Horizon Special: The Vaccine – Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm
“We knew it was going to happen, it was just a question of when.” So says a leading medical expert at the start of this compelling report, which traces the urgent yet painstaking development of the COVID-19 vaccine. Its humble stars are the pioneering scientists from all around the world who toiled incessantly to combat an unprecedented pandemic. You presumably admired them already, but this documentary may well inspire a ticker tape parade. Not that they’d want that, obviously. These backroom geniuses rolled out a vaccine in record time. The last eighteen months have been awful, devastating; we’ve all lost loved ones. At the risk of sounding sentimental, we must never take a single thing for granted. Stay safe.
Great British Photography Challenge – Monday, BBC Four, 9pm
If you’ve not been following this series, the set-up is simple: top photographer Rankin mentors six talented snappers as they’re “pushed to their creative limits”. It’s a standard format, terribly straightforward, but anyone with an interest in photography and/or portraiture will probably enjoy it. This week we’ve reached the final. Rankin isn’t a natural host, he’s quite timid and awkward; clearly a man who would rather stay behind the camera. Nevertheless, it’s quite refreshing to see a TV talent show entirely lacking in aggression and spite. Give me Rankin’s mildness over Ramsay’s bullying any day. Sure, it skirts with hipster pretension – that goes with the territory – but this is basically a sincere celebration of creativity.
Great British Gardens with Carol Klein – Monday, Channel 5, 9pm
Carol Klein, a Gardeners’ World stalwart, has a highly distinctive presentation style. She always sounds like she’s on the verge of breaking into fits of uncontrollable giggles, as if she can barely contain her utter glee when it comes to topiary and architecture. More power to her elbow, I say, she’s a charming presence. I’d love to be that happy. Her latest series kicks off, ever so gently, with a four seasons visits to Arundel Castle in West Sussex. Its spectacular gardens are rather dreamlike and theatrical; an eccentric work of art. Yes, it’s all very “Sing Hosannah for this green and pleasant land!”, but not in an egregious way. This is a verdant tuft of comfort viewing.
Between the Covers – Tuesday, BBC Two, 7:30pm
In the final episode – for now – of this quarantined series, host Sara Cox asks another panel of celebrity guests to opine about some books. Her prose-guzzlers this week are Good Morning Britain presenter Ranvir Singh, comedians Sophie Willan and Reginald D. Hunter, plus Micky Flanagan, a sweaty man who just says things into a microphone for coins (in all seriousness, I hope he’s okay; during this episode he looks like a haggard and bewildered Donovan after three days trapped in a remote Swedish sauna). Anyway. They review a small heap of tomes as usual. It’s all quite pleasant. I’ll get back to previewing ‘proper’ television once this summer drought is over. Thumbs up emoji!
Undercover in Africa’s Secret State: Dispatches – Wednesday, Channel 4, 11:05pm
You may be vaguely aware that I rarely preview programmes I haven’t seen. But sometimes press copies aren’t available in time, particularly during the mid-June period: the schedules are almost entirely dominated by Hot Summer Sporting Action this week. Such is the pathetically angst-ridden life of a privileged television critic. This, however, sounds like something we should all watch. Eritrea is one of the world’s most repressive and secretive dictatorships. For more than five years, undercover journalist Evan Williams has been compiling acres of secretly shot footage while interviewing some of the people who have managed to escape. Dispatches is a generally reliable strand: one of the last remaining tendrils of Channel 4’s original, hard-hitting remit.
The Hotel Inspector – Thursday, Channel 5, 9pm
Alex Polizzi has been hosting this series for thirteen years. You can tell. Her whole shtick – a ‘cruel to be kind’ expert who revives the fortunes of struggling hoteliers – was always dubious, but it’s even worse now that she’s clearly bored with it all. The latest series begins in a traditional Dorset pub owned by Yvonne and James. They come across as nice people, but Polizzi takes issue with their appearance. Yvonne and James are overweight, and apparently that just won’t do. I don’t think Polizzi genuinely intends to come across as rude, she’s clearly playing a role, but I’m not a big fan of vulnerable people being belittled by solvent television personalities. Perhaps I’m just old-fashioned.
Great Paintings of the World with Andrew Marr – Friday, Channel 5
“Art, not politics, is the greatest passion of my life.” Which is fair enough, Andrew Marr, but maybe you should’ve been hosting programmes like this all along instead of failing to properly challenge Michael Gove (I am aware that Andrew Marr isn’t actually reading this). Politics aside, I do quite like Marr. He’s an amusingly emphatic presenter who is clearly in his element when hosting television he actually cares about. The Hay Wain by John Constable is his latest fave-rave subject, and he manages to convey his enthusiasm for that rural masterpiece in a quite contagious way. But Marr doesn’t do all the work, he’s accompanied by a parade of knowledgably nodding experts. It’s a decent little arts programme.
