The very best of the week ahead
Today
Titanic: Into the Heart of the Wreck/Titanic: A Dead Reckoning CHANNEL 4, 7.30PM/MORE4, 9PM
The story of HMS Titanic has been laboriously told in countless documentaries, but while A Dead Reckoning largely rakes over familiar turf, Into the Heart of the Wreck focuses on a lesser-known angle: what has happened to the ship in the ensuing century or so. Occasionally becalmed by some regrettable narration (“soon, that dream would turn into a nightmare”), for the most part it is an absorbing study in scientific ingenuity and human perseverance, as the advances pass from bathyspheres to submarines to the sonar developments that finally enabled the discovery of the wreck by a French-American team in 1985. The story eventually arrives at film-maker James Cameron, who lit the ship’s innards in truly breathtaking detail before venturing inside with remotecontrol robots. With the wreck’s future endangered by “rusticles” (bacteria that can devour up to 100kg of iron a day), Cameron’s mission feels less like the vanity project of a wealthy man and more like an essential act of historical preservation. Gabriel Tate
50 Years of Mr Men with Matt Lucas CHANNEL 4, 6PM
Charm and colour by the bucketload in this fun frivolity, as Matt Lucas tells the story of Mr Bump, Mr Happy and the gang before unveiling two new characters to join the Mr Men Little Miss collective under the stewardship of Adam Hargreaves, son of series originator Roger. GT
Monday Innocent oce t M
ITV, 9PM
Along g with Matthew Arlidge, dge, Chris
Lang, g, the man behind nd ITV’s Unforgotten, rgotten, brought ght a quiet seriousness ousness and tangible ible humanity anity to the e first series s of Innocent cent back in 2018, a tense e drama exploring oring the truth behind one man’s overturned
conviction for murdering his wife. This second series poses similar questions of guilt and innocence in a completely different setting. Katherine Kelly plays Sally Wright, a former teacher who’s just been released from prison having had her conviction for murdering a pupil overturned. Also judged guilty – in the court of public opinion – of having had an illicit affair with the boy, which she also denied, it’s perhaps not the wisest decision to head straight back to her Lake District hometown where her disloyal ex-husband Sam (Jamie Bamber) is just about to rema remarry. Thus the scene is set for a ten tense face-off between Sally, determined to clear her name, and her accusers. A situation that that’s quite a challenge, too too, for DCI Mike Brait Braithewaite (Shaun Dooley), a det detective with a trou troubled past himself. The drama is s st stripped across th the next four nigh nights this week. G Gerard O’Dono O’Donovan
Inside No 9 BBC TWO, 9.30PM
A hilariously horrifying cautionary tale for scriptwriters, or anyone disappointed by the finale of a major drama series lately. Steve Pemberton plays a jaded TV fantasy writer who is grimly persuaded to take up his laptop again by obsessive fans – much to his grasping agent’s delight. GO
Tuesday Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer
BBC FOUR, 10.05PM
This excellent four-part documentary series looks at how medical progress has saved the world. Science writer Steven Johnson and historian David Olusoga discuss how we got here; they also go their separate ways to interview scientific luminaries including Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top disease control expert. In tonight’s opener the presenters explore the history of vaccines, which have more than doubled global life expectancy from 32 in 1900 to 73 now. Their look at the eradication of smallpox is full of
fascinating tidbits: viewers may be surprised to discover that an African slave called Onesimus beat Edward Jenner to the punch when it came to knowledge of vaccines in the early 18th century. Olusoga and Johnson compare the development of the smallpox and Covid vaccines. It’s an apposite, easy-to-follow celebration of the giant leaps that science has made in a century. Vicki Power
Hospital BBC TWO, 9PM; NI, 11.30PM
Viewers go through the wringer tonight as consultant gynaecologist Smruta Shanbhag goes all out to give hope to Natasha, a 48-year-old mum with advanced ovarian cancer. VP
Wednesday The Psychedelic Drug Trial
BBC TWO, 9PM; NOT NI
For millennia some societies have used hallucinogenic drugs such as mescaline, peyote and ayahuasca as part of tribal or cultural rituals; and psychology, since the early 20th century, has had an enduring fascination with the mind-altering capabilities of such drugs. More recently, research has been emerging on the therapeutic possibilities offered by psychoactive drugs for the treatment of depression. This absorbing documentary follows a ground-breaking new trial at Imperial College London, which tests the effects of psilocybin (the active ingredient of magic mushrooms) against an antidepressant on a group of participants with clinical depression, research that could eventually affect millions in the UK. GO
A Very Royal Baby: From Cradle to Crown
CHANNEL 4, 9PM
As the world awaits the arrival of Harry and Meghan’s second child, this film explores the upsides and downsides of being born into the Royal family, and the changing ways in which royal births have been greeted over the past hundred years. A gently informative watch. GO
Thursday We Are Lady Parts
CHANNEL 4, 10PM
This anarchic sitcom from Nida Manzoor is as unexpected as it is amusing. The plot focuses on Lady Parts, an all-female Muslim punk trio from London who are busy “concocting a confused mix of hash anthems and sour girl-power”. In episode one, one of their “anthems” is a darkly comic song about honour killings. When the members go looking for a guitarist, they target nerdy PhD student Amina (Anjana Vasan), a gifted player who is more intent on landing an arranged marriage than being a punk star. Sure, they break off rehearsals to pray, but they’re also outrageous rebels who swear like troopers and don’t conform to conceptions of Muslim women. A quintet of largely unknown young actresses give bravura performances, and Manzoor’s script subverts stereotypes. And, crucially, it’s funny. But be warned: it’s rude. VP
Subnormal: A British Scandal BBC ONE, 9PM
This intelligent documentary recounts a disgraceful educational policy enacted in the Sixties and Seventies that disproportionately sent black children to special-needs schools
(as seen in Small Axe). Film-maker Lyttanya Shannon talks to former pupils about the impact of being labelled “subnormal”. VP
Friday 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything
APPLE TV+
Drawing on David Hepworth’s book 1971: Never a Dull Moment,
Asif Kapadia’s fine documentary series weaves together socio-political commentary with music from the year many would claim was the most fertile
in the history of popular music. Across eight parts, it ranges across genres from rock (The Rolling Stones; The Who) to soul (Curtis Mayfield; Aretha Franklin), protest (John Lennon; Marvin Gaye) to metal (Alice Cooper; Black Sabbath), singer-songwriter confessionals (Carole King; Joni Mitchell) to nascent glam (David Bowie), much of it fuelled by generous amounts of drugs: the clips of Sly Stone on The Dick Cavett Show, having created his masterpiece while on the verge of narcotic calamity, have to be seen to be believed. The series is narrated by those who lived through it, while the wider context behind the albums that form the backbone of each episode – What’s Going On for the opener – is carefully attended to. GT
Great British Menu: The Finals BBC TWO, 8PM; NOT NI
Jodrell Bank provides the venue for the final, with the hopefuls cooking a banquet for guests including Prof Sarah Gilbert from the Oxford Covid vaccination programme. GT