The very best of the week ahead
Today The Best of RHS Chelsea Flower Show
BBC ONE, 5.50PM
With the gardening event of the year cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Royal Horticultural Society have had to think outside of the (window) box. First up is this introduction hosted by Sophie Raworth and Joe Swift which celebrates the past decade with a focus on the Best Show Garden award winners. There is also the chance to vote for your own favourite garden in the newly launched BBC RHS People’s Choice of the Decade award. As for the rest of the week: avid fans can tune in to see Nicki Chapman handing out tips for viewers concerned about their own summer gardens with help from experts including Adam Frost, Carol Klein and Rachel De Thame ( Your
Chelsea Flower Show, Monday-Friday, BBC One, 3.45pm), while each evening Monty Don and Joe Swift will host from their gardens, looking back over the event’s history and considering why gardening remains such a national obsession ( The Best of RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Mon-Fri, BBC Two, 8pm). No, it won’t be the same as being there, but it should still be an interesting watch. Sarah Hughes
David Stratton’s Stories of Australian Cinema
BBC FOUR, 9.00PM
The veteran critic turns his gaze on the Australian family for the final part of his engaging series. “The idea of what makes a family is a rich theme in Australian cinema,” says Stratton before looking at everything y g from family comedy The Castle to bleak crime drama Animal Kingdom. SH
Monday Harry’s Heroes: Euro ro Having a Laugh
ITV, 9.00PM
“We done ’em last time and we’ll do ’em again,” says Harry Redknapp in the opening episode of this sequel to last year’s
Full English, in which he tried to get a team of unfit England football legends from the 1990s to take on their old rivals Germany. Assistant manager John Barnes makes a tour of it this time, booking the gang into a self-catering hotel in the quiet medieval French town of Provins. Expecting them to detox turns out to be wishful thinking as the former England internationals, including David Seaman, Paul Merson, Matt Le Tissier and Neil “Razor” Ruddock, go for a curry and hit the bars as opposed to the scales (they’ve put on a total amount of 7.5 stone since last year). As punishment, Rednapp organises a five-a-side game against a French nudist team. Be warned: it brings a whole new meaning to the word tackle. Aching and out of shape, their midlife struggles will resonate with many, but focus comes through Merson, who, when Ruddock goes off the rails, speaks emotionally a about his own alc alcoholism. “That was me nine months ago,” he sa says in tears. Not, the then, just an ent entertaining take on the batt battle of the bulge, but of iden identity, mental health and life life’s demons. Contin Continues Tuesday and Wedne Wednesday. Rachel Ward
Monkman & Seagull’s Genius Adventures
BBC TWO, 9.00PM
University Challenge rivals Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull hit the road for a new series exploring their favourite scientific breakthroughs. First up, it’s off to Derbyshire to investigate Richard Arkwright’s water frame. RW
Tuesday The A Word
BBC ONE 9.00PM
The thing that stands out about The
A Word is the care with which even the smallest of supporting characters is drawn. We may not have spent much time with Gemma Paige North’s Sarah but we already know that she is a helicopter parent par excellence, unable to stop hovering around son Bill. Yet she is also endearing because of an ability to laugh at herself. Similarly we recognise that David Gyasi’s laid-back Ben has his limits and that while he cares deeply for Alison (Morven Christie) he can’t allow himself to simply be a backup in her life. Both Sarah and Ben feature prominently in this week’s episode, but the main storyline belongs to the all-too-often underestimated Eddie (Greg McHugh), who finally tells father, Maurice (Christopher Eccleston), about the brewery offer. McHugh has been consistently great in this role, allowing us to see how much Eddie struggles to live up to his action man father and the episode is a lovely examination of how much gets left unsaid in any family relationship. It all hurtles towards a bittersweet yet satisfying conclusion and one that, as ever on this show, written by the excellent Peter Bowker, feels entirely true to all involved. SH
The Architecture the Railways Built
YESTERDAY, 8.00PM
The ever-enthusiastic Tim Dunn is in Cumbria to explore the imposing Ribblehead Viaduct while also examining the stations and structures along the Settle to Carlisle line. SH
Wednesday Climbing Blind
BBC FOUR, 9.00PM
“You don’t do these things because they’re easy. You do them because they’re hard.” This award-winning film tells the inspirational story of Team GB paraclimber Jesse Dufton and his bid to become the first blind person to lead an ascent of the Old Man of Hoy
– a dizzying sea stack in Orkney with sheer cliff faces and a drop of 450ft. Dufton was born with 20 per cent vision. Aged four, he was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease that breaks down the retina’s cells. By 20, he could no longer read. Now his vision is reduced to detecting light. As a lifelong climber, however, Dufton continues to defy the odds. He trains for international events and leads “trad” rock climbs with his sight guide and fiancée Molly Thompson. “I’m not disabled,” he insists. “I’m blind and able.” Can Dufton conquer his greatest challenge yet? Not just a gripping adventure but a sweet love story too. Michael Hogan
The Repair Shop
BBC ONE, 8.00PM; NOT SCOTLAND
The captivating restoration series has proved a soothing balm in lockdown. This week’s heirlooms include a dictionary believed to have belonged to Lord Horatio Nelson. MH
Thursday
What’s The Matter with Tony Slattery?
BBC TWO, 9.00PM
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, Tony Slattery was a comedian acclaimed for his exuberance, quick wit and ability to improvise. He began as one of the Cambridge Footlights set that included Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson and became a familiar face on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Have I
Got News For You. But in 1996, by then addicted to drugs and alcohol, he had a breakdown and disappeared. He returned to the public consciousness last year when he gave an interview about his mental health problems. But his issues remain largely undiagnosed. This excellent Horizon film follows Slattery and his partner of 36 years Mark Hutchinson as they try to find a definitive answer. They discuss frankly the past six decades with doctors, beginning with a former GP who recalls Slattery’s early struggles. Now approaching 60, he cuts a very different figure, and this is both a fascinating look at the science of mental health and a heartbreaking portrait of Slattery. Catherine Gee The Real Marigold Hotel
BBC ONE, 9.00PM
It’s actress Susie Blake’s birthday in the penultimate episode of the jolly
series seeing celebrity OAPs sample retirement in India. But for all his posturing on Dragons’ Den, it turns out that Duncan Bannatyne is not a man to be trusted with a birthday cake. CG
Friday
Little Fires Everywhere
AMAZON PRIME
Adapted from Celeste Ng’s bestselling novel, Little Fires Everywhere is aimed squarely at the Big Little Lies market. It’s set in the wealthy Ohio suburb of Shaker Heights in 1997 with Reese Witherspoon starring as the local Queen Bee, Elena, in a power play with Kerry Washington’s Mia, an artist and single mother to whom Elena rents an apartment. There is plenty to chew on in a story that tackles race, privilege and motherhood. So tight is the storytelling and so strong the cast that it’s hard to resist. SH
Portillo’s Empire Journey
CHANNEL 5, 9.00PM
Michael Portillo’s newest series is a decent albeit unquestioning overview of Britain’s colonial past. Here he’s in Jamaica where he looks at the links between sugar and the slave trade and visits the birthplace of Rastafari. SH