TV & RADIO

Jonathan Wright previews upcoming programmes on history and family history

PILGRIMAGE: THE ROAD TO WILD WALES BBC Two Late March

Pilgrimage, the series that follows celebrities of different faiths, and none, on a tramp towards a spiritually significant destination, has quietly become one of the highlights of the annual TV calendar. This year’s outing takes viewers along the 130-mile Pilgrim’s Way in North Wales, a route created in 2011 that links ancient churches dedicated to 6th- and 7th-century saints.

The seven pilgrims’ destination is Bardsey Island, known as the ‘Island of 20,000 Saints’, just off the western tip of the Llŷn Peninsula. As ever, though, it’s the journey itself that’s the real point as the likes of wildlife presenter Michaela Strachan, who puts her faith in the natural world, “areligious” actor Tom Rosenthal and comedian Eshaan Akbar, a lapsed Muslim, put one foot in front of the other.

THIS TOWN BBC One Late March

At the risk of depressing any readers who once spent their nights bouncing around on a dance floor wearing a pork-pie hat or a retro-looking miniskirt, it’s 45 years since ska group The Specials released their debut single Gangsters. First-hand memories of the 2-Tone era are becoming the preserve of those on the cusp of retirement.

Not that 60-something Peaky Blinders and SAS: Rogue Heroes creator Steven Knight is showing any signs of slowing down. Instead, his latest drama, which he describes as “a love letter” to the Coventry and Birmingham of his youth, takes us back to Britain during Margaret Thatcher’s first premiership, a time of huge social tensions. The plot of the six-part series revolves around a young band coming together. Famous names in the cast include Michelle Dockery, Nicholas Pinnock and David Dawson.

HISTORY’S SECRET HEROES BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds Monday 1 April

Not all of the stories from the Second World War era are as famous as they should be. Returning after an acclaimed first series last year, History’s Secret Heroes finds narrator Helena Bonham Carter again celebrating people whose contributions have been underappreciated.

One of 10 new episodes charts the experiences of Johnny Smythe (1915–1996), who was born in Sierra Leone and joined a Royal Air Force that, when fighting broke out in 1939, was operating a colour bar. He would go on to fly bombing missions across occupied Europe. After being shot down over northern Germany on his 27th mission, he spent 18 months as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft I.

In 1948, Smythe became the senior Colonial Office official on the captured German troop-ship the Empire Windrush, which had its own part to play in British history. There’s also a story about a meeting with a German ambassador in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown that makes the episode unmissable.

Note that a strong element of family history runs throughout the series, since it features contributions from relatives in addition to friends and expert historians. Among those remembering the life of Johnny Smythe is Eddy, his son.