[UKTV/8:30pm] Who Do You Think You Are? David Tennant. Famous for playing the time-traveller Dr Who, David Tennant decided to abandon the Tardis and investigate his own history. At the start of his journey, he knew very little about his background, other than the fact that he and his family had been brought up in Glasgow, and that there was some Irish blood in his veins. This information came from his maternal grandmother, Nellie Blair, who had been born in Londonderry. She had met her husband, Archie McLeod, while he was playing for the local football team, Derry City. He had been lured to Northern Ireland by the prospect of being paid good money to play the game that he loved. Indeed, he was quite a success, having previously been awarded a cap for Scotland as a junior and eventually becoming Derry City's top scorer. He met and married Nellie, a beautiful local girl in the 'Posh and Becks'-style big romance of the day.
Archie's roots were very different, and after an injury halted his playing career, he returned to his native Glasgow to work in a shipyard. Yet his family had not always been based in Scotland's industrial heartland. Archie's grandfather,Donald, had been born and raised in Mull, a rural setting where for centuries farming had been the main profession. Donald was born there in 1819,one of ten children, and his parents, Charles and Catherine, lived in a small stone cottage on the estate of the local landlord on the settlement of Inivey. Out of necessity they were largely self-sufficient, relying on potatoes, oats and barley to survive - the barley being used to make whisky! Yet in 1832, their lives were to radically change. The economic conditions of the day meant that landlords sought to maximise profits from their land by switching to sheep farming. To facilitate this, rents were raised and tenants who could not pay were forcibly evicted. As a consequence, by the end of the 19th century the Scottish Highlands were one of the most sparsely populated parts of Western Europe. Families such as the McLeods were forced to journey south to places such as Glasgow to earn a living. Their stone cottages still litter the empty countryside to this day. Nellie Blair's background is equally revealing about the history and social tensions that have affected Londonderry throughout the 20th century. Nellie was brought up a staunch Protestant, and her father William was a member of the Hamilton Marching Band, which led the annual Orange Order marches in commemoration of William of Orange's relief of Londonderry in the 17th century. In 1912, when Irish Nationalists looked like achieving their goal of Home Rule, half-a-million Protestants signed the Ulster Covenant protesting against the plans. William and his wife Agnes were among the signatories. When World War One broke out in 1914, he joined up with the Royal Army Medical Corps and saw his friends and comrades mown down at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. On returning home, he walked straight into another conflict between the British Army and the Irish Republican Army. The resulting treaty that divided Ireland into the province of Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State left William and his family only four miles within the British side of the border. His father, James, was a local councillor in Londonderry and was involved in the vote-rigging which maintained control of the council for the Protestant minority. Yet James also fought for social justice, and one of his daughters married a Catholic lad. His descendants were caught up in the Bloody Sunday march in 1972, the catalyst for the Troubles that have gripped the province ever since.
[Ten/8:30pm] Law & Order: S.V.U. "Infiltrated"
[Ten/9:30pm] Law & Order: CI. “Masquerade.” Guest: Liza Minnelli. Goren and Eames go to Vietnam to pick up Simon Henry Fife, a criminal who has recently confessed to a 1992 murder of a ten-year-old young actress. But Goren finds holes in Fife's story and investigates further.
[Ten/11:45pm] Vodafone Live at the Chapel. John Mayer.
[Nine/7:30pm] Getaway. Dermott Brereton joins.
[Nine/8:30pm] Missing Persons Unit.
[Nine/9:30pm] RPA. Final. Nathan goes into theatre readying for the loss of his testicle.
[Seven/8:00pm] My Name is Earl. "Larceny Of A Kitty Cat" Earl scratches number 56 off his list when he returns a prize-winning cat back to its owner after sabotaging a cat show in Joy's favour and Randy forms an attraction to the cat's owner. Starring JASON LEE, ETHAN SUPLEE, JAIME PRESSLY, NADINE VELAZQUEZ, EDDIE STEEPLES and AMY SEDARIS.
[Seven/8:30pm] Lost. "Every Man For Himself." Sawyer discovers just how far his captors will go to thwart any plans of escape he and Kate might have. Jack is called upon to save the life of one of 'The Others.' Desmond's behaviour begins to perplex the survivors when he starts construction on an unknown device.
[Seven/11:00pm] Starveillance. In this episode, we'll see Ashlee Simpson's meltdown immediately following her lip- synching debacle. We'll join Michael Jackson pawning his eclectic goods at his Neverland Ranch yard sale.
[ABC/8:30pm] The Next Megaquake reveals that a far bigger earthquake of catastrophic proportions could strike anytime. The west coast of America has long been ready for "the big one" - the moment when the San Andreas fault springs to life….but what if the experts have been looking in the wrong place? During a routine site inspection for a proposed nuclear power station in Washington State in the USA, geologist Thomas Heaton made some alarming discoveries. Evidence revealed a massive earthquake had occurred in the recent past. The mystery was, what caused it and could it happen again? While the science community refuted the idea that any such huge earthquake had occurred in the past, The Next Megaquake follows the journey of Heaton and other geologists as they uncover a trail of clues that could pinpoint when the big one will hit. The Next Megaquake reveals some disturbing evidence that silent quakes and minor tremors have already begun across the globe, pointing to the 'megaquake' and when it does strike, it will be unlike anything we have ever experienced.
[ABC/9:25pm] Snap! A History Of The Paparazzi. (CC, M* Coarse language) The stories behind the birth of the paparazzi and spotlights the relationship between photographer and celebrity.
[SBS/10:00pm] The Mighty Boosh. This six part BBC series is a British cult comedy created by Julian Barrett and Noel Fielding who star as Howard Moon and Vince Noir respectively. In this episode, Howard is struggling to find a new musical direction for the band. To make matters worse, it's the middle of the night, they need the new musical direction by the morning if they want to get signed to Pie Face Records – and Howard has been awake for four days straight. Out of desperation they turn to in-house shaman Naboo for a quick fix solution, who instead tells them the story of Rudy Van Disarzio and Spider Dijon, AKA the Bongo Brothers. (From the UK, in English) (Part 2) PG (L) CC WS
[31/10:30pm] Studio Q. UK cabaret performer Dolly Diamond puts wind in the sails of the Midsumma Cruise. She chats up the boat's captain, plus the 'captain' of Midsumma, Jarrod Hughes, and cruises some of the passengers before they sail off into the sunset. Then we have an interview with transgendered singer/songwriter Jade Starr, who tells us about her music and songwriting, and how being transgendered has impacted on her life and her music. It includes some clips of her performance at The Revolver Upstairs. And we end with a Q-Focus panel discussion, where Doug Pollard, Tim Newton, Collette Corr and Mark Mead talk about some of the latest issues affecting the GLBTI communities.
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SBS' newest comedy Wilfred is an anarchic little mutt -sort of a 'Doggy Darko.'
