DON’T GET ME STARTED
Five, 7.15pm
This week Ann Widdecombe gets to sound off, and there are few more awesome sights than the former Home Office minister in full sail, firing broadsides. Mad about the Body is her salvo against “the tyranny of thin”, our obsession with physical perfection and the multimillion- pound industries that feed it, with unnecessary and potentially dangerous plastic surgery. The constant attacks on fatness have gone way beyond the medical, she says. An impressive array of talking heads flesh out her arguments, while she seeks out peddlers of the false gods of beauty and gives them what for. A cry in the wilderness, perhaps, but a welcome antidote to the prevailing narcissism.
DIET DOCTORS: TOP TO TOE
Five, 8pm
Right on cue, a mere ad break after Ann Widdecombe’s blast against the tyranny of appearance and diet, comes this returning series about appearance and diet. Dr Wendy Denning, a GP, and the nutritionist Vicki Edgson (both slim and presentable of course) promise to tackle “all the body-parts you hate most, what’s causing the problems and how to fix them through diet”. In fact it is hard to see that Ms Widdecombe could take exception, unless it is to the relentless speed of delivery. It is all very down to earth and about alleviating problems such as fungal feet and pimply arms through eating the right foods. The show is laced with illustrations of blotches, lumps and infections — probably best avoided at meal times.
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FREDDIE MERCURY: A KIND OF MAGIC
ITV1, 9.45pm
“People still ask me what Bohemian Rhapsody is about and I say I don’t know, because it loses the myth,” says Freddie Mercury, thus confirming the suspicion that the lyrics of the world’s favourite pop classic are meaningless nonsense. Not that this detracts in any way from this breezy tribute to the exuberant rock god whose stage strutting made Mick Jagger look arthritic. Mike Myers, Robbie Williams, Montserrat Caballe and McFly join family, friends and Queen colleagues to remember his early life as a Zoroastrian born in Zanzibar and sent to boarding school in India, and his ambivalent attitude to his homosexuality. The hedonistic parties are spliced with the belting tunes and that exquisite voice.
SKINT
BBC One, 10.45pm; Wales, 11.15pm
The series about the lives of the broke and down and out of Bristol and Birmingham returns with the Big Issue salesman Vernon Burgess again taking centre stage and finding refuge at the Salvation Army. We visit buy-back stores and pawnbrokers and meet father-and-son heroin addicts Ken and Gaz Price, who supplement their benefits by scavenging from skips in the hope they will find things they can sell. Meanwhile, debt-ridden Kath and Tony strip their house bare of anything they can sell while they wait for Tony’s pension to arrive. In a schedule stuffed with escapism and consumerism Skint is a kind of anti-lifestyle show, giving a glimpse of the survival strategies of the destitute, marginal and excluded.
MULTICHANNEL TELEVISION
by Gabrielle Starkey
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EVEREST NIGHT
BBC Four, from 7pm
Armchair travellers can be inspired by an evening of programmes about the top of the world. It starts with Michael Palin’s visit to the Himalayas (7pm); takes in documentaries about mapping India (8.30pm), an incredible high-altitude clinic in a tent at Everest’s base camp (9pm) and, of course, Hillary and Norgay (10pm); and ends with a thrilling account of a blind climber’s summit attempt (11pm).
HUMAN RIGHTS WITH CHERIE BOOTH QC
Teachers’ TV, 8pm
Mrs Blair works with two KS2 teachers as they try to understand human rights concepts and translate their understanding into lessons on fairness and the balancing of rights.
ZOE LUCKER AND SARAH BARRAND’S DATE WITH THE DALAI
ITV2, 9pm
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The Simple Life, in which Paris Hilton and her fellow dim-witted heiress Nicole Richie toured less affluent areas of the States, was redeemed somewhat by their irreverent sense of fun. Unfortunately, the actress Zoe Lucker is a quivering mass of neuroses, so watching her and her fellow Footballers’ Wives star Barrand on a whistle-stop tour of spiritual experiences in India is just irritating. One can only hope that by part two, next week, they’ll have chilled out sufficiently to start to enjoy themselves.
SECONDS FROM DISASTER
National Geographic, 9pm
A new series of these catastrophe post-mortems starts with the crash of an American Airlines flight in New York, just two months after 9/11.
BIG RON MANAGER
Sky One, 10pm
The pressure just gets too much for Steve Bleasedale, Peterborough United’s caretaker manager as the Posh try to hang on to their play-off dreams. After upsetting officials and fans at Bury, Bleasdale drops a bombshell just before another match, resulting in dressing-room fireworks. It may not be pretty, but it’s fun to watch.
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SEARCH FOR THE SS REPUBLIC
History Channel, 10pm
The steam ship Republic went down off the coast of Georgia in 1865 in a hurricane. Most of its passengers — northerners who were moving south to take advantage of the end of the Civil War — escaped, but its cargo of gold was lost. This handsome film tells the story of the ship, its place in history and the modern-day attempt to find its treasure.
RUSSELL BRAND’S GOT ISSUES
E4, 10.30pm
The real winner of this year’s Big Brother was Russell Brand, whose wild, rock-foppish hosting style made Big Brother’s Big Mouth a must-see. Now that the house is no more, E4 has kept the format for this new six-part series in which Brand debates the latest hot topics with a studio audience and celebrity guests. It’s like Question Time, but cooler and much, much funnier.