The very best of the week ahead
Today The Interrogation of Tony Martin CHANNEL 4, 9.00PM
Back in 1999, reclusive farmer Tony Martin confronted two burglars who broke into his property in Norfolk. He fired shots at them, injuring one and killing the other, 16-year-old Fred Barras. Martin’s subsequent trial and conviction divided public opinion. Was Martin, who claimed to be the victim of multiple similar break-ins, simply protecting himself or was he out for revenge? Tonight’s one-off drama aims to answer that question by focusing on Martin’s version of events. Using verbatim transcripts from police interviews, the film recreates the three days over which detectives interrogated their erratic suspect.
Inside No 9’ s Steve Pemberton stars as Martin, expertly tracking his shifting emotional state, initially confused and frightened, soon defensive and arrogant. Daniel Mays and Stuart Graham, meanwhile, play the detectives, patiently unpicking Martin’s story and exposing its inconsistencies. Toby Dantzic
A Northern Soul BBC TWO, 10.00PM
Documentary-maker Sean McAllister returns to his native Hull for a bittersweet reflection on the city’s past and future following its recent status as the UK City of Culture. He tracks the progress of warehouse worker Steve Arnott who plans to take a mobile music workshop to deprived areas. TD
Monday Blood CHANNEL 5, 9.00PM
One of the many pleasures of Jed Mercurio’s Line of Duty was in highlighting the supreme talents of Adrian Dunbar as a performer. This new five-part drama showcases the actor’s hard-to-read combination of integrity and shiftiness that will be familiar to fans of his much-cherished AC-12 commander, Ted Hastings. Blood, Channel 5’s first new drama series since Suspects in 2014, follows Cat Hogan (Carolina Main), returning home to rural Ireland after the death of her mother in a fall. Suspecting her father (Dunbar) of involvement, she finds precious few allies among either family (her brother is sceptical, her sister outright hostile) or locals (including a creepy policeman and an oddball admirer). Her own chequered past (addiction is hinted at) leaves her isolated, fragile and unable to back up her concerns with solid proof. Beginning with a feature-length opener and running across the week, this vaguely Hitchcockian affair is low key, unsettling and enjoyably slippery. Gabriel Tate
Driven: the Billy B Monger Story
BBC TWO, 9.00PM
Already available on BBC Three, this uplifting documentary, presented by Jennie Gow, tells the story of the astounding recoveries of two racing drivers. Both the hotly tipped Billy Monger and the veteran Alex Zanardi lost their legs in crashes only to resume their competitive careers in different disciplines. GT
Tuesday The Martin Lewis Money Show Live ITV, 8.00PM
It’s that time of year again – when half the world goes goggle-eyed from surfing the internet for all the endless bamboozling bargains on offer in the forthcoming annual Black Friday sales which, this year, falls on November 23. It’s the perfect moment, in other words, for money-saving advice expert and all-round consumer champion Martin Lewis and his team to sweep back onto our screens with this live one-hour Christmas consumer special. The show includes Lewis’s now-famous Festive Forecaster, in which he and co-presenter Angellica Bell predict the best shopping deals of the season – online and on the high street – and suggests caveats regarding the pitfalls and small-print catches awaiting unsuspecting buyers. Gerard O’Donovan 999: What’s Your Emergency? CHANNEL 4, 9.00PM
The series which follows the overstretched police, paramedic and fire services in Wiltshire is back for a fifth series. This opener explores “problem” families and the statistic that just five per cent of families in the county are responsible for 50 per cent of emergency call-outs and arrests. GO
Wednesday The Contraceptive Pill: How Safe Is It?
BBC TWO, 9.00PM
Most women will have taken the contraceptive pill at some point in their lives, and many of them will also have decided to stop, fearing blood clots or mood swings or weight gain or even the growing concern that it increases chances of getting breast cancer. This documentary, by GP and resident This Morning doctor Zoe Williams, tackles the pros and cons of what is still seen for many women as “a wonder drug”. Surveying over a thousand women between the ages of 18 and 45, Williams’s film works because she listens to their concerns then explains the science involved. The result is a sensible film bolstered by Williams’s calm presenting style. Sarah Hughes
Trans Kids: It’s Time to Talk CHANNEL 4, 10.00PM
Psychologist Stella O’Malley’s personal look at children transitioning is sure to make waves. As a child, O’Malley felt deeply that she was a boy. Then puberty arrived. Now married with two children, O’Malley wants to examine how she might have reacted in similar circumstances today. The ensuing film is nuanced but provocative, with an emotional conclusion that won’t please everyone. SH Thursday Salisbury Nerve Agent Attack: the Inside Story
BBC ONE, 8.00PM
The story of the Russian state’s bungled assassination attempt targeting former spy and dissident Sergei Skripal would be the stuff of knockabout farce if its consequences and implications weren’t so serious. A British resident since 2010, Skripal and his daughter, visiting from Russia, were poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent, in March this year. Both survived but, some months later, a British woman died, also of Novichok poisoning, in nearby Amesbury. Russia, meanwhile, paraded the two prime suspects on state television, claiming they were tourists who had flown to Wiltshire specifically to see its “famous 123-metre spire”. In this investigation, veteran Panorama reporter Jane Corbin talks exclusively to police officers, chemical-weapons scientists and intelligence insiders about the incident. She also travels to Russia to speak to Skripal’s family and friends about the attack, an outrage about which President Vladimir Putin seems brazenly unconcerned. GT
Tomorrow’s World Live: For One Night Only
BBC FOUR, 9.00PM
Still fondly remembered 15 years after it was last broadcast, the BBC’s science and technology series returns for a one-off with Maggie Philbin and Howard Stableford on the tiller, alongside Dr Hannah Fry. Broadcasting live from Glasgow’s Pacific Quay, they compare predictions made decades ago with contemporary realities, and test out technologies that could affect our lives in the future. GT
Friday Britain by Boat CHANNEL 5, 8.00PM
Retired newsreader Michael Buerk and former political correspondent John Sergeant make an entertaining pair of salty old sea dogs in this new four-part series in which they sail Bonaventure, a 50-foot Bermudan cutter, round various parts of the British coastline. They start tonight in a state of some trepidation as, though both are keen amateur sailors, they don’t know each other very well and neither has handled a sailing boat of this size before. Happily, they quickly discover a shared talent for mockcurmudgeonliness and, in any case, have two capable crew (“responsible adults” as 74-year-old Sergeant calls them) to help them navigate the tricky shallows, shifting sandbanks and busy shipping lanes of their first voyage, down the East coast from Lowestoft in Suffolk to Ramsgate in Kent. GO
David Cassidy: The Last Session BBC FOUR, 9.00PM
From the US musical-sitcom The Partridge Family to topping the charts with his solo hits such as How Can I Be Sure and Daydreamer, David Cassidy was one of the great teen idols of the Seventies. But his star faded and his end – he died last year leaving a trail of broken relationships after a long-running battle with alcoholism – was a sad one. This film biography made up of newly discovered interviews from his prime and poignant footage from his final studio recording sessions shortly before his death, is a thoughtful essay on the perils of early fame. GO