What to watch
Steph and Dom’s One Star to Five Star
CHANNEL 4, 5.30PM
Daytime programming isn’t normally where we look for originality, so it comes as no surprise to find little in this new weekday show hosted by Steph and Dom Parker, those once, seemingly ever-sozzled breakout stars from Gogglebox. What there is, though, is fun and lots of it, even if at times it can be hard to tell whether it is intentional or not. Like the illegitimate offspring of Four in a Bed and any number of hackneyed Hotel Inspector-style shows, this series sees the Parkers take their own limited experience as B&B owners in Kent as proof that they know everything there is to know about the international hospitality industry and descend on an ailing hotel for a week with a view to making it marginally more appealing.
They begin with the dowdy Ransdale Hotel in Bridlington, a slightly tatty, underperforming establishment where they reckon seaside-themed rooms, kedgeree for breakfast and a party atmosphere in the bar will get the occupancy levels up from the current “negligible”. Could getting the clientele drunk cause the approval ratings to peak? It’s probably more likely than the kedgeree. Gerard O’donovan body, Chris and Xand van Tulleken explore how experiences shape our minds and bodies, and show for the very first time how memories are formed in the brain and continue to influence us throughout our lives. GO
Tunes for Tyrants: Music & Power with Suzy Klein
BBC FOUR, 9.00PM
In this edition of the documentary series, Radio 3 presenter Suzy Klein explores the Thirties and how classical music, while it was exploited to idealise violent nationalism and prop up the totalitarian regimes of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, was also be a source of coded resistance. GO
The Vietnam War BBC FOUR, 10.00PM & 10.55PM
Another double helping of Ken Burns’s stately and meticulously researched history of the Vietnam War rolls us on through 1967 when, with casualties mounting and the Viet Cong striking back in the infamous Tet offensive, a US victory looked increasingly beyond reach. GO