The very best of the week ahead
Today Doctor Who BBC ONE, 6.45PM
So, here we go: Doctor Who reboots into a new era, with Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall at the helm and Jodie Whittaker in charge of the sonic screwdriver. Chibnall does a very good job of introducing the large cast, including three fresh assistants for the Doctor, played by Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill and Bradley Walsh. Tonally, we’re closer to the Russell T Davies era of Whodom. This is a good thing for those of us who sometimes found Steven Moffat’s parade of tricksy girls a bit of a turn-off. Instead, Chibnall gives us the Doctor as a woman – and what a woman she is. The success of the role always depends on the charisma of the actor, and the delightful, dry Whittaker has that quality in spades, effortlessly suggesting the alien being that lurks at the Doctor’s core. It’s not perfect. Some of the one-liners are a little forced, while the central plotline isn’t nearly as memorable as Davies’s opening episode was. Still, there’s a true warmth and wit to Whittaker’s incarnation, and between star and director, it looks like it’ll be worth tuning in for more. Sarah Hughes
Great Canal Journeys CHANNEL 4, 8.00PM
It might seem like a light-hearted travelogue, but Great Canal Journeys is really about the love affair between Prunella Scales and Timothy West, a love made all the more poignant by Scales’ dementia. This time they’re on the Nile. A tender, quiet delight. SH
Monday Fashion’s Dirty Secrets: Stacey Dooley Investigates
BBC ONE, 9.00PM; NI, 10.45PM; WALES, 10.40PM
When not enveloped d in sequins and cutting a rug on Strictly Come Dancing, Stacey ey Dooley is a highly reputed puted investigative journalist. ist. In this documentary, she he sets out to tackle a scandal al that deserves a wider audience, dience, coming as it does as a direct result of the West’s appetite ppetite for cheap fashion. Dooley ooley travels to the developing ping world, looking into the he pollution and environmental nmental damage caused by the he manufacture of cotton garments destined for our shops. She sees how Kazakhstan’s gigantic Aral Sea has all but dried up because the water has been diverted to be used by the garment industry; the result has been an ecological catastrophe. She also witnesses the health problems caused to residents by the toxic chemicals pumped into Indonesia’s River Citarum by garment factories. She’s an energetic presence, naming the UK high-street brands that refuse to discuss with her their failure to check up on factories overseas. She may not have the influence of David Attenborough, who urged us to use fewer plastics in Blue Planet II, but her message is just as urgent – even if it takes all the joy out of shopping. Vicki V Power
Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds
CHANNEL CHANN 4, 9.00PM
This documentary series returns, its aim being to measure the potential health benefits of getting pre-schoolers and OAPs together for play-dates at a retirement village in Nottingham. And if nothing else, it’s so sweet to watch the young and old blossom in each other’s company. VP
Tuesday Imagine: Hockney, the Queen and the Royal Peculiar
BBC ONE, 10.45PM; NI/WALES 11.10PM
A favourite subject for Alan Yentob’s enduring series, David Hockney was commissioned by Westminster Abbey to create a stained-glass window that would replace one of the last plain glass windows in the building. Through Hockney’s work, the Abbey would celebrate the Queen’s reign in the space where she was both crowned and married. This instalment of Imagine follows the creation of “The Queen’s Window” from its inception, with early sketches made on an iPad in Hockney’s California studio, through the blowing of the glass in Bavaria, and onto its manufacture at Barley Studio in York. Hockney is by nature uninterested in anything obvious or reverential; he once turned down the opportunity to paint the Queen herself, with the excuse that he was “very busy painting England, actually, her country”. Here, the 81-year-old settled on a hawthorn blossom design, in a colourful style that recalls his paintings of the Yorkshire Wolds. At the unveiling, Hockney was delighted: “I know this is a historic place, and I know it’s going to last.” As for Her Majesty’s thoughts – they (as ever) will remain a mystery. Gabriel Tate
A Dangerous Dynasty: House of Assad
BBC TWO, 9.00PM; SCOT, 11.45PM
From the team behind the revealing Trump: An American dream comes another dissection of a prominent political dynasty. This gripping documentary begins by examining Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and his British-born wife Asma. GT
Wednesday Am I a Murderer? ITV, 9.00PM
Why would anyone claim to have committed a murder four decades ago – especially if they didn’t actually do it? For plenty of reasons, it seems: money, notoriety, or psychological issues. The question at the heart of this intriguing new documentary is whether any of those apply to Janet Holt, who in 2011 went to a police station in Derbyshire and confessed to the murder of her former business partner Fred Handford, a farmer who had been missing and presumed dead since 1976. After an investigation, the authorities concluded that Holt was innocent, and that she had ulterior motives for confessing. But that’s just the start of the story: here relatives, investigators and psychologists argue over the likelihood of Holt’s claim, while a team of experts assess whether her memories of the crime are true, or the unintended fruits of psychotherapy. Gerard O’Donovan
Emmerdale ITV, 7.00PM
After an absence of two decades, Emmerdale’s gleeful super-bitch Kim Tate (Claire King) is making a spectacular return. And she immediately causes consternation at the Home Farm masquerade ball. GO
Thursday Body Clock: What Makes Us Tick? BBC TWO, 9.00PM
Evolutionary biologist Ella Al-Shamahi is the host of this fascinating experiment, which sees former commando Aldo Kane agree to spend 10 days in a bunker with no light and no ability to tell the time. Kane, who served on tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, is more equipped than most to deal with the onset of sleep deprivation and the crushing weight of being alone with your thoughts, but even he begins to struggle as the days blur into one and the team play tricks with his perception. There’s some serious science behind all this trickery. Al-Shamahi and her team are trying to work out whether our body clock can adjust without artificial aids such as phones. They’re also keen to
Women on the Verge W, 10.00PM
With this new comedy, based on
journalist Lorna Martin’s book Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Sharon Horgan cements her reputation as the go-to chronicler for darkly funny stories of women falling apart. Fans of Pulling (Horgan’s 2006 sitcom) will feel as if they’re on familiar ground: Kerry Condon, Nina Sosanya and Eileen Walsh star as three friends juggling love and life in Dublin. But no matter how well-trodden the plot, there are plenty of great lines, and Martin, who co-writes, makes the journalism scenes ring true. SH
Friday This Morning at the Royal Wedding ITV, 9.25AM
It’s the second royal wedding of the year at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.
And as Princess Eugenie of York marries Jack Brooksbank, fans of the Royal family can to watch the proceedings live. Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford will anchor the coverage in an extended This Morning special. All of the senior royals are expected to attend, with Princess Beatrice acting as chief bridesmaid. Plus, among the 850-strong guest list, we’re due to see a host of celebrity faces: chief among them should be George and Amal Clooney, along with Robbie Williams and his six-year-old daughter Theodora Rose – who is rumoured to be a flower girl. GT
Would I Lie to You? BBC ONE, 9.30PM
As the popular comedy panel show returns for its 12th series, guest Bob Mortimer is making his seventh appearance. The rest of the line-up are all newcomers: former footballer Dion Dublin, comedian Lucy Porter and 2017 Strictly finalist Debbie McGee. GT