INTERVENTION: WE’RE COMING TO GET YOU
Channel 4, 9pm
Uncontrollable toddler? Tearaway teenager? Failing business? Don’t worry. Bring in an “expert” and a TV crew. Go through an on-screen catharsis, and all will be well by the end of the show! But even by the standards of the most explosive life-sorting TV, Intervention is unusually risky and impressive. Tracey Towner is a glamorous American counsellor who persuades the families and friends of addicts to confront them unexpectedly and en masse with an ultimatum: “Go for treatment or we cut you out of our lives.” The approach is radical, but Towner claims a 90 per cent success rate. In this first episode the families of a Yorkshire couple, both heroin addicts, apply the treatment with dramatic results.
9/11 THE TWIN TOWERS
BBC One, 9pm
There is a serious risk of 9/11 anniversary fatigue setting in as broadcasters struggle to find new angles on this exhaustively covered subject. Even so, this British- German-French-American co-production is still surprising and, in places, very moving.
There’s a framework of commentary, much of it lamenting the intelligence failures that allowed the terrorists to get through in the first place, but the point of the programme is to re-create the experience of individuals caught inside the towers, only some of whom got out alive. Survivors reflect on their stories, many of which seem scarcely credible. Some have been left with a lasting sense of guilt or unease at what they learnt about themselves. Their tales are gripping and often unsettling.
Advertisement
DIANA: THE WEEK SHE DIED
ITV1, 10pm
No, this isn’t another investigation into the circumstances of the car crash in the Paris underpass nine years ago. In fact it seems to be an appetiser for the forthcoming drama The Queen starring Helen Mirren.We are promised an investigation into what went on behind the scenes in Buckingham Palace in the days after the event, as the Royal Family were shocked, first by the massive and unprecedented display of public grief, and then by the rising tide of public anger and resentment directed at the Queen. The advice of Tony Blair, still then in touch with popular sentiment, seems to have become crucial, and it is even suggested that the Queen was so shocked that she considered abdication.
Advertisement
CRIMINAL MINDS
Five, 10pm
Five’s mission to corner the market in US crime drama gathers pace with this series about a psychological profiler working for the FBI. Special Agent Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin,— yes, he is a man) is the Bureau’s top behavioural analyst, called in whenever serial killers strike, supported by an impulsive woman, a handsome reliable black agent and a geeky young genius with an IQ of 180-something. This week Gideon must race to read the mind of whoever has abducted a nice young woman, before he indulges in his peculiar brand of sexual depravity and kills her. It’s as slick, taut and as shallow as you’d expect, but not a patch on Cracker (soon to return in a one-off special).
Advertisement
BEST OF THE REST . . .
Advertisement
DRAGONS’ DEN
BBC Two, 8pm
Will the dragons take a gamble on a pub poker league?
Multichannel choice
WILL & GRACE
Living TV, 9pm
Advertisement
After eight years, the odd couple finally come to a parting of the ways. Tonight’s double bill — the last episodes of the final series — may take a little getting
used to, with more flitting backwards and forwards in time than the average edition of Star Trek. Several loose ends are neatly tied up, while trainspotters can geek out over a series of in-jokes referring to members of the crew. Kevin Bacon guest stars.
Multichannel choice
SAY NO TO THE KNIFE
BBC Three, 9pm
Two women contemplating plastic surgery are put through a holistic makeover to see if addressing their low self-esteem can help them more than an operation. Four weeks before they are due to have surgery they meet a stylist and a life coach. There is much weeping as the lessons begin to bite, but both feel that very real progress is being made. After a month of this, will they still want to go under the knife?
I DIDN’T KNOW THAT
National Geographic, 9pm
This new series takes a Brainiac-style laddish tack to explain the scientific theories behind the design and manufacture of various everyday household items.
THE SOPRANOS
E4, 10pm
This second episode of the final series is a masterpiece. Tony, “Marvin Gayed” by Uncle Junior, lies in a coma: his family rallies round while his other family plot. The Feds try to recruit Christopher for the War on Terror while Tony dreams he is a salesman stranded at a convention. As ever, the acting, direction and cinematography are superb, while the dialogue is nonpareil. It is barnstorming television.
THE REAL HUSTLE
BBC Three, 10.30pm
Real-life con artists show how easy it is to scam the public in a new series of this show. As they walk off with wallets, plasma TVs and a car, we are offered tips to avoid ruin.
Daytime choice
LIVE PRO40 LEAGUE CRICKET
Sky Sports 1 (and HD), 4.30pm
Essex Eagles could become the first Pro40 champions with a win in this, their penultimate game. Their visitors, Lancashire Lightning, could also have their fate sealed if they lose today: relegation looks all but certain. ANGUS BATEY