Week 2 Highlights

15 December 2011

On 7th January 1894, W.K. Dickson received a patent for motion picture film, setting in motion a process that reached its apogee with Film4's brilliant The Inbetweeners movie 117 years later.

On 9th January 1909, Ernest Shackleton planted the British flag 97 nautical miles from the South Pole, the furthest anyone had ever reached at that time, setting in motion a process that reached its apogee with Channel 4's brilliant Shackleton, starring Kenneth Branagh, 93 years later.

On January 11 1927, Louis B. Mayer announced the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a process that reached its apogee when Film4's magnificent Slumdog Millionaire won 8 Oscars 82 years later.

On January 12 1519, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I died. He had absolutely no connection with Channel 4, either at the time or subsequently.

 

Saturday 07/01/2012
8:30pm
The Bank Job 6/6
It's the grand finale hosted by George Lamb. For the past five evenings four rivals have entered a bank vault filled with hundreds of thousands of pounds to play a high jeopardy, competititve game of knowledge, judgement and luck. The winners from the five shows now return with the money they've accumulated for a nail-biting finale.

 

Sunday, 08/01/2012
9pm
500 Days of Summer
(2009) Director Marc Webbs's feature debut is a romantic comedy, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, which unconventionally focuses on the heartache of unrequited love. Network Premiere.

 

Monday, 09/01/2012
12:05pm
Celebrity Five Go To...
TV medium Derek Acorah, outspoken journalist Rosie Millard, actor James Redmond, model Bianca Gascoigne, and Ken Morley from Coronation Street arrive in Lanzarote, ready for the holiday of a lifetime. Will their hopes be realised?

 

Monday, 09/01/2012
8pm
The Great Train Robbery's Missing Mastermind?
The Great Train Robbery of 8 August 1963 has passed into legend as the greatest heist of the 20th century. Investigative author Andrew Cook has secured unique access to secret files that challenge the classic view of the story, revealing the hidden story of the pursuit of the criminal 'insiders' behind the raid that changed the face of crime.

 

Monday, 09/01/2012
9pm
Coppers 1/8
Channel 4's acclaimed documentary series returns with a first programme featuring the plain-clothes officers of CID as they've never been seen before. The programme follows detectives from Mansfield CID struggling with an epidemic of burglary and a man-hunt that ends with the discovery of a dead body in a wood.

 

Monday, 09/01/2012
10pm
Shameless 1/11
New and rebooted Shameless returns for a new series, kicked off by an extended two-part story to be screened over two consecutive nights. The series finds the Chatsworth Estate in a time of flux as The Gallaghers and half the estate are facing eviction as part of Operation New Start - a multi-agency crackdown on the benefits culture.

 

Tuesday 10/01/2012
9pm
Rogue Baboon: An Inside Nature's Giants Special
BAFTA Award-winning Inside Nature's Giants returns, investigating natural history from the inside out. Mark Evans and Joy Reidenberg travel to South Africa to dissect the first primate in the series: a huge alpha male baboon that led a band of baboons on a rampage through a Capetown suburb until the authorities were forced to euthanise him as he grew increasingly violent.

 

Tuesday 010/01/2012
11:05pm
Desperate Housewives: Secrets that I Never Want to Know
The eighth series of Desperate Housewives comes to E4. The opening episode begins with Susan, Gaby, Bree, Lynette and Carlos trying to dispose of Gaby's evil stepfather whom Carlos killed in order to protect his wife. Susan starts to withdraw from her friends and family. Gaby tries to reach out to Carlos who is feeling guilty. Lynette and Tom's marriage is in trouble. Bree has a new beau - Detective Chuck Vance. Meanwhile, Renee's attention is diverted by the arrival of sexy, new neighbour Ben Faulkner.

 

Wednesday 11/01/2012
10pm
How to Be a Good Mother with Sharon Horgan
Being a mother nowadays is tough. Everyone's got an opinion, whether it's about stay-at-home vs out-to-work, or bottle vs breast. Does anyone really know what they are doing? Award-winning writer and actress Sharon Horgan, mother of two, meets six mothers who are convinced they are getting it right, even if their methods are a bit unusual, or off-the-scale strange.

 

Thursday, 12/01/2012
10pm
My Daughter the Teenage Nudist
A documentary about the growing number of teens and twentysomethings who are embracing the world of public nudity, partly as a quest to normalise nudity, question the media's obsession with the body beautiful, and encourage other young people to liberate themselves by simply going naked - in the streets, cafés or at art shows.

 

Friday, 13/01/2012
8:30pm
New Girl: Kryptonite
The fresh new US comedy continues on Channel 4. In the second episode, Coach moves out and Winston, who's been on a two-year stint as a basketball coach in Latvia, returns to his old flat.

 

Friday, 13/01/2012
9pm
The Million Pound Drop live 1/10
The Million Pound Drop Live returns to its Friday and Saturday night slot over the next five consecutive weekends. Davina McCall will be guiding pairs of contestants as they face the daunting Drop in the hopes of taking home some seriously big money.

 

For highlights of programmes on More4, E4, Film4 and 4Music, please visit the Listings section of the site (available to registered users only).