Waking the Dead
BBC One, 9pm
There is a new member of the team for this ninth and final series of Waking the Dead. And guess what? She’s one of those brilliant and beautiful blondes (Eva Birthistle, left) with a troubled past. Apparently she was a high-flier in counterterrorism until “an incident precipitated her leaving”. Because of the Official Secrets Act we aren’t told what that was, but it brings on panic attacks and flashbacks whenever she is called on to creep around derelict houses that contain decomposing bodies. The powers-that-be didn’t know what to do with her. Too young to be kicked upstairs and too high-ranking to be buried in traffic, she is handed over to a grumpy DS Boyd (Trevor Eve). “We want you to put Humpty Dumpty back together again,” he is told. But nursing skills are not among his many qualities.
Civilization: Is The West History?
Channel 4, 8pm
In this beautifully made series, Niall Ferguson argues that the second “killer app” that opened up the gap between the West and the rest was the scientific revolution in 17th-century Europe. The Ottoman Empire was unable to reconcile science and Islam at precisely the moment in history when Christian churches were relaxing their grip on free public inquiry, and it was the appliance of science that led to mobile, accurate artillery based on Newtonian physics and provided the key to Western military pre-eminence. But the West can no longer take that scientific and military supremacy for granted.The religious taboo against educating women in the Muslim world is receding, and Iran is close to developing a nuclear bomb.
Advertisement
Wonders of the Universe
BBC Two, 9pm
Professor Brian Cox achieves the impossible in this new series by making spectacularly complex physics and chemistry almost comprehensible. In tonight’s episode, he tells his own creation story. Everything in the heavens and on Earth, apparently, is made from only 92 chemical elements, and so the big questions are: “Where did all this matter come from?” and “How did it turn into the complex Universe we see today?” He travels around the world playing the piano, blowing bubbles and watching buildings being demolished to illustrate how sub-atomic particles acquired mass and how nuclear fusion carried on the good work. He seems to get as much joy from understanding the creation of the Universe as someone else would get from playing the banjo.
Country House Rescue
Channel 4, 9pm
Advertisement
Don’t miss this. Hector Christie is part of the Christie clan, who are best known for running Glyndebourne. Aged 26, he inherited Tapeley Park, a Grade II Queen Anne stately home in Devon with an astounding collection of William Morris furniture. For years he ran it as a New Age hippy commune. The hippies have gone, the house has fallen into disrepair and visitor numbers have dwindled. And Hector himself is prone to charging off anywhere at the drop of a hat to demonstrate against GM crops. The makeover expert Ruth Watson is brought in to sort him out, and suggests capitalising on the story of the house and the glory of the furniture. But the real selling point of the house and this programme is Christie’s overwhelming sincerity and charm.