Channel 5

TV picks of the week: 4 - 10 February

Teachers Training to Kill

Monday: Channel 4, 9.00pm

Teachers Training to Kill is a one-off documentary that explores gun control in America and the disturbing amount of mass shootings taking place in US schools.

The documentary follows a group of teachers from Faster, a controversial summer school where teachers are trained to operate guns and potentially shoot to kill.

TV Picks of the week: 7 - 13 January

Brexit: The Uncivil War

Monday: Channel 4, 9.00pm

Created by James Graham (A Brilliant Young Mind), Brexit: The Uncivil War explores the inside story behind one of the most divisive campaigns in British politics, Vote Leave.

Set during the pinnacle of the EU referendum in 2016, the chaotic drama follows Dominic Cummings (Benedict Cumberbatch), the less-known mastermind behind the Leave campaign.

Our Friend in Leeds: Helen Scott prepares for Channel 4's arrival

Leeds (Credit: Channel 4)

The announcement that Channel 4 will be coming to Leeds literally lit up the city. Social media went mad. Leeds City Region’s #4Sparks campaign had prevailed, and Leeds University floodlit its iconic Parkinson Building in celebration.

Friends and neighbours with no connection to the media were talking about it as a good thing. A new wave of prosperity, jobs and creative pride was on the way.

Moreover, we had been the underdog and beaten off the challenge from the two Andies (mayors Andy Street, heading the Birmingham bid, and Andy Burnham, in Manchester).

TV Picks of the week: 3rd December to 9th December

Nadiya’s Asian Odyssey

Monday: BBC One, 9.00pm

Former Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain uncovers her familial connections to southeast Asia and explores the culinary arts of Cambodia, Thailand and Nepal.

In the first of a two-part series, Hussain begins her journey by visiting Cambodia and Thailand, learning about the culture of these two countries by interacting with the people and, of course, the food.

Find out what tasty dishes her travels will inspire.

 

Bill Malone delivers Dan Gilbert Memorial Lecture

Adrian Dunbar (Jim Hogan) & Carolina Main (Cat Hogan) in Blood (Credit: Channel 5)

Virgin Media Television’s director of programming said: “We’re constantly being told that linear TV is dead, but the facts actually present a different picture.”

In Ireland, Virgin Media is “bucking the trend and showing continual growth in audiences”, a result, he claimed, of a “notable step up in [the] scale, ambition and quality” of programming.

TV picks of the week: 29 October - 4 November

Black Earth Rising

Monday: BBC Two, 9.00pm

The thrilling political drama comes to a close with a key villain finally being unmasked. Kate (Michaela Coel) also finds what she’s been looking for. A collective guilt hangs over her and Michael (John Goodman) over the Rwandan genocide and the reprisals that saw Hutu refugees massacred in camps.

The different narratives interwoven throughout the series are knitted together in the finale with several truths being revealed.

 

TV picks of the week: 22 October - 28 October

A Woman Captured: Storyville

Monday: BBC Four, 10.00pm

Film-maker Bernadett Tuza-Ritter tells a harrowing story of modern slavery through one woman’s nightmare. Marish is 52, works 12-hour days in a Hungarian factor and has been a domestic slave for ten years.

Consistently abused and forced to live off scraps Marish eventually gathers the courage to plan an escape.