UK TV programmes to watch this week : 09/07/2016

Trainspotting Live (BBC 4/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Monday 11th July 2016)

Broadcast live from Didcot Rail Centre, in the middle of the Great Western Railway, Peter Snow is joined by some of the most enthusiastic and passionate train lovers, collectors and enthusiasts from across the country. Peter meets poet and rail fan Ian McMillan, challenging him to write a new poem about the iconic Flying Scotsman to images filmed by members of the public as the train went on a recent journey. Dr Hannah Fry explores how these massive engines stay on the rails and the effect that the rail network had on timekeeping. Engineer Dick Strawbridge is in Doncaster on the trail of a workhorse of the network, the Class 66, and he also visits the National Railway Museum in York. With spotters based across the length and breadth of the country, including resident spotter Tim Dunn in the Scottish Highlands, Trainspotting Live provides a snapshot of the whole network during the hour, providing analysis and context, and revelling in this unique and wonderful world.

Exodus: Our Journey to Europe (BBC 2/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Monday 11th July 2016)

Documentary following some of the million people who smuggled themselves into Europe in 2015, filmed using camera phones provided to them by the production team. Fleeing war, poverty or persecution, they are prepared to film where regular films cannot go – from the inflatable dinghies crossing from Turkey to Greece to the back of lorries entering the Eurotunnel. The series begins with hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria arriving in the Turkish port of Izmir. Eleven-year-old Isra’a sells black-market cigarettes so that her extended family can pay smugglers to take them across the Mediterranean on a dinghy – but her father Tarek is unsure whether he can risk his children’s lives. Meanwhile, 27-year-old Hassan, who is fleeing imprisonment and torture in his native Damascus, is desperate to make the crossing at all costs. He puts his life, and those of his travelling companions, in the hands of smugglers and boards a dinghy. But the passengers soon face a life-or-death decision.

Kinky Britain (Channel 4/HD | 10:00pm to 11:05pm | Monday 11th July 2016)

From eye-crossing fetishists to balloon and bubblegum poppers, roll neck-shamers and ear-diddling enthusiasts, Britain is in the grip of a secret fetish obsession, with an army of amateur filmmakers ready to cater to our every quirky need. Welcome to the world of porn to order. Exploring the bizarre and highly lucrative business of bespoke online fetish video production, this entertaining documentary follows a growing number of British producers as they make their fortune delivering other people’s fantasies on tape.
(High Definition, Subtitles, Audio Described)

Trainspotting Live (BBC 4/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Tuesday 12th July 2016)

Peter Snow and Dr Hannah Fry present live from Didcot Railway Centre. Peter is joined by Bob Gwynne, curator at the National Railway Museum, to apply his incredible knowledge of the British rail system to the live images coming in. Hannah is out and about at Didcot, working out the equations that meant that the move from steam to diesel power was inevitable. She also meets Sir Kenneth Grange, the man responsible for many design classics including the famous Intercity 125 which is this episode’s focus for the spotters up and down the country. Dick Strawbridge is on the hunt for a very special example of that train in Swindon, and also meets the group trying to buy and preserve the original prototype. Tim Dunn has moved south to Carlisle to spot one of the trainspotters’ favourite locomotives, the Class 37. All of this, plus a man that has collected thousands of locomotive number plates and a short film about the ‘flying banana’.

Exodus: Our Journey to Europe (BBC 2/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Tuesday 12th July 2016)

Documentary following some of the million people who smuggled themselves into Europe in 2015, filmed using camera phones provided to them by the production team. Syrian Kurd Ahmad’s journey continues as he reaches Athens. Rather than take the long and uncertain over-land route through Europe, he negotiates with a smuggler for a fake passport that he can use to fly to France. With his wife and young daughters trapped in Syria, time is of the essence. Also leaving Athens is 24-year-old Sadiq from Afghanistan, fleeing Taliban repression and violence and heading to Finland, a country of which he has never even seen a picture. Meanwhile, 11-year-old Isra’a and her family group of 16 people, including babies and her severely disabled sister, are approaching the Serbian border. They are shocked by the total chaos that greets them.

Saving Lives at Sea (BBC 1/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Wednesday 13th July 2016)

Documentary following the men and women of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). A retired nursery teacher gets herself into danger when attempting to rescue her two dogs after they became cut off by the rising tide, a volunteer crew member in Wales is washed off a cliff into the sea while trying to rescue a concussed spearfisherman, a rescue in a force seven gale in Blackpool goes badly wrong, putting all three crew members’ lives in jeopardy, and volunteers try to rescue families trapped by the rising waters in Cumbria shortly before Christmas when torrential floods hit.

Trainspotting Live (BBC 4/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Wednesday 13th July 2016)

In this final episode of the series from Didcot, Dr Hannah Fry and Peter Snow look towards the future of rail travel. Hannah explores how the timetables work and whether they can squeeze in extra capacity in the future. She also looks back to what the future could have looked like had Brunel’s broad gauge track system become the standard over a hundred years ago. Engineer Dick Strawbridge meets some young volunteers who are preserving locomotives and learning the engineering techniques to keep the network running. Tim Dunn is after another live rare spot, a mail train which runs cards and letters around Britain and is powered by a unique class of locomotive. He also gets to ride on a train so futuristic it isn’t even on the network yet. Back at Didcot, Peter is joined by Gerry Barney, who designed the British Rail logo, something that has stayed constant through years of rail upheaval and is still a design classic today.

Exodus: Our Journey to Europe (BBC 2/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Wednesday 13th July 2016)

Documentary following some of the million people who smuggled themselves into Europe in 2015, filmed using camera phones provided to them by the production team. 21-year-old Alaigie is preparing to leave Gambia to travel ‘the back way’ 6,000 kilometres to Italy to find work. He films the dangerous journey through Africa via a network of smugglers, at the mercy of thieves and violent border guards. Meanwhile, Syrian Kurd Ahmad’s attempt to be smuggled into Britain in the back of a lorry finally pays off, and he is sent to Wakefield while his asylum claim is processed. He’s desperate to get leave to remain so that he can bring his wife and young daughters out of Syria. With their home town under attack, the clock is ticking for him to get them to safety. And 27-year-old Hassan, who survived the sinking of his dinghy in the Mediterranean, has reached Calais and the infamous Jungle. But the final few miles prove the hardest to travel.

The Last Leg (Channel 4/HD | 10:05pm to 11:10pm | Friday 15th July 2016)

The final episode of the current series of the award-winning live weekly satirical comedy show, hosted by Adam Hills, Alex Brooker and Josh Widdicombe. The team are joined by a special guest to examine the biggest and most entertaining news stories of the week. Viewers can tweet the kind of edgy current affairs questions that other shows might duck on Twitter handle #isitok.

All TV guide information taken from DigiGuide — www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=15119.