Celebrity Naked Ambition
Channel 4, 9pm
For two hours Kelly Brook presents a countdown of celebrities who have bared all for various reasons — to become famous, to stay famous, to earn lots of dosh or sometimes even because the role demanded it. She provides what she calls “a hot list of high-achieving hotties” and a “cheeky peek at how they pulled it off” (with clips, obviously) ranging from mass-market candidates (Bo Derek, Pamela Anderson, Demi Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Ursula Andress and Joan Collins) to the more high-minded artistes (Susan Sarandon, Greta Scacchi, Helen Mirren and Charlotte Rampling). Hugh Hefner contributes his insights, and Brook ends by saying that the programme has been “emotional and educational”. Which is not strictly speaking true — unless you’re a teenage boy, of course.
King James Bible: The Book that Changed the World
BBC Two, 8pm
In this deeply felt programme Melvyn Bragg argues that the King James Bible not only influenced the English language and its literature, from Shakespeare to Eliot, and helped to make English an international language, but also acted as the seedbed for Western democratic values. The divine right of Charles I to rule was challenged by the authority of the King James Bible. It was the Bible read by the American settlers and guided the Declaration of Independence. It was instrumental in the abolition of the slave trade and, last century, Martin Luther King appropriated the words of Isaiah to announce the coming of a new day of God’s righteousness and justice. Bragg even shows its influence on science.
Stand Up for the Week
Channel 4, 11.10pm
Advertisement
A new series of the satirical show offering a topical commentary on the events of the week, only this time round the Scottish comic Kevin Bridges has been promoted from mere contributor to host. (If you’re not familiar with Bridges, look up “Kevin Bridges and the horse” on YouTube). This is a man so laid back and so naturally and effortlessly funny that he doesn’t need to do anything at all for people to start falling about. Bridges will be supported by the usual regulars — Jack Whitehall, the young man’s Russell Brand; Rich Hall, the craggy depressive and Andi Osho, the funniest woman to come out of Plaistow. Joining them is Jon Richardson, who turned to comedy for a living when he discovered as a student that he liked everything to be tidy and in its place.
The Tudors
BBC Two, 10.45pm
The Tudors has never been strong on characterisation but at least tonight’s episode plays to its strengths. Henry (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) ships off to France at the head of his army and lays siege to Boulogne. (“What man would not prefer to die with a sword in his hand and a cry in his throat rather than in a bed in England?”) But for the first time we see the emergence of modern industrial warfare. Instead of knights on horseback and companies of archers, there are trenches, heavy artillery and snipers, with sappers tunnelling beneath the ramparts to lay explosives. For nostalgia’s sake there is an old-fashioned, Robin Hood-style skirmish in the forest with swords and crossbows, but warfare Tudors-style has moved from Agincourt towards the Somme.