999: What’s Your Emergency? (Channel 4/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Monday 7th October 2013)
Last year, Channel 4 cameras followed the work of police, fire and ambulance staff in Blackpool to reveal modern Britain through the eyes of the emergency services. Now the series returns, but this time its focus is on the emergency service that gets to know us most intimately: the ambulance service. The new series follows ambulance staff across the country who know that every 999 call they race to could be a matter of life or death. The ambulance service is under huge pressure, with 11 million emergency calls a year and an ambulance dispatched every five seconds at an average cost of £250.
The Day I Got My Sight Back (BBC1/HD | 10:35pm to 11:35pm | Tuesday 8th October 2013)
Since 2002, Ian Tibbetts, a 42-year-old former forklift truck driver from Telford in Shropshire, has been slowly going blind. He has never seen the faces of his twin four-year-old boys. Despite numerous treatments to save his eyesight, nothing has worked – until now. Over several months, this film follows Ian as he undergoes a series of radical operations in a last attempt to restore his sight. The procedure involves inserting a tiny lens in one of the patient’s own teeth and then implanting the tooth in his eye. Christopher Liu, at the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton, is the only surgeon in Britain who performs this remarkable procedure. The success rate is high, but it is not guaranteed. Will Ian ever see his wife again – and will he finally see his twin sons for the first time in his life?
The Great British Year (BBC1/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Wednesday 9th October 2013)
Documentary series showing Britain’s changing look over the course of a year. Spring marks the start of an epic race for life where timing is everything; trees explode with blossom and mornings fill with the magical chorus of bird song. Long-tailed tits frantically build nests, whilst in our oceans, seahorses sway to a graceful courtship dance. As we celebrate Easter, a stoat mother hunts the young rabbits to feed her own playful young. As spring becomes summer, Guillemot chicks leap from their cliffs to begin life at sea, and this year’s young prepare for life alone.
Grand Designs (Channel 4/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Wednesday 9th October 2013)
This episode sees Grand Designs bring Japanese design to the Welsh valleys. Tamayo Hussey’s missed Japan ever since she moved to the UK 14 years ago with her husband, quantum physics professor Nigel. To stave off the homesickness they’ve decided to transform a tired old 60s forester’s lodge into a one-of-a-kind Japanese house complete with roof bath, tatami room and sliding paper walls. Keen to keep costs under control, Nigel and Tamayo decide to engage only the design skills – rather than the full services – of an architect. So with no previous building experience, they bravely go it alone, working without any detailed drawings, and fire-fighting problems every step of the way.
Waterloo Road (BBC1/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Thursday 10th October 2013)
School-based drama. Grantly returns to teaching at Waterloo Road to discover the school is chaotic as ever. Kacey faces her big boxing fight, but Barry takes bets against her winning. And Sue resorts to tranquilisers to get through her school day from hell.
The Railway: First Great Western (Channel 5 | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Thursday 10th October 2013)
Documentary series following the staff of First Great Western, one of Britain’s largest train operating companies. In this episode, the longest-serving driver in Europe reaches the end of the line, there is a look at the biggest redevelopment project since Brunel’s time and we experience a step back in time in Cornwall.
All TV guide information taken from DigiGuide — www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=15119.