TV choice
ALLERGIC TO EVERYTHING
Channel 4, 9pm
Two statistics. Forty per cent of children in the UK suffer from asthma, eczema or hay fever. Nobody knows why, but it could be related to the overuse of antibiotics, food additives, pollution or even too much cleanliness. Secondly, there are only eight child- allergy specialists in the UK, compared with 500 in Germany, which means that it can take months for an allergy to be diagnosed. Obviously health resources have to be allocated, but this useful programme shows how the lives of many families are made miserable by allergic reactions that are as dangerous as they are mysterious. “You can’t control what you don’t know,” says one father. DC
MURPHY’S LAW
BBC One, 9pm
Last week’s episode of Murphy’s Law ended in a bloodbath. Four people were killed and one officer critically wounded, and the final episode tonight gets even messier. The vast improvement in this new series is based on the simple premise that undercover police work is not inherently comic. All the cops have permanently grim expressions that come from constant danger and moral confusion. “My life,” says Murphy, “is one big lie. I lie to friends. I lie to cops. I lie to criminals. I lie to everybody, all the time. And it is going to put me in a madhouse.”
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KATH & KIM
BBC Two, 9pm
The finale of this exuberantly vulgar Australian comedy begins with the three women lying in hospital after Kath’s wedding day. “Who could ever have foreseen the bizarre chain of events that led to this tragical outcome,” asks the faithful Sharon. The episode flashes back to those bizarre events, which involve a drunken bridegroom, a bridesmaid with a ponytail and a frisky horse. Grotesque weddings are a rich seam of comedy, and this was one of those days that the guests will always remember. Especially — as Sharon says — once the bride has finished her course of spinal manipulation and regained the use of her legs.
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THE GREAT BRITISH LOSER
Channel 4, 10.55pm
Michael Portillo examines why the British make a virtue out of failure, and draws up a shortlist of magnificent losers. He starts with the monarchy before moving on to other heroes of British comedy (Rigsby, Partridge, Fawlty and Brent). He looks at how we treat our sporting failures and celebrates the miserable losers in soap opera and reality shows. There is nothing here that you have not heard before, but it is a disgracefully enjoyable programme, illustrated by tremendous clips and irreverent commentary by an A-list of contributors, including Jon Snow and Boris Johnson. DC
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Multichannel choice
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DNA TRICKSTER
Sky One, 9pm
“I had a whole year of saying, yeah, he’s my son. It’s a huge setback”, says Matt, who was led to believe that he was the father of his youngest child after sending DNA samples to a paternity- testing company in Dorset. But the firm’s managing director, Simon Mullane, was later sent to prison for three years for making up the results to more than 150 tests. This film demonstrates how the callous Mullane was willing to play with people’s emotions in order to make a fast buck. And with a startling one in four people unsure of the identity of their father, it’s also a timely reminder to choose the bearer of bad news extremely carefully. ANNA FRAME
LIVE EUROPEAN TOUR GOLF: THE EUROPEAN OPEN
Sky Sports 2, from 10am
The K Club in Dublin hosts one of the flagship events on the European tour, with Retief Goosen defending his title.
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LIVE DARTS
Sky Sports 1, 7pm
The bright lights of Sin City beckon for the world’s top players as the Las Vegas Classic gets under way. Phil Taylor will be leading the British charge as he seeks to defend his title at the MGM Grand. Well, it makes a change from Frimley Green.
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LAS VEGAS
Sky One, 8pm
More from Las Vegas, but this time in the final episode of the fictional drama. And like the city itself, the series is determined to go out in style with Jon Bon Jovi, Dean Cain and Gladys Knight all putting in guest appearances in an episode that sees a new owner arrive at the Montecito, promising big changes to the property and the personnel.
AFRICA DEBATE: HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
BBC Four, 9pm/12.15am
Zeinab Badawi brings together leading politicians, writers and thinkers from across Africa to discuss how to achieve a better future for the continent. Her guests are Jerry Rawlings, the former President of Ghana; Ken Wiwa, the human rights activist and son of Ken Saro-Wiwa; Anna Tibaijuka, a commissioner on the Commission for Africa; the Kenyan writer and farmer Aidan Hartley and the Nigerian musician Femi Kuti.
RETURN TO TITANIC
Adventure One, 9pm
Nearly 100 years after she sank, the RMS Titanic still captures the imagination like no other shipwreck. Here, Dr Robert Ballard, the man who first discovered the wreck, returns to the site almost 20 years after his first foray into the murky depths of the North Atlantic to assess the damage that natural forces and human intrusion have done to the vessel. MIKE MULVIHILL