The Olympics get underway in Paris, while things get hot and steamy in 14th century Italy in The Decameron.
Sophie Morgan’s Fight to Fly
Monday
Channel 4, 9.00pm
In this documentary, disabled travellers are dispatched by presenter Sophie Morgan (Dispatches) to catch a flight. What should be straightforward quickly becomes an exposé on the appalling treatment faced by a significant segment of passengers.
Sophie also takes a trip to the White House and Downing Street to advocate for disabled rights. Later on, she becomes the first British paraplegic woman to fly in zero-gravity.
Time Bandits
Wednesday
Apple TV+
The Decameron
Thursday
Netflix
Brat summer comes to 14th century Italy.
When the Black Death rages through Florence, a group of nobles and their servants retreat to a villa in order to avoid infection. Once in the countryside, they set about doing what they do best, which is anything but hygienic.
The dark erotic comedy is adapted from Giovanni Boccaccio’s Renaissance-era short story collection. Amongst its stars are Saoirse Monica-Jackson (Derry Girls), Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education), Tony Hale (Arrested Development) and Zosia Mamet (Girls).
Olympic Opening Ceremony
Friday
BBC One, 5.45pm
This week, Paris will become the second ever city to host the Summer Olympics for a third time, after London. Before the games get underway, the French capital will put on a show teased by the Paris 2024 organising committee as “the most spectacular and accessible Opening Ceremony in Olympic history”.
The Summer games last came to the French capital in 1924, a year after swimming in the Seine was banned due to hygiene concerns. A century later, swimming in the river will resume, despite threats from certain protestors to defecate in it.
Coronation Street
Friday
ITV1, 8.00pm
The soap airs a special hour-long episode from the perspective of Paul Foreman (Peter Ash), who suffers from motor neurone disease (MND). The episode will be dedicated to rugby league player Rob Burrow, who died in June from MND.
Join Paul as he spends a day with husband Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank), as the two try to process that Paul doesn’t have much time left.
“Coronation Street has never done anything like this before,” said producer Verity MacLeod. “It is extraordinary, heartbreaking, funny and beautiful.”
