Gabon: Earth’s Last Chance
Sunday, Sky Documentaries & Now, 7pm
Gabon, a country in central Africa, is crucial to the survival of the planet. Its rainforest is the second-largest in the world, covering almost 90 per cent of the country. This means Gabon is one of only eight countries with a minus carbon footprint - absorbing more carbon than it emits. It’s one of the world’s last bastions of sustainability, and this mix of documentary and eco-thriller tells the story of how an English biology professor, Lee White, was appointed minister for the environment of Gabon, and tasked with protecting its rainforest from destruction.
McDonald & Dodds
Sunday, UTV, 8pm
Tala Gouveia and Jason Watkins star as the eponymous detectives in the fourth series of this crime thriller set in the UK city of Bath. DCI Lauren McDonald is the streetwise cop heading up the criminal investigation department; DS Dodds (first name still a mystery) is the modest veteran who’s seen little frontline action until the arrival of McDonald. Episode one opens with the pair solving a murder in double-quick time. But what will they do for the rest of the programme? Turns out things aren’t as neatly wrapped up as they thought.
Surviving the Post Office
Monday, BBC1, 8.30pm
Earlier this year, following the true-life drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, the British government issued an apology to postmasters around the country who were wrongly accused of stealing, many of whom lost their livelihoods, their savings and their good name. In this documentary, actor Will Mellor, who featured in the drama, goes to meet the real life postmasters whose lives were upended by the false accusations, and find out how they have managed to rebuild their lives following the scandal.
Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets
Monday, RTÉ1, 9.35pm
Bishop of Galway Eamonn Casey was one of Ireland’s most highly respected and admired public figures, but the country was stunned when in 1992 it was revealed that he had fathered a child 17 years earlier with an American woman, Annie Murphy. He was also accused of misusing diocesan funds to support Murphy and his son and cover up his secret double life. In this documentary, reporter Anne Sheridan looks at how the church handled the allegations against Casey, which shook the church’s authoritarian hold over the country.
The Body Detectives
Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm
Meet former detective Dave Grimstead and his team from Locate International, whose job is to identify bodies using cutting-edge forensics and a lot of smart police work. In this series, Grimstead revisits cold cases where authorities have been unable to fill in the missing pieces of the jigsaw, and this week he’s in Norfolk, where a man named George Johnson went missing 40 years ago while on holiday on the Norfolk coast. Grimstead and the team set out to find George’s final resting place and finally give his family closure.
Town of Steel
Tuesday, BBC1, 10.40pm
Earlier this year, the Tata steelworks in Port Talbot, Wales, announced it would begin shutting down its blast furnaces, with the possible loss of up to 2,800 jobs. The loss-making plant had been under pressure to switch to more sustainable steel production, and the plight of the townspeople who relied on the plant for their livelihoods was the subject of a drama series starring local Port Talbot lad Michael Sheen. This documentary looks at the long battle to save the steelworks, and asks what the future holds for the people of the town.
Turbulence: How Safe Is Your Flight?
Wednesday, UTV, 9pm
This is just what you need as to scare you silly as you prepare to fly off to your sun holiday. Earlier this year, a Singapore Airlines flight hit sever turbulence, resulting in one death and several serious injuries, and this documentary takes us inside the plane to recreate the event, and interviews passengers and crew members about their experience. But what we all want to know is, could it happen again on our flight, and is global warming making turbulence worse? The programme gets into the science of turbulence, and looks at how passengers can minimise its impact (er, stay at home?).
Hell Jumper
Wednesday, BBC2, 9pm
As Russian missiles pounded Ukraine, and desperate citizens tried to flee the war zones, a group of volunteers known as Hell Jumpers boldly raced into combat zones to rescue Ukrainians from mortal danger. They were led by a 28-year-old from Cornwall, Chris Parry, and this documentary film features amazing first-person footage shot by the team and uploaded on social media as they embarked on their lifesaving missions. Parry met and fell in love with a Ukrainian woman named Olya, but not long afterwards Parry and another volunteer, Andrew Bagshaw, were killed while on a rescue mission in eastern Ukraine.
Linford
Thursday, BBC1, 8.30pm
In the late 1980s and 1990s, Linford Christie was probably the most celebrated athlete in the UK, having won gold in the Olympics, the World and European Championships and the Commonwealth Games. He was on track to retire as athletics royalty, but when he came out of retirement in 1999 for one last race, he tested positive for a banned substance, and suddenly his huge sporting achievements looked as though they might be swept away. In this documentary, Christie confronts his ignominous fall from grace and discusses his life and legacy - and the importance of respect and reputation in an era when social media can quickly destroy both.
Doom Scroll: Andrew Tate and the Dark Side of the Internet
Thursday, Sky Documentaries & Now, 9pm
One of the internet’s most controversial figures is the catalyst for this examination of how young men are being manipulated by social media algorithms designed to direct them to hateful and misogynistic content, all in the name of profit. Andrew Tate’s fall from grace has highlighted the corrosive effects of toxic masculinity on impressionable teens and young men, and asks how this vain, boastful, unapologetic hater of women became a role model for young men all over the globe.
Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony
Friday, BBC1, 5.45pm
Over the next 16 days, the more than 10,000 of the world’s greatest athletes and sportspeople will compete for gold in the Olympic Games in Paris, and the BBC will have a ringside seat to all the action. But before all that, there’s the not-too-small matter of the opening ceremony, and the French have planned a spectacular extravaganza of sight and sound to welcome the world to the 33rd Olympic Games. The event will feature many of the competitors parading down the Seine in boats, and the Eiffel Tower will provide a suitably majestic backdrop as the ceremony reaches its climax.
DI Ray
Friday, Virgin Media 1, 9pm
Parminder Nagra stars as detective inspector Rachita Ray in this Birmingham-based crime series created and written by Maya Sondhi. When Ray is promoted to the homicide division, and is assigned to investigate a so-called “honour killing”, she finds herself in conflict with her own department, and having to face uncomfortable truths from her past. In series two, Ray is reinstated following her suspension, and is sent to investigate the killing of a young nurse in a drive-by shooting.
