Wednesday 6 June
Who Do You Think You Are?
BBC One, 9.00pm; not Scotland; Wales, 11.05pm
The enduring appeal of this ancestry series lies in its subjects and their ancestors. Some turn out to be genealogical epics, others are simply intimate and relatable. The 15th run of this documentary series begins with one that is the latter. Michelle Keegan (who stars in Our Girl, which begins on BBC One on Tuesday) explores the story of her great-grandmother Leonor.
Keegan begins her quest in Gibraltar and what she discovers begins with a Romeo and Juliet-type tale of love across a forbidden divide (in this case religion: Leonor was Roman Catholic and Keegan’s great-grandfather was Church of England). On a sadder note, the family was then torn apart by the Second World War. Keegan also learns that she has unexpected roots from elsewhere. A clue: “Mum, I’m drinking a cappuccino, guess where I am.” “Brazil?”, her mother’s reply, is not the answer. But it’s when she goes further back to her great-great-grandmother, who lived in poverty in the early 20th century, that Keegan unearths a special connection to the suffragette movement.For her part, Keegan proves to be an engaging guide. And while it may not be a vintage episode, there’s plenty here to hold the attention. CM
The Truth About Carbs
BBC One, 8.00pm
With 63 per cent of the UK’s adults considered to be obese, the amiable and seemingly omnipresent Dr Xand van Tulleken sets out to discover if carbohydrates are to the blame? In this new series, he explores whether bread and pasta are “bad” foods, learns how much sugar some foods release into our blood and trials a healthy eating regime. CM
Great Rail Restorations with Peter Snow
Channel 4, 8.00pm
As he showed on Trainspotting Live, Peter Snow is bona fide rail enthusiast. And now gets another chance to share his knowledge in this new series, in which he visits experts restoring historic railway carriages to their former glory. The first stop is Llangollen in North Wales to visit a 1912 carriage designed by Nigel Gresley, the creator of the Flying Scotsman. CM
Grenfell: The First 24 Hours
ITV, 9.00pm
Marking one year since the Grenfell tragedy, this one-off special pieces together the timeline of the events, beginning at the first report of the blaze at 12.54am on June 14. CM
The Richard Dimbleby Lecture
BBC One, 10.45pm; Wales, 12.05am
One month after a statue of suffragist Millicent Fawcett was unveiled in Parliament Square, author Jeanette Winterson examines the longevity of the campaigns promoting equality. CM
Hollywood Couples
Sky Arts, 9.00pm
Carole Lombard and Clark Gable were the epitome of Thirties Hollywood glamour. Not only did they have box office success for their films, Lombard and Gable had a passionate and tragically brief marriage. But it was not love at first sight for the winning twosome. This documentary tells their touching and tragic love story. CM
Get Shorty ★★★★☆
Sky Atlantic, 9.00pm
This dark comedy may be inspired by the same Elmore Leonard novel as the 1995 film starring John Travolta, but this Get Shorty is so much better. Like the film, the series re-imagines the scenario where criminals and Hollywood come together for a blend of violence and humour, but this one is more fun, and as addictive as it is revolting. In the first episode of this dark comedy, hitman Miles Daly (Chris O’Dowd) heads to Los Angeles to collect a debt from a screenwriter – but is inspired to become a movie producer instead and win back his estranged family. CM
Anastasia (1956) ★★★★☆
Film4, 12.50pm
Returning to Hollywood following years of being blacklisted, Ingrid Bergman won a second Oscar for this melodrama of mystery and romance. It’s Twenties Paris, and an amnesiac (Bergman) is rescued by Russian expat General Sergei Bounine (Yul Brynner). But his motives are far from noble: he hopes to pass her off as Princess Anastasia, the daughter of the late Tsar Nicholas II, who was presumed to have been executed in 1918.
One Night in Turin (2010) ★★★☆☆
History, 6.30pm
“I didn’t want it to finish,” recalls Paul Gascoigne. “Football was back with a smile on its face.” This film relives the Italia ’90 World Cup, where England played the old rivals Germany in the semi-finals. Narrated by Gary Oldman, it recalls how in one night Bobby Robson’s team of “donkeys” – including a crying Gazza – transformed football from a sport synonymous with hooligans to a source of national pride.
The Rewrite (2014) ★★★☆☆
Film4, 6.50pm
In his latest collaboration with the writer-director Marc Lawrence (others include Music and Lyrics and Two Weeks’ Notice), Hugh Grant plays a waning Hollywood screenwriter whose life is in desperate need of a satisfying third act. Short on money and inspiration, he takes a job teaching at a remote New England college. Blundering but touching. Marisa Tomei, J K Simmons and Alison Janney are among the supporting cast.
Thursday 7 June
RHS Chatsworth Flower Show
BBC Two, 7.00pm; not Scotland or Wales
Anyone mourning the end of the Chelsea Flower Show can seek solace in the RHS’s newest horticultural event, the Chatsworth Flower Show. Although its debut last year was marred by inclement weather, the event deserves to become a magnet for enthusiasts, its USP being its setting in the glorious Capability Brown-designed gardens of Derbyshire’s most famous stately home.
This year’s occasion features a show-stopping installation of more than 100 varieties of orchid, a floral river display of 12,000 Cosmos, and eight art installations dotted among the 1,000-acre estate. We begin with Gardeners’ World favourites Carol Klein, Adam Frost and Arit Anderson giving us an overview of the five-day event. Among the five show gardens, the most intriguing-sounding are Elspeth Stockwell’s John Deere Garden, which celebrates 100 years of tractors, and Chris Myers’ Hay Time in the Dales, which is a celebration of wildflower meadows. The gardening experts ask whether conifers are coming back into fashion and explore Chatsworth’s rich orchid history – the Victorian head gardener Joseph Paxton introduced 80 species there. If the weather holds, RHS Chatsworth should become a jewel in the RHS crown. VP
Britain’s Best Home Cook
BBC One, 8.00pm
This over-egged cookery contest, with too many judges, hasn’t recreated Great British Bake Off’s magic, but goes down easily enough. This week, the five remaining amateurs create a sharing feast and a dish of squid or mackerel. VP
Supershoppers
Channel 4, 8.00pm
This perky take on the consumer show, hosted by Anna Richardson and Sabrina Grant, storms back with an item attacking John Lewis. They argue that the department store’s price promise can’t always be believed, alongside other items looking at faddy dairy-free milks and battery life. VP
Secrets of the Chocolate Factory: Inside Cadbury
Channel 5, 9.00pm
This breezy documentary looks at the history of our favourite chocolate brand, from its founding as a well-meaning Victorian social experiment to the hostile takeover by Kraft in 2010. It’s packed fuller than a Fruit & Nut bar with fascinating titbits, making it a satisfying treat. VP
Mock the Week
BBC Two, 10.00pm
TV’s most competitive panel show is back to take a sideways look at the news, with James Acaster and Zoe Lyons among the stand-ups joining stalwart Hugh Dennis and host Dara O’Briain. Donald Trump and Brexit ensure there’s be no shortage of material. VP
Quantico
Alibi, 9.00pm
Priyanka Chopra, a close friend of the duchess formerly known as Meghan Markle, guest stars in the third run of this crime thriller. This new series, set three years after the last, sees Chopra’s ex-FBI agent, Alex Parrish, living under a pseudonym, until men with guns find her. VP
Billions
Sky Atlantic, 9.00pm
It’s a pleasure to watch Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis slug it out each week as hot-shot attorney Chuck and shady banker Axe in this drama about high finance. This week, Axe and Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) fall out over her worth to the firm. VP
Missions
BBC Four, from 10.00pm
Another double helping of the French sci-fi drama about the first manned mission to Mars, in bite-sized 25-minute chunks. This week, Jeanne (Hélène Viviès) wallows in memories of her father, while back in 1960s’ Moscow we meet Vladimir Komarov (Arben Bajraktaraj), who was a real cosmonaut. VP
Two Rode Together (1961) ★★★☆☆
Film4, 12.20pm
Working for the first time with director John Ford, James Stewart stars in this slow western, based on the novel Comanche Captives by Will Cook and which has thematic echoes of Ford’s The Searchers. Guthrie McCabe (Stewart) is a corrupt town marshal who is hired by a Cavalry lieutenant (Richard Widmark) to help rescue captives held by the Comanche in 1880s Texas. Shirley Jones co-stars.
Calendar Girls (2003) ★★★☆☆
Sky Cinema Greats, 6.00pm
This gentle, eye-moistening comedy, which has been turned into a successful play, is based on the true story of a group of Women’s Institute members in Yorkshire who raised money for leukaemia research by posing naked for a calendar. Helen Mirren, Julie Walters and Celia Imrie are among the women stripping off (well, more or less: certain body parts are always obscured by tea- cups, cream buns, etc).
The Karate Kid (1984) ★★★★☆
Comedy Central, 9.00pm
One of the Eighties’ best-loved films, and far superior to the 2010 remake starring Jaden Smith (son of Will). It tells the story of bullied Daniel Larusso (Ralph Macchio), who’s taken under the wing of handyman Mr Miyagi (Pat Morita) and taught how to wash cars and paint fences. Of course, this turns out to be masterly martial arts training. Elisabeth Shue also stars as Larusso’s love interest Ali.
Friday 8 June
The Crystal Maze: Celebrity Special
Channel 4, 9.00pm
Channel 4’s successful reboot of the cult Eighties series continues its golden run of form with another charity special featuring people who, in the words of Maze Master Richard Ayoade, “we have all agreed, for some reason, to call… celebrities”. Ayoade is unstinting in his good-natured jibes, and his targets are equally obliging in laughing them off: this time around, it’s Olympians Kelly Holmes and Greg Rutherford, Hollyoaks actress Jorgie Porter, YouTube vlogger Alfie Deyes and grime MC Big Narstie. The latter comes in for the roughest ride, and indeed you may not see a more agonising sequence all year than Big Narstie wrestling with Jarhead’s (Adam Buxton) not-enormously taxing riddles, but his utter delight at being involved (“I’m GASSED!”) earns him a pass.
The tasks are the usual ingenious grab-bag, honouring the heritage of the series while also advancing it, from the daft (balancing on space hoppers) to the fiendish (blowing a ball around a maze with “directional guffs” from an air pump). For his part, Ayoade once again proves himself the natural heir to Richard O’Brien in surreal wit (pace Ed Tudor-Pole and Stephan Merchant), and the cause, Stand Up 2 Cancer, is unimpeachable. GT
Dispatches: After Grenfell
Channel 4, 7.30pm
In spite of a wealth of promises in the wake of the catastrophic fire in Grenfell Tower, claims abound that too many of the country’s tower blocks remain unsafe. Ed Howker investigates whether expert advice has been heeded and looks at the risks, both existing and newly discovered, for the tower’s residents. GT
Cruising with Jane McDonald
Channel 5, 9.00pm
Channel 5’s first-ever Bafta-winning show returns for a trip down under, with former cruise ship singer Jane McDonald exploring Sydney, Tasmania, Dunedin and Christchurch. GT
Tracey Breaks the News
BBC One, 9.30pm
Ullman continues to play to her strengths with her roll call of uncanny impersonations of famous people. Theresa May, Angela Merkle and Nicola Sturgeon are back, along with her bizarrely convincing Michael Gove, while Jacob Rees-Mogg (Liam Hourican) and his Nanny (Ullman) endure yet more humiliation. GT
Arctic Monkeys Live at the BBC
BBC Two, 11.05pm
Alex Turner and his band play selections from their divisive new album, Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino, as well as a few oldies, including A Certain Romance, to reassure their more conservative fans. GT
Cloak and Dagger
Amazon Prime, from today
Marvel’s latest TV offering is this teen series in which Tandy Bowen (Olivia Holt) and Tyrone Johnson (Aubrey Joseph) discover new, mysteriously connected superpowers. GT
Sense8
Netflix, from today
The Wachowskis’ kaleidoscopic saga ends with a two-hour episode created after its fans demanded closure when the series was axed. With Wolfgang (Max Riemelt) missing, Capheus (Toby Onwumere) running for office, Sun Bak (Bae Doona) on the run and the mysterious Chairman still at large, there’s no shortage of loose ends. GT
The Staircase
Netflix, from today
This 2004 eight-parter documented the 16-year court battle over the fate of novelist Michael Peterson, accused of pushing his wife down the stairs to her death. Landing on Netflix with new, equally gripping episodes, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s series is both the old and the new Making a Murderer. GT
The Way Way Back (2013) ★★★★☆
Film4, 6.55pm
This coming-of-age story feels like familiar terrain, but it’s agreeably done. Duncan (Liam James) learns about life, love and self-esteem from a gang of water-park employees, including the excellent Sam Rockwell, when forced to go on holiday with his mother (Toni Collette) and her boyfriend (Steve Carrell). The script flows and there’s enough melancholy and edge to the overall comic tone for its charm to prevail.
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) ★★★☆☆
ITV, 10.45pm
Keira Knightley’s career kicked off with this feelgood football-themed comedy drama from Bhaji on the Beach director Gurinder Chadha. She stars alongside Parminder Nagra as one of two 18-year-old girls who set out to make it as professional footballers, despite their families’ best efforts to stop them. Next of Kin’s Archie Panjabi and Shaznay Lewis (of reunited Nineties girl band All Saints fame) co-star.
Platoon (1986) ★★★★☆
ITV4, 11.00pm
This is a chance to see a young Charlie Sheen at the start of his turbulent career. The horrors of the Vietnam War are seen through the prism of a fresh-faced college dropout (Sheen) who finds himself in the thick of battle while Willem Dafoe plays his sympathetic sergeant. Director Oliver Stone used his own experiences of serving in the US army during the war to inform this harrowing film that won four Oscars.
Television previewers
Toby Dantzic, Sarah Hughes, Gerard O'Donovan, Vicki Power and Gabriel Tate