Olympics 2016 : Closing Ceremony (BBC 1/HD | 11:25pm to 4:00am | Sunday 21st August 2016)

Clare Balding presents live coverage of the closing ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympics, as the curtain comes down on the games at the iconic Maracana Stadium.

Britain’s Hardest Workers: Inside the Low Wage Economy (BBC 2/HD | 7:00pm to 8:00pm | Monday 22nd August 2016)

20 volunteers take part in an experiment to test their skills against some of the fastest growing jobs in Britain’s low-wage sector. In this episode, they are doing our dirty work – cleaning hotel rooms after a busy party weekend and then sorting through our recycling. While the workers battle to meet performance targets, Anita Rani looks at the bigger picture – can businesses cope with a rise in minimum wage, are we Brits afraid of hard graft and is worker representation a thing of the past?

Britain’s Hardest Workers: Inside the Low Wage Economy (BBC 2/HD | 7:00pm to 8:00pm | Tuesday 23rd August 2016)

Volunteers test their skills against some of the fastest growing jobs in Britain’s low-wage sector. 16 workers remain in the experiment. This time, they are working in food and farming – picking broccoli and making ready meals for our tables. While the workers find out what it is like to be casual labourers, Anita Rani is exploring the truth behind zero-hour contracts and what happens when a workforce is hidden from view. At the end of their two shifts, the workers find out who came closest to hitting industry targets.

Britain’s Hardest Workers: Inside the Low Wage Economy (BBC 2/HD | 7:00pm to 8:00pm | Wednesday 24th August 2016)

Volunteers test their skills against some of the fastest growing jobs in Britain’s low-wage sector. The nine remaining workers are being put to the test in one of Britain’s newest and fastest growing sectors – e-commerce. They are preparing orders in a warehouse and then quality controlling tents for sale online. As they experience first hand the cutting edge of modern performance monitoring, Anita Rani sets off to find out how gamification is affecting the workplace and what future faces Britain’s growing army of older workers.

Great Canal Journeys (Channel 4/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Wednesday 24th August 2016)

Tim and Pru explore a network totally new to them as they embark on a voyage across the Netherlands. Travelling from the Windmills of the Kinderdijk to the vibrant city of Amsterdam, they explore a country that was partly created by its canals. Half the land was once under water, and it’s the combination of windmills and canals that over the centuries prevented the Netherlands from flooding. The voyage takes them to the gardens of Keukenhof, where seven million tulips are on display. There they discover why in the 17th century, one tulip bulb cost the same as a house in Amsterdam. In the city of Haarlem they visit the Teylers Museum, which agrees to open up its archive of rare Rembrandt self-portraits for Tim and Pru to admire. Arriving in Amsterdam, they explore the capital’s historic canal district known as the Grachtengordel. Braving Amsterdam’s crazy canal traffic they visit one of the most elegant canal-side mansions of Holland’s Golden Age.

Skies Above Britain (BBC 2/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Wednesday 24th August 2016)

A look at the hidden world of the skies above us and the stories of the people who spend their life in flight. At NATS, air traffic controllers guide a passenger jet with a major technical fault safely back to the ground and respond to an unidentified flying object detected on the radar screens. The biggest air race in the world is taking place at Ascot and British Airways captain Paul Bonhomme is out to win the title for a second time before retiring. The aerial slalom course is high risk, with pilots flying at speeds of up to 230mph, metres above the ground. Stefan is a YouTube blogger with a new camera-drone.

Britain’s Hardest Workers: Inside the Low Wage Economy (BBC 2/HD | 7:00pm to 8:00pm | Thursday 25th August 2016)

Volunteers test their skills against some of the fastest growing jobs in Britain’s low-wage sector. It is over half way through the experiment and now just six workers remain. This time, they are working in manufacturing – a sector that has been in decline in the UK but is showing signs of a revival. What does it take to make the grade working in a car parts company and who will cut it in the textile industry? While the workers get to grips with the levels of skill demanded of them – and all for minimum wage – Anita Rani is finding out why Britain’s productivity lags so far behind other G7 nations and whether we want more manufacturing jobs here at all.

Full Steam Ahead (BBC 2/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Thursday 25th August 2016)

Historians Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn explore how the Victorian railways created modern Britain. In the final episode, the team find out how increased leisure time and affordable rail transport brought a new kind of freedom for working-class Victorians. Ruth travels from Paignton to Kingswear, where she helps get a paddle steamer prepared for a journey up the River Dart. At Swanage, Peter finds out what it was like to work on the excursion trains and the impact mass tourism had to the area. Alex learns how railways enabled geologists and amateur fossil-hunters to explore Britain’s prehistoric past.

Britain’s Hardest Workers: Inside the Low Wage Economy (BBC 2/HD | 7:00pm to 8:00pm | Friday 26th August 2016)

Volunteers test their skills against some of the fastest growing jobs in Britain’s low-wage sector. In the final two days of the experiment, the five remaining workers take on the highest paid employment of the low-wage sector, but it is also the most physically and mentally demanding – night work. As the workers do an all-night shift at a warehouse, Anita Rani is finding out if there is a price to pay for earning these premium rates. For their final task, the workers are doing a shift for a busy pizza take-away outlet. It is the most challenging job they have faced so far and the winner will walk away with a life-changing bonus.

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