Doctor Who (BBC 1/HD | 8:35pm to 9:20pm | Saturday 11th October 2014)
The Doctor is on the most beautiful train in history, speeding among the stars of the future. But a deadly creature is stalking the passengers. Once you see the horrifying mummy, you only have 66 seconds to live. No exceptions, no reprieve. As the Doctor races against the clock, he is seen at his deadliest and most ruthless.
Guy Martin’s Spitfire (Channel 4/HD | 7:30pm to 9:00pm | Sunday 12th October 2014)
The Supermarine Spitfire was Britain’s most successful fighter plane and remains an iconic symbol of Britain’s resistance during the Second World War. In May 1940, while covering the retreat from Dunkirk, a Mark 1 Spitfire flown by RAF ace Squadron Leader Geoffrey Stephenson was shot down and crash-landed on a beach in northern France, where it slowly sank into the sand. The wreckage was finally recovered in the 1980s and stored anonymously in France for more than 20 years. In this special documentary, Guy Martin – speed junkie, motorcycle racer, lorry mechanic and Spitfire fanatic – joins a restoration team as it embarks on a two-year rebuild of this Spitfire. This extraordinary project provides a look at the amazing engineering and skills involved in building the aircraft, and is also a fitting homage to the bravery of everyone involved in its service: the male and female factory workers, the ground crews and the pilots.
Grand Tours of the Scottish Islands (BBC 1 Scotland/HD & BBC iPlayer only | 7:30pm to 8:00pm | Monday 13th October 2014)
Paul Murton sets out to experience island life on the myriad of islands that lie off the Scottish coast. In this edition, he visits a little-known string of islands off the west coast of Oban, starting with island of Kerrera. Paul learns of Kerrera’s vital part as a base for the RAF’s Seaplane Squadron during WWII, where the Sunderland seaplanes took off from to provide air cover to convoys during the Battle of the Atlantic. He then crosses the renowed ‘Bridge over the Atlantic’ on the mainland to get to Easdale. Here he discovers the role that this island’s quarries, and those of its neighbours Luing and Belnahua, played in building Britain’s empire and reviews how little life has changed on the island. His final destination is Eileach an Naoimh, one of the Garvallach islands, home to the oldest Christian burial site in Scotland, and believed to be the final resting place of Saint Columba’s mother.
Bad Education (BBC 3/HD | 10:00pm to 10:30pm | Tuesday 14th October 2014)
It is the summer term and Alfie Wickers is back as the self-styled maverick of Abbey Grove. Fraser discovers that Alfie never passed his biology GCSE, so Alfie must go back to school himself to be taught by Gulliver and sit the exam with his own class. It should be the perfect opportunity to prove to Gulliver that he can motivate his class and lead by example, but Alfie decides there is only one real option: cheating. But, with the revelation that the notorious invigilator Mr Hewston will be overseeing the exam, it becomes clear that this is going to be a battle of wits. Meanwhile Martin Wickers is babysitting his girlfriend’s dog and Fraser is organising the end-of-exam skip party.
Waterloo Road (BBC 1/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Wednesday 15th October 2014)
A new family arrive at Waterloo Road and immediately shake things up both in and out of the classroom. Dominant and forward-thinking, Vaughan Fitzgerald has all the makings of the dynamic headteacher the school needs, while his confident partner Allie takes the reins of the art department. But their professional veneer just might be tested as their warring children’s behaviour threatens to spill out into the classroom. Christine vows to help Darren with his desperate situation at home but neither are prepared for the shocking scene that awaits when they try to confront his mother. George has been bled dry by Carol over the summer and pledges to make a change. He soon finds out why no one messes with a Barry and gets away with it.
Grand Designs (Channel 4/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Wednesday 15th October 2014)
Andy and Nicki Bruce are desperate to live on the River Thames, but worried about the ever-present dangers of flooding. They want to build an amphibious or ‘floating’ house, the first of its kind in the UK. Their architect has come up with an ambitious, experimental design that will see the whole house magically rise up with the flood waters. This clever engineering solution has never been tried on a river bank in Britain and no one knows whether it will work. The Bruces decide to build on a site on a small island in the river. Budgeted at £1.2m, the bold, if slightly bonkers, plan is to dig down deep below the water line to create a concrete dock in which a three-storey concrete-hulled home can rest. But it’s not long before the project becomes bogged down in the logistical challenges of building such a complex design on a small island that is only accessible via a narrow footbridge.
Have I Got News for You (BBC 1/HD | 9:00pm to 9:30pm | Friday 17th October 2014)
The popular satirical news quiz, with team captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop, guest host Frank Skinner and panellists Sara Pascoe and Nick Robinson.
All TV guide information taken from DigiGuide — www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=15119.