UK TV programmes to watch this week : 07/11/2020

Britain’s Most Historic Towns (Channel 4/HD | 8:10pm to 9:10pm | Saturday 7th November)

Professor Alice Roberts explores the medieval history of Lincoln, visiting the cathedral that was once the tallest building in the world and re-living the battle at Lincoln Castle. She discovers how moving up the social ladder in medieval times required a whole new wardrobe of clothing and accessories and gets top grips with a historically accurate crossbow. Aerial archaeologist Ben Robinson uses the latest drone technology to look at the geographical features that shaped the city’s development.

Cornwall with Simon Reeve (BBC 1/HD | 8:10pm to 9:10pm | Saturday 7th November)

The first of two programmes in which Simon Reeve travels through Cornwall as the county emerges from lockdown, discovering the impact of Covid-19 on a part of the country highly reliant on tourism. Simon discovers the ongoing impact of the collapse of the tin-mining industry in the 1980s when he visits one of Britain’s poorest estates, and meets the entrepreneurs who sell homemade food on the beach who are struggling to make enough money to last the winter.

Paddington Station 24/7 (Channel 5/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Monday 9th November 2020)

A passenger drops her overnight bag on the tracks and threatens to jump down to retrieve it, while a major power cut at Maidenhead has caused signalling to fail on all the tracks, including the main line into Paddington. At Great Western Railway’s Long Rock Depot, the famed Night Riviera sleeper service departs once more after a three-month suspension due to the pandemic, but with radical changes.

The River Thames: Then & Now (Channel 5/HD | 10:00pm to 11:05pm | Monday 9th November 2020)

A look at the development of the London railway terminus from its opening in 1852 to the present, as it has been transformed it into one of the best connected places in Britain. In Victorian Britain, King’s Cross became a thriving industrial hub, bringing in goods to feed and power London, while 20 industrial buildings that once its beating heart have been given a new lease of life and is now a tech hub that is home to Google, Facebook and Youtube.

Holby City (BBC 1/HD | 8:15pm to 9:00pm | Tuesday 10th November 2020)

Ric wakes up from his coma to find the world in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic – and that the ongoing crisis threatens his chance of surviving his recent brain surgery. Sacha’s colleagues are concerned by how he is taking Essie’s death, but he turns his back on them in favour of a stranger, while Cameron struggles to prove that he can be a hero.

Saving Lives at Sea (BBC 2/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Tuesday 10th November 2020)

The crew of a Weston-super-Mare lifeboat race to the aid of three casualties who have been caught by a rising tide and are exhausted from trying to swim against the current. On the northeast coast of England, volunteers come to the aid of a father and son trapped against a cliff face, while in Swanage, two lifeboats are launched to attend to a grounded yacht and a badly injured sailor.

DIY SOS (BBC 1/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Thursday 12th November 2020)

Nick Knowles and the team descend on Caswell Bay, Swansea, to transform a dilapidated, out-of-use bus shelter into the first, fully adapted surf centre Surfability UK, a charity that provides surfing lessons and experiences for people with disabilities and learning difficulties, and which receives funding from Children in Need. Throughout, Nick presents stories of how children and young people have benefitted from the support of the charity, but the challenge remains tough as this is the team’s first build during Covid-19.

Saving Britain’s Pubs with Tom Kerridge (BBC 2/HD| 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Thursday 12th November 2020)

For the past 20 years, pubs have been closing down at an alarming rate. Concerned by a crisis in the industry he loves, Tom Kerridge sets out on a mission to revive struggling pubs. He begins at the White Hart in Chilsworthy, Cornwall, where a 300-year-old freehouse, the only pub in the village, is in danger of closing.

Secret Scotland (Channel 5/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Friday 13th November 2020)

The comedian ventures off the mainland to the Isle of Bute for a privileged look at what is said to be Scotland’s first million-pound home – Mount Stuart House. In Argyll, Susan visits Kilmartin Glen, an ancient valley and home to the Scotti people who gave Scotland its name. She visits a Bronze Age tomb and learns how to make a copper axe in the way they were made thousands of years ago. Then, on the shores of Loch Fyne, she discovers the secrets of oyster cultivation before looking for beavers in the beautiful Knapdale Forest.

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