Week 20 highlights 2012

2 May 2012

Secret Eaters

Here are the best programmes on Channel 4 for week 20, Saturday 12th - Friday 18th May.
Here is some extra information to help you with your research:

*Spot the similarity between three of this week's programmes: The Secret Millionaire, Secret Eaters, and Phil Spencer: Secret Agent. That's right - they're all on at 8pm (apart from Secret Millionaire).
*This week's Dispatches, Watching the Detectives, is named after a song by Elvis Presley: Heatbreak Hotel.
*X-Men is not, it turns out, a film about post-op transgender people.
*Also, following some mix-ups at a recent press event, please be aware the Phil Spencer is not a former record producer currently serving life for murder.

 

Saturday 12/05/2012
7pm
X-Men: The Last Stand
Brett Ratner's superhero action film. When a mutant called Leech (Cameron Bright) produces an antibody that cures all mutants, billionaire Warren Worthington II (Michael Murphy) kidnaps Leech to manufacture the cure and rid the world of mutants. But while Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) advises negotiation and understanding, Magneto (Ian McKellen) favours using mutant force against Worthington. As the mutants take sides, the battle becomes the final stand for the X-Men.

 

Sunday, 13/05/2012
8pm
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The network premiere of the second part of the cinematic adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's vampire saga. Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is on the cusp of her 18th birthday and blissfully happy with her undead beau Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). But an incident convinces Edward that he's too dangerous to be around his sweetheart and he decides to leave town in order to ensure her safety - leaving her behind. Bella finds some relief from her emotional numbness by succumbing to the attentions of her friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). But he is also a supernatural being, and not one with a natural affinity to vampires...

 

Monday, 14/05/2012
8pm
Watching the Detectives: Channel 4 Dispatches
How safe are your secrets? Channel 4 Dispatches reveals how easy it is to buy our most personal and confidential information. In a year-long undercover investigation, private detectives sell us access to health and criminal records, mobile phone bills and bank accounts. The programme discovers the extent of the black market in personal data and reveals how supposedly secure databases are open to exploitation.

 

Monday, 14/05/2012
9pm
The Secret Millionaire 1/7
The Secret Millionaire returns for a new series as more wealthy benefactors go undercover looking for people they might be able to help. Sixty-two-year-old David King is one of the world's most successful international theatre producers, with hit shows all over the world. He leaves his glamorous showbiz lifestyle to go undercover in Leeds, where he says he's researching a new musical, but is really be looking for people he may be able to help.

 

Tuesday 15/05/2012
8pm
Embarrassing Bodies Live from the Clinic 1/8
There is no longer any excuse for not seeing a doctor, as once again the nation's favourite medics offer live appointments from the comfort of your own sofa. Dr Christian Jessen and Dr Dawn Harper are back taking appointments using internet webcams. The second series starts with a national interactive lesson in how to check your breasts; Dr Christian reveals how biopsy work saves lives; and Dr Dawn investigates flatulence.

 

Tuesday 15/05/2012
10pm
Sex, Lies and Rinsing Guys
Documentary exploring the world of 'mutual relationships' where glamorous girls use their charm and beauty to get 'gifts' from men. Some girls even get 'allowances' put into their bank accounts by the super-rich and famous.

 

Wednesday 16/05/2012
8pm
Secret Eaters 1/6
Britain's got a big, fat secret - we are a nation of Secret Eaters. Each year, we're getting fatter, but many of us just don't seem to know why. In this brand new series Anna Richardson exposes the country's secret eating habits. Each episode helps people who are mystified as to why they're piling on the pounds by uncovering what they're really eating as they all agree to undergo around-the-clock surveillance for five days... And are also watched over by two top private investigators. In this episode siblings Jill Hamill and Stuart Raphel from the Wirral are in the spotlight.

 

Wednesday 16/05/2012
9pm
24 Hours in A&E 1/14
The RTS award-winning 24 Hours in A&E returns for a brand new 14-part series, offering a dramatic and revelatory insight into love, life and loss on the frontline of the NHS. Filmed around the clock for six weeks at King's College Hospital in south London, one of Britain's busiest A&E departments, each programme focuses on people treated within the same 24-hour period. 24 Hours in A&E is a powerful, intimate and at times humorous - but ultimately heart-warming - portrait of modern Britain in all its variety.The first episode kicks off during the morning rush hour, meeting workers who set off on their daily commute but find themselves fighting for their lives in the skilful hands of the A&E team.

 

Thursday, 17/05/2012
8pm
Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 2/5
Phil Spencer travels across the country trying to get offers on houses that haven't been selling. This time his secret mission is in Leeds. Tim's three-bed semi in the sought-after Horsforth area should have been snapped up as soon as it hit the market, but a laddish lifestyle is failing to impress potential buyers. Can he clean up his act to get his house sold? And further out in the former mill town of Yeadon, Caroline's struggling to sell a bungalow that's stuck in the past.

 

Friday, 18/05/2012
7:30pm
Unreported World 5/8: Ukraine: The Teenagers Who Live Underground
Reporter Marcel Theroux and director Suemay Oram travel to Ukraine, which has invested billions in infrastructure projects for this summer's European football championships. While the fans will enjoy the facilities, most of them won't know that living around them are thousands of young people left on their own to survive dangerous, subterranean lives. The teenagers suffer awful living conditions and embarrass the Ukrainian government. Theroux and Oram journey underground through pitch-black basements and passageways under the streets of Kiev, guided by a group of young people who have made their home at the end of a warren of dark corridors.

 

Friday, 18/05/2012

9:30pm
Very Important People 4/6
Sandwiched in Channel 4's Friday night entertaniment line-up, Very Important People is the new celebrity impression show that mocks our beloved stars and satirises a culture bamboozled by trivia and gossip. Starring Morgana Robinson and Terry Mynott, as well as a cherry-picked ensemble cast, Very Important People is about to reinvigorate the world of impressions. Keeping things ultra-fresh each show also features a topical sketch recorded in the week of transmission.
An interview with Morgana and Terry is available here.