The very best of the week ahead
Sunday
Derren Brown: 20 Years of Mind Control: Live
CHANNEL 4, 9.00PM
“He’s the nation’s chief tease,” says Mark Gatiss in what is probably the most astute summation of illusionist and trickster Derren Brown, who returns to our screens with what he promises will be one of his best stunts yet. Exactly what that might be is, naturally, shrouded in mystery. But it takes place as part of this documentary looking back at his 20 year stage and screen career, and the workings behind some of his most famous tricks throws up some entertaining surprises of its own. Chief among those is Brown’s apparent willingness to delve deeper into the thinking behind some of those best-known moments, most notably the much-loved Hero at 30,000 Feet, which saw a shy man save the day on a packed aeroplane. It’s followed at 11.10pm by a behind-the-scenes look at Brown’s greatest stunts as voted for by the public, from Russian Roulette to The Heist. Sarah Hughes
Albion
BBC FOUR, 10.10PM
Mike Bartlett’s 2017 Brexit play was a tragicomic story of family and national identity held together by a wonderful performance from Victoria Hamilton as Audrey Walters, a businesswoman haunted by her son’s death and determined to create her own miniature Eden in the gardens of a dilapidated country home. It’s a haunting look at the myths we create about nationhood. SH
Monday
The Trial of Alex Salmond
BBC TWO, 9.00PM
Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond is a man on whom everyone has an opinion. Some admire him as a dynamic, charismatic leader who took Scotland to the brink of independence; others see an arrogant powermonger, lost without an audience.
Last spring, he was acquitted in court of all charges when 10 women accused him of a total of 14 sexual offences. It was by any standards a sensational trial, arguably the first of the MeToo era in this country. In this one-off documentary Kirsty Wark canvasses the views of Salmond’s friends and foes alike, as well as talking to three of the women who brought the charges, while director Sarah Howitt tracks the progress of the trial. Even his defence lawyer was moved to comment that Salmond “certainly could have been a better man”, while rumours of conspiracies to bring him down reflect almost equally poorly on the party he once led. Gabriel Tate
Lovecraft Country Coun
SKY ATLANTIC/NOW T TV, 9.00PM
HBO’s bleak, gripping new thriller marries the chilling horror ho of HP Lovecraft’s fiction to the unapologetic real-world r racism of the Jim Crow era. On the surface, it’s a familiar road trip as a young black man (Jonathan ( Majors) crosses cr 1954 America with his friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett) and Uncle George (Courtney B Vance) in search of his father; but nightmares lurk above and below the surface. It riffs on the author’s own prejudices and is steeped in period detail and contemporary resonance. GT
Tuesday
Manctopia: Billion Pound Property Boom
BBC TWO, 9.00PM
With its rapidly transforming skyline and a population due to double over the next five years, is Manchester becoming the British equivalent of Manhattan? This four-part docuseries, filmed over a year, follows the fortunes of people living and working in its remarkable city-centre boom. It’s an area of seismic change and stark contrasts. Local millionaire Tim Heatley plans to transform the city’s red-light district into a fashionable residential quarter, as well as organising a fundraising concert for mayor Andy Burnham’s homeless charity. As gleaming skyscrapers crowd the horizon, not everyone is a winner. Single mother Christina Hughes finds herself priced out of the area she grew up in. Narrated by Coronation Street alumnus Sally Lindsay, it tells the human stories behind the property deals. However, it won’t reassure anyone worried by the lack of affordable housing. Michael Hogan
Leonardo’s Rediscovered Masterpiece
SKY ARTS/NOW TV, 9.00PM
With fewer than 20 paintings
attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, identifying a new one is a major event. The 16th-century portrait Madonna of
the Yarnwinder is believed by some leading experts to be painted by the great master. Several versions exist, notably one in Scotland, but which is the real deal? MH
Wednesday Harlots
BBC TWO, 9.00PM & 9.45PM
One of the best things about Moira Buffini and Alison Newman’s period drama is the way it takes risks with tone, switching easily between light-hearted romp and the darker material hovering around the edges. That those darker plots are now coming into the light should come as no surprise – this is, after all, a story about a mother selling her daughters to the highest bidders in order to secure their survival. This double bill brings a number of mother and child relationships to the fore as Margaret (Samantha Morton) congratulates herself on a job well done even as Lucy (Eloise Smyth) tries to warn her that she is scared of (the deeply creepy) Lord Fallon (Ben Lambert). And she has good reason given his involvement with the child prostitution racket that Lydia Quigley (Lesley Manville) is helping to keep afloat. SH
There Are No Fakes
SKY ARTS/NOW TV, 10.00PM
“I feel as though in this story I’m just a little Alice in Wonderland – I just wanted to buy a painting,” says Kevin Hearn, guitarist for the Canadian band Barenaked Ladies, in this enthralling documentary about art, fakes and authenticity. The painting that Hearn bought was by Native Canadian artist Norval Morrisseau, described by Marc Chagall as “the Picasso of the North”, and would swiftly become the centre of a hugely controversial law case. Film-maker Jamie Kastner does his best to pick his way through the mire. SH
Thursday Criminal Kids: Crime & Punishment
CHANNEL 4, 9.00PM
Another profoundly important and dispiriting plunge into the criminal justice system from veteran documentary producer Roger Graef and his team, as the cameras travel to the south coast to follow young men seemingly interminably entangled in petty crime. Among them is teenager Brandon, who is being hunted for his suspected involvement in a spate of burglaries which targeted older people; Jordan, 22, has just been released from prison having spent almost half his life in the system, and his probation officer is working hard to secure him the accommodation that she believes will break the cycle. Each is granted brief moments of telling introspection, but there is precious little hope and parental support appears at a premium.
Can Sex Offenders Change?
BBC ONE, 10.45PM; N IRELAND, 11.45PM
Also available on BBC Three from 6.00am, Becky Southworth’s bold documentary sees her meeting convicted sex offenders to consider the reasons behind their crimes and assess their chances of rehabilitation. The fact that Southworth’s own father is a convicted sex offender ensures some particularly personal and acute insights. GT
Friday Unreported World
CHANNEL 4, 7.30PM
When news first started coming in about plagues of locusts in Kenya, social media was full of jokes about the imminent end of the world. Yet, as this report from Sahar Zand makes devastatingly clear, the reality is far bleaker than most of us can imagine with almost 1.3million people facing a plunge into poverty should the infestations take hold. Joining a group of ‘locust hunters’, that is people who cross the country trying desperately to prevent the spread, Zand’s cameras do a solid job of capturing the ferocity with which the insects devour crops. The report deftly higlights how ordinary people’s livelihoods are affected, from the subsistence farmers desperately praying that their farm will be passed over by the swarming cloud to those convinced that the locusts are a punishment sent by God. GT
The Young Offenders
BBC ONE, 9.30PM; WALES, 10.45PM
The Cork-set comedy continues to cement its place as one of the funniest things on television right now. This fantastic penultimate episode sees Jock (Chris Walley) caught up in an unexpected boxing match. GT