TV choice
LATER . . . EVEN LOUDER
BBC Two, 11.35pm
Those partial to a bit of ROCK shouldn’t be afraid to indulge in their musical primal urges whenever there’s a sniff of it on TV — MTV2 aside, you don’t see much of it around despite its recent revival. Jools Holland’s eclecta-fest of a series goes seriously electric here with an anthology of heavy highlights from the past 13 years. Guitar solos, beards and tattoos feature (Metallica, Queens of the Stone Age, Jane’s Addiction), but there’s also indie-rock from the Killers and the Bravery, punk-pop from Green Day, art-rock from Sonic Youth, and veteran growlers such as John Cale and Nick Cave, who show the younger guns a thing or two about brooding cool. JJ
SCRUBS
Channel 4, 8pm
Twenty years ago, Steven Bach — an executive at United Artists — wrote Final Cut, an account of how Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate bankrupted the studio. As disaster beckoned, Bach describes how he slipped out of the office and spent two of the happiest and most healing hours of his life watching a preview of Woody Allen’s Manhattan. I remembered this story while I was laughing out loud at Dr Cox reacting to the prospect of JD as his brother-in-law. Scrubs was the first programme I watched after Johnny Vegas, and it made life seem possible again.
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WILL & GRACE
Channel 4, 8.30pm
With Grace overseas, the series relies even more heavily than usual on guest stars. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Last week’s appearance by John Cleese was a waste of his talent, whereas tonight’s performance by the American comedian Jack Black is five minutes of comic brilliance. A nervous Karen is forced to go to the doctor for a routine check-up. “I’m scared of doctors,” she says. “That’s why I skip the middleman and go straight to the pharmacist.” Black plays the doctor with a bedside manner that would terrify anyone, and his performance steals the show.
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JOHNNY VEGAS: 18 STONE OF IDIOT
Channel 4, 10.35pm
This is the last episode in a series that has been so unpleasant to watch that it is bound to be back, and doubtless a few years hence there will be a documentary about taboo-breaking programmes illustrated with clips of Johnny Vegas screaming at his ecstatic studio audience. The guest tonight is a drunk Rhys Ifans, the actor whose portrayal of Peter Cook in Not Only But Always was one of the finest performances on television last year. The highlight of the interview comes when they show their bottoms to the audience. Again, the audience is delighted. “You’re the future of TV!” screams Vegas. DC
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Page 2: Multichannel choice ()
Multichannel choice
VORDERMAN’S SU DOKU LIVE
Sky One, 9pm
Since being introduced by The Times last year, su doku has become the biggest puzzle craze to hit Britain since the Rubik’s cube. In this live special, the mathematician and su doku addict Carol Vorderman explains the history of the game, offers hints and tips on how to play it, and talks first-timers through an easy grid. She will be joined by celebrity contestants including the comedian Helen Lederer and the singer Lisa Scott Lee, who will try, against the clock, to solve a new grid set by Wayne Gould, the su doku creator and The Times’s puzzle master. But the real action will be at home, with viewers competing interactively for a £25,000 prize. AB
LIVE TWENTY20 CRICKET: LANCASHIRE v YORKSHIRE
Sky Sports 2, 5.30pm
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Lancashire and Yorkshire continue their war of the roses in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it format.
DIVINE DESIGNS
Sky Travel, 6.30pm
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In this stunning series, first shown on Five in 2003, the art historian Paul Binski explores the relationship between art and faith. His 15-part tour of Britain’s most beautiful places of worship begins tonight in Winchester and takes in such architectural marvels as York Minster and London’s Shree Swaminarayan temple along the way. AF
LIVE ATHLETICS
Sky Sports Xtra, 7pm
The Stade de France in Paris hosts the first of six meetings in the Golden League, with 100kg of gold ingots (worth $1 million) on offer to the athletes who win their discipline at all the meetings.
TRIAL OF SADDAM
Discovery, 8pm
Obviously, this premiere is not going to feature footage from Saddam Hussein’s trial as even the location of the court remains a secret. Instead, Discovery’s cameras have been given access to the prosecutors as they work to build their legal case against the deposed dictator, and to the evidence they have uncovered. AB
THE REBEL BILLIONAIRE: BRANSON’S QUEST FOR THE BEST
ITV2, 8.30pm
After the success of Donald Trump’s The Apprentice in America, Richard Branson gave 16 ambitious professionals the chance to take over the reins of his sprawling Virgin empire. Branson may come across as an ordinary Joe but he is ruthless and determined, and expects the same of his protégés. So in an attempt to test their mettle, he sets them a series of challenges, at least one involving hot-air balloons. What a shame Fox thought the brilliant premise could be improved by hideously loud background music and an over-the-top commentary. AF