SURVIVING COVID

Channel 4, 9pm

For all the optimism and excitement generated by news of a possible vaccine, Covid-19 has had a devastating effect on hundreds of thousands of lives across the UK. Surviving Covid follows the stories of four men in their fifties and sixties over six months from March, when they were admitted into intensive care in south London’s King’s College Hospital. Directors Nick Holt and Arthur Cary have been granted remarkable access and had considerable trust placed in them by the families of the four victims; they approach the subject with all due seriousness and delicacy. The prognosis for all of the painfully vulnerable patients is bleak. The doctors are sensitive but absolutely honest; this absence of melodrama is respected and replicated by the film-makers.

The approaches of the families, uncertain and fearful all, differ wildly: some invest in Christian faith, some conduct bedside vigils (where possible) and others seek solace in memories and indefatigable good humour (“Anything you want me to tell dad?” “Hurry up [and get better]!”). Where they happen, the recoveries are very slow and the damage for some may be permanent, but this at least ensures their stories and struggles are duly honoured. Gabriel Tate turns its attentions to the Salem Witch Trials. The reconstructions aren’t going to trouble Arthur Miller’s reputation, while “paranormal author and Salem historian” Sam Baltrusis is one of many suspiciously multihyphenate contributors. But it’s more sober and considered than you might fear.

Covid-19 sufferer Sama, and his family