Whether it's a slick and steamy stateside drama, a rousing commentary on a beloved institution or a trip back to the 1980s, we've got the run-down of the best on TV this week.
Inside the American Embassy
Monday: Channel 4, 10pm
Take a peek inside one of the most politically charged buildings of our time. This episode follows the new ambassador, Robert Wood Johnson’s first six months in office. While the rest of the world was reeling from Trump and Brexit, this behind-the-scenes documentary shows what was going on inside the Embassy from June 2017, as well as the general running of the American Embassy in London.
The Affair
Tuesday: Sky Atlantic, 9pm
With each of the four main characters in new relationships, former spouses Noah (Dominic West) and Helen (Moira Tierney), and Alison (Ruth Wilson) and Cole (Joshua Jackson) are still trying to find some sort of equilibrium as they head into the fourth series. We see Noah struggling to adjust to his new life in LA, after moving there to be closer to his kids and Helen struggling with her deteriorating mental health.
Japan’s Secret Shame
Thursday: BBC Two, 9pm
In the landscape of #MeToo and the ongoing conversation surrounding consent, it’s difficult to imagine the ordeal that journalist Shiori Ito went through in her home country of Japan. After breaking a Japanese taboo and publicly accusing a well-known television reporter, Noriyuki Yamaguchi, of rape, she was vilified. The account is not only shocking in its telling but the treatment she received after coming forward is difficult to swallow, including her having to re-enact the assault while a life-sized doll was pushed down upon her, a practice which is apparently common.
Following Ito over a year, this powerful documentary shows her visiting the institutions she believed failed her, talking to women in the same position as her, and dealing with her relationship with her country.
GLOW
Friday: Netflix
Don your lycra, crimp your hair and stretch out your sweatbands because the Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling are back. After a successful first run on Netflix last year, the 1980s-set underdog story (unbelievably based on real events) returns tonight.
Last season plucky Ruth (Alison Brie) and her gang of misfits and stereotypes managed to pull off the impossible and get their wrestling show on air. Now they have legions of fans but face the ultimate obstacle: cancellation. With family dramas, divorce and sexism rife, as well as the ongoing rivalry between Ruth and ex-bestie Debbie (Betty Gilpin) the girls need to band together to make their unlikely alliance work. A stellar soundtrack of Bonnie Tyler, Quiet Riot other 1980s classics adds to the fun.
The Big Narstie Show
Friday: Channel 4, 11pm
Grime DJ and MC Big Narstie, a social media star who made a splash delivering the weather on Good Morning Britain earlier this year, has made a surprise leap into mainstream television with his new project for Channel 4. Likely to be a ballsy and in your face hour, the show promises riotous chat, comedy and music, from Narstie and co-host Mo Gilligan.
The NHS: To Provide All People
Saturday: BBC Two, 8pm
An all-star cast brings this feature length poem, written by Owen Sheers, to life in a project commissioned to mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS. Following on from the success of 2016’s The Green Hollow, which focused on the Aberfan disaster where 116 children and 28 adults perished, To Provide All People is a cumulation of extensive interviewing by poet Sheers. The testimonies were then woven into a fluid narrative, by Sheers, describing the establishment of the institution by Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan, looking at the ways it changed people’s lives, with a call to arms to save the institution from its apparent fate. Rousing stuff.
