This week's top TV: 18 - 24 July

This week's top TV: 18 - 24 July

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By Toby Hood,
Monday, 18th July 2016
Twenty-three volunteers take on the forces of nature in the Scottish Highlands in Channel 4's Eden (credit: Todd Antony/ Glen Dearing/ Channel 4 )

Monday

Eden

Channel 4

9pm

What would life be like if we could start again? That is the question posed by Channel 4's new reality series Eden. Ten women and 13 men, including four embedded camera crew, try their hand at living without modern conveniences as they build a community from scratch. Using only the tools they can carry, and some initial provisions, the group will live a year in isolation from the rest of the world and attempt to establish a peaceful relationship with their natural surroundings.

Tuesday

Autopsy: The Last Hours of Bobbi Kristina Brown

Channel 5 

10pm

Bobbi Kristina Brown was found face-down in her bathtub in January last year. The cause of death is still classed as undetermined (credit: Tiffany Rose/ WireImage)

At the tender age of 22, singer and reality TV star Bobbi Kristina Brown's life was cut short in mysterious circumstances. In this mini-documentary, pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd investigates the events around Brown's death, using medical evidence to deduce how the young celebrity received brain damage that would lead to a three month coma and her untimely demise.

Wednesday

The Rebel

Gold

10pm 

Simon Callow and Anita Dobson lead the grey-haired revolution in The Rebel (credit: UKTV)

Simon Callow leads this brand new sitcom about the absurdities of modern life, and the inescapable effects of aging. Callow brings to life the character of Henry Palmer, a retired septuagenarian frustrated with today's complicated conventions who yearns to relive his rebellious youth as a Mod, in this live action adaptation of Andrew Birch's cartoons. Eastenders​' Anita Dobson co-stars as charity shop owner and loyal friend Margaret.

Thursday

The Refugee Camp: Our Desert Home

BBC Two

9pm

Anita Rani talks to a professional wrestler, a midwife, and a teenage journalist who have all been displaced from the Daraa region of Syria (credit: BBC/ Twenty Twenty Television)

Strictly Come Dancing star Anita Rani visits one of the largest refugee sites in the world, travelling to Jordan and the makeshift town of Zaatari where 80,000 asylum seekers have made temporary homes. Rani meets with the middle-income residents of the camp in her search to unearth the humanity behind one of the biggest social and political crises of the 21st Century.  

Friday

Friday Night Dinner 

Channel 4

10pm

The dysfunctional Goodman family returns for a fourth series (credit: Mark Johnson/ Channel 4)

We're invited back for a fourth serving at the Goodman's as Friday Night Dinner returns to our screens for a new series this week. RTS Award-winner Jason Watkins makes a guest appearance as annoying family friend Tony, while Paul Ritter (Martin), Tamsin Greig (Jackie), Tom Rosenthal (Jonny) and Simon Bird (Adam) reprise their roles as the farcical family of four.

Saturday

The Marvellous World of Roald Dahl

BBC Two

8pm

Roald Dahl wrote over 40 books for both children and adults in his lifetime, he died in 1990 at the age of 74 (credit: BBC/ Roald Dahl Nominee Limited)

The day after the cinema release of Steven Spielberg's The BFG, BBC Two looks in to the life of the man who inspired generations of children on to a love affair with books. Roald Dahl's story is laid bare from archived letters and first-hand accounts of his time as a World War Two fighter pilot, subsequent post as a British intelligence officer, and encounters with luminaries such as Walt Disney and Theodore Roosevelt. Dahl's long-time collaborator Quentin Blake provides illustrations depicting the life events that informed the author's work. 

Sunday

Saddam Goes To Hollywood

Channel 4

8pm

The crew on location in Iraq for the film of Saddam Hussein's film Clash of Loyalties (credit: Channel 4)

This documentary tells the unbelievable true story of Saddam Hussein's attempts to make a film for theatrical release based around the founding of the Iraqi nation. Starring Oliver Reed, Clash of Loyalties quickly ran in to budget problems when it started shooting and was soon plagued with production problems, not least of which being the eruption of war with Iran. Featuring recovered footage from the original rushes - found in a garage in Surrey - the cast and crew are reunited after 35 years to watch the film which was completed but never released.

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