Western leaders retrace the path to war with Russia for a new documentary, and Russell T Davies pens a love letter to Crossroads star Noele Gordon.
Putin vs the West
Monday
BBC Two, 9.00pm
"When we do not punish at first, we are forced to punish more severely later." So says French president Francois Hollande about Vladimir Putin's 2014 seizure of Crimea in this new documentary on the Russian leader's fraught relationship with the West.
Hollande is just one of many leaders consulted here, including David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Jose Manuel Barroso and Volodymyr Zelensky, who talk us through the past decade of clashes and how they led to all-out war in Ukraine.
Buffering S2
Monday
ITV2, 10.05pm
Love Island narrator Iain Stirling brings back his semi-autobiographical house share sitcom for another series.
We rejoin Iain and his housemates—Ashley (Rosa Robson), Greg (Paul G Raymond), and Thalia (Janine Harouni)—as they are all still trying to navigate the choppy waters of their late twenties, haunted by the sense that time is slipping through their fingers. And so, concerned that his housemates are showing their age, Iain starts organising a party in a desperate attempt to cling on to their youth.
Gunther’s Millions
Wednesday
Netflix
In 1992, a wealthy German countess called Karlotta Liebenstein died and she left the entirety of her estate, all $400m of it, to her dog Gunther III. He now owns several properties in Italy, a yacht and a pop group, which has him living a life of extraordinary luxury.
This wild documentary retells the stranger-than-fiction story, explaining how a cult began to form around the dog and his eccentric handler.
Building Britain’s Superhomes
Wednesday
Channel 4, 10.00pm
Multimillion-pound property developer Guy Phoenix invites us into his envy-inducing business, exploring superhomes and his audacious plans for their development.
His latest project in Nottingham is a dated hillside house he is looking to transform into a bespoke, luxurious mansion replete with glass flooring and an indoor pool.
Nolly
Thursday
ITVX
In three-part drama Nolly, Helena Bonham Carter shines as soap star Noele Gordon who, as the face of Crossroads, was unofficially crowned Queen of the Midlands until her baffling sacking in 1981.
Russell T Davies wrote the series to remember a forgotten icon, and to recall her sacking in order to unpack the cold mechanics of TV and the cruelty of the men running it.
