FIVE OF THE BEST
Big Cats
BBC 1, 8pm
The second documentary looks at how cats have adapted to the challenges of life in almost every environment on Earth. The margay leaps through the treetops in the Central American jungle, while the pregnant jaguar waits for thousands of turtles to arrive on a remote Pacific beach. In the Karoo region of South Africa, a tiny blackfooted cat stakes its claim to the title of the world’s deadliest feline, and in Outer Mongolia, the Pallas’s cat is able to disguise itself as a rock.
Death in Paradise
BBC 1, 9pm
Famous thriller author Frank O’Toole is found stabbed through the heart after taking an early morning swim in the ocean. Suspicion soon falls on the victim’s wife Valerie, but with eyewitnesses confirming he was swimming alone, how could anyone, let alone the prime suspect, have got from the house to the sea without being detected? Away from the investigation, Dwayne concentrates on finding a date for a voodoo love festival.
A House Through Time
BBC 2, 11.15pm
Historian David Olusoga follows the story of the Liverpool house from 1891 to 1945, a turbulent 50-year period encompassing two world wars and the Great Depression. For most of that time, it was home to the Snewings, a large family of saddlers. David follows their business through challenging times – death in the family, cut-throat competition, the First World War and the age of the motor car. With their departure came Jack Greenall, a docker keeping a secret from his employees, and then the Duffys, a couple both trying to escape unhappy childhoods.
Transformation Street
STV, 9pm
The second instalment of this documentary follows 52-year-old virgin Emma as she prepares for breast augmentation, and writer Juno, who grew up believing she was a gay man. The film also meets ex-firefighter Stephanie who, until 18 months ago, was a firefighter called Mark. She has known she was female since childhood and is now undergoing facial surgery. But the decision to live as herself full-time has resulted in losing her wife, her home and contact with her two sons.
The Mash Report
BBC 2, 10pm
Its detractors may claim that it isn’t as good as The Day Today (but then what is?) but someone at the BBC was clearly impressed enough with the first run of the satirical show to commission six more episodes. Despite receiving modest ratings of less than a million, its makers are hoping for bigger things this time around, with the number of viewers tuning in reflecting some of the glowing reviews it received from certain quarters of the media. This new batch of episodes were due to air at the back end of 2017 but were held over until the new year, with Nish Kumar returning as host, with support from Ellie Taylor and Steve N Allen as newsreaders Susan and Tom.