Royal Marines Commando School
Channel 4, 9pm
Although my father served with the Royal Marines during the Second World War, he came from a generation that was reluctant to share its experiences under fire. His medals and service record tell my brother and me where he served, but he told us little of the day-to-day experience of life in uniform. Future generations will have no such problem, given the number of documentary films that get made about the armed forces. This one focuses on the Devon training centre through which my father and his comrades went more than 70 years ago. Despite the presence of the cameras, it’s probably as tough now as it was then, although my father would have disagreed…
BBC1, 9pm
Everyone from Billy Connolly to the Coast team has taken a look at Australia, but it’s a huge country, so there has still been plenty left for John Bishop to discover. In his case, it’s been more a case of rediscovery as he retraced a journey he made 25 years ago before fame beckoned. As you’d expect from a comedian, there are plenty of looks at the lighter side of life down under, but he also tackles some serious subjects. Last week, he put his vegetarian principles to one side in speaking to a man who conserves, and farms crocodiles. This, the last in the series, sees him reach the Great Barrier Reef.
ITV, 9pm
Even the certainty that the lost relative concerned will be found doesn’t lessen the emotional impact of the reunions. Pauline, 77, was adopted as a baby but didn’t have a completely happy childhood. Aged 28 she discovered she had a brother, but has never met him. A programme that will have all but the heartless smiling or, more likely, crying.
Clothes to Die For
BBC2, 9pm
In April last year more than a thousand people died when a clothing factory in Bangladesh collapsed. Watching the TV news, I remember thinking how awful it was, and being glad that I live in a country where regulations mean such events are unthinkable. This disturbing documentary explains the connection between what happened and our insatiable appetite for cheap clothes. With workers paid a pittance for producing hundreds of items a day, health and safety was way down the list of management concerns.
Channel 4, 8.30pm
One of those programmes that looks at the risks lurking behind the scenes in the food industry. Watch too long and you may be left wondering if it’s safe to eat anything.
Love Your Garden
ITV1, 8pm
I used to get irritated by makeover shows that were helping people who looked as if they could easily have sorted out the problem themselves. These days programme makers, thankfully, focus on the truly deserving. This week, Alan Titchmarsh visits Bideford in Devon to help a family whose father has had a brain injury. In his hands an overgrown space becomes a gorgeous coastal-themed paradise.
BBC2, 9pm
As a youngster, I remember my father insisting we walked the last few miles to Cape Wrath rather than take the local minibus. By the time we got there we were too tired to appreciate the spectacle. Nick Crane revisits an area where he too spent time as a teenager with his father. He walks the mainland’s tallest cliffs and most remote headland on his way to a special beach.
The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway
BBC2, 9pm
Ever since I learned that my grandfather had been a railway engineer at the North British Locomotive Works in Glasgow, I’ve had a soft spot for anything that runs on rails. The golden age of railway development may have passed, but there are still projects on the go that would have astonished our forefathers. Beneath the streets of London, giant tunnelling machines are cutting a path for the Crossrail underground line, Europe’s biggest infrastructure project. All most Londoners see is a series of building sites.