THE PATH TO 9/11
BBC Two, 8pm
Clocking in at nearly five hours, this major two-part US dramatisation of The 9/11 Commission Report (starring Harvey Keitel) is the most ambitious contribution to the current rash of 9/11 TV. Powered along by a gnawing sense of awful inevitability, the film gazes inwards to explain why eight years of CIA work failed to prevent the disaster, but in doing so makes a 24-style thriller out of a crisis, with exposition-speak, simplifications and shaky hand-held camerawork to add a vérité edge. The damning suggestion, as the action flips between the Middle East and sepulchral CIA meeting rooms, is that a lack of political nerve allowed bin Laden to keep operating, and thus, heroes and cowards are made out of little-known figures in US intelligence. It’s a long-stretch, but consistently involving.
BLACKBEARD
BBC One, 8pm
“The year is 1717 . . . ” booms the deadly serious narrator as a stabbing orchestral score reaches a terrifying crescendo. “The powers-that-be vowed to crush one man. But they would find it easier TO KILL A MAN THAN KILL A LEGEND.” And so begins this ludicrous docudrama re-creating Edward Teach’s reign of terror in the Caribbean seas.
Teach, it is suggested, was no thug — he was cunning and complex, and James Purefoy has a tremendous time hamming it up, the “ah-ha m’hearties” dialogue at times reminiscent of Captain Pugwash. With no expense apparently spared on making it all look authentic (in a high- definition kind of way), this is a fun one to watch with kids.
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ALIVE
Channel 4, 8pm
Each story of survival in this series has been as astonishing as the last. This one chronicles the travails of a landmine-clearance specialist, Chris Moon, who, along with two local colleagues, was kidnapped in the Cambodian killing fields by Khmer Rouge guerrillas. What is fascinating is the psychological game that Moon plays with his infamously ruthless captors in negotiating a release — by not assuming the role of victim and by maintaining a positive, logical approach, he convinces them that he is friendly and neutral. But one false move and he’s a dead man. The programme’s epilogue goes even further to prove Moon’s inspirational attitude.
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THE SOUTH BANK SHOW
ITV1, 11.10pm
In this wonderful film (a plug for his latest book, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid), Bill Bryson returns to Des Moines, Iowa, to turn his keenly comic eye on the town in which he grew up during the 1950s. It’s part nostalgia — magical memories of Billy Blastoff toys, State Fairs, gleaming Chryslers and buzzing downtown boulevards — and partly a lament for how much it’s changed in 50 years.
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Home-movie clips, along with film and TV adverts from the era, evoke the iconic appeal of Rockwell-esque, small-town Americana, making even the threat of nuclear attack seem quaintly charming. What went wrong for Pleasantville, Bryson wonders, as he wanders the soulless and crime-troubled streets, and discovers that he’s been banned from the mall for his cruelly brilliant description of its overweight female patrons (“. . . like elephants dressed in children’s clothes”).
BEST OF THE REST . . .
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F1: ITALIAN GRAND PRIX
ITV1, 12.10pm/12.10am
How will Ferrari fare?
Multichannel choice
I’M WITH STUPID
BBC Three, 10pm
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After a well-received pilot last year, this sitcom begins a six-part run. Sheldon (Mark Benton) is a homeless man who strikes up a reluctant friendship with the wheelchair- bound Paul (Paul Henshall), and moves in to the bizarre world of Bramble Lodge, a sheltered community presided over by warden Jane (Ruth Hall). Its creator, Peter Keely, says it is an attempt to “show disabled people as real people, rather than putting them on a pedestal”. The result is an oddball show that blends Last of the Summer Wine gentility with Little Britain’s acid bite.
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED
ITV3, 6.50pm
The classic 1980s adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel is showing weekly from tonight.
THE MATCH
Sky One, 7pm
The celebrities begin training for their match against a team of football legends on Sunday.
ENTOURAGE
ITV2, 10pm
Mark Wahlberg executive- produced this hit US series, loosely based on his life, about a young actor making his way in Hollywood. Adrian Greiner stars as Vince, the laconic leading man whose friends move with him to LA. The mix of star walk-ons, sly digs at Hollywood culture, sharp dialogue and hip soundtrack make it a watchable, if slightly macho, cross between Curb Your Enthusiasm and Friends.
Daytime sport
LIVE INTERNATIONAL CRICKET
Sky Sports 2 (and HD), 10am
The end of the domestic season is nigh, as England and Pakistan contest the fifth and final NatWest Series match. Never mind: only 73 days until the Ashes . . .
LIVE SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
British Eurosport, 10.45am
Another season nears its end: with only three races to go, can anyone overhaul the Australian Troy Bayliss?
LIVE FOOTBALL
Sky Sports 1 (and HD), from 1pm
In the first of today’s live matches, Leeds host Wolves in the Championship before, in the Premiership, West Ham play Aston Villa (above).
LIVE NFL DOUBLE-HEADER
Sky Sports Xtra, from 5.30pm
Gridiron returns, as Carolina Panthers host Atlanta Falcons before Jacksonville Jaguars play Dallas Cowboys. ANGUS BATEY