Week 32 highlights 2012

25 July 2012

America's Animal Hoarder: Horror at the Zoo - True Stories

 

Here are the most delirium-enducingly delicious programmes on Channel 4 for the week from 4th - 10th  August.

Please, please write about our programmes. We wouldn't normally ask, but Jay Hunt has said that if we don't get good enough press for our programmes this week, she will put this... into this. Dear God, think of the baby sloth.

 

Saturday 04/08/2012
9pm
Fracture
Network premiere of Gregory Hoblit's twist-filled legal drama, starring Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling and David Strathairn. When top airplane engineer Ted Crawford (Hopkins) discovers that his wife (Embeth Davidtz) has been cheating on him he takes a devastatingly direct route to revenge: he drives home and shoots his errant spouse in the face. But once the case comes to court, Crawford proceeds to tear apart the ample evidence that's stacked against him. Can he possibly get away with his crime?

 

Sunday, 05/08/2012
9pm
Thelma's Gypsy Girls 5/6
Shannon, Kathleen, Vicky and Megan are tasked with working on their first gypsy wedding dress. But two of the girls squander their chance to impress, and Thelma has to suspend them from the course. And when Margaret and Lilianne break one of Thelma's golden rules, Thelma loses the sale of a very expensive dress. The girls are sent home without pay, prompting Lilianne's mother to head to the factory to have words.

 

Monday, 06/08/2012
8pm
Britain's High Street Gamble: Channel 4 Dispatches
Britain's high streets are struggling to survive, but one business is booming; betting shops. On average one new bookie opens every week. In one London high street there are now 10 within yards and the locals are fed up. So what's driving this gambling boom and what's the impact on our communities? Michael Crick investigates.

 

Monday, 06/08/2012
8:30pm
Simply Italian 2/4
Simply Italian is the new food series that teaches viewers how to cook delicious Italian family dishes like a true aficionado. Michela shows how to create the perfect filled pasta. On the stunning Cinque Terre coastline in north west Italy, Michela learns the dos and don'ts of cooking shellfish from chef Alessandro Barili, while back in Wales, Michela transforms baskets of stinging nettles into tortelli with a butter and crispy sage sauce.

 

Monday, 06/08/2012
11:05pm
Coming Up 5/7: Postcode Lottery
Channel 4's annual talent initiative, which gives up-and-coming writers and directors the opportunity to showcase their work, is now in its 11th year. In the fifth drama; when Jed (Con O'Neill) learns that he is unable to access the treatment he needs for his terminal cancer, he decides to take matters into his own hands with surprising results.
Another short film, Lynne Ramsey's Swimmer, commissioned for the London 2012 Festival follows.

 

Tuesday 07/08/2012
10pm
Lost Children 2/2: Josh
High Close School in Berkshire, run by Barnardo's, is home to some of the country's most troubled children. With intimate access to staff, pupils and families, this two-part documentary series tells the surprising and touching stories of two of the school's most challenging children. Filmed over a year, the programmes follow the ups and downs of their education at school and explore their family histories. This film features the story of 14-year-old Josh, who was taken away from his heroin-addicted mum and put into care at the age of three. As the story of Josh's past unfolds, tensions escalate at school, and he brings his adoptive mother closer to breaking point.

 

Tuesday 07/08/2012
11:10pm
Best of British: The Quadfather
Best of British follows the extraordinary journeys of Paralympians, or those hoping to be, in their sporting and private lives as they journey towards selection for the 2012 London games. Each film offers an intimate and unflinching look at the sporting and family lives of these men, women and teenagers as they strive for glory. The first programme in a double bill features three of Britain's best wheelchair tennis athletes: Peter Norfolk, Andy Lapthorne and Jamie Burdekin.

 

Wednesday 08/08/2012
9pm
24 Hours in A&E 13/14
This episode focuses on patients whose illnesses prove tricky to diagnose. Nine-year-old Tino is rushed to resus after slumping over her desk at school. Treating Tino is consultant Liz, but despite her years of experience, even she isn't initially certain what's wrong with Tino. In majors, 45-year-old Karen's condition is more complicated than it first appears. And 11-year-old Bailey has been brought to King's after he was run over by a slow moving car.

 

Wednesday 08/08/2012
10pm
Secrets of the Pickpockets
It's an historical summer for London as the Olympics draws millions from around the world. But the capital has also attracted a particular breed of criminal - organised gangs of pickpockets who have descended on the city in search of easy pickings. This film tells the story of the unseen war on the 'dippers', as the pickpockets are sometimes known, and the specialist teams created to take them on in the build-up to the games, led by the dip squads of the Metropolitan and British Transport Police.

 

Thursday, 09/08/2012
8pm
The Churchills 3/3
Dr David Starkey tells the story of the two greatest war leaders in British history, both of whom were called Churchill. The final programme, Grand Strategies, shows how Winston drew on the lessons of John Churchill to fight World War II. At two key moments in particular, Winston's strategic sense averted disaster, and in both decisions, the influence of the Duke of Marlborough is apparent. Starkey argues that it was Winston the historian's ability to control events by giving them a narrative meaning than enabled him to shape world history long after his own fall from power.

 

Thursday, 09/08/2012
10pm
America's Animal Hoarder: Horror at the Zoo - True Stories
True Stories offers the first exclusive documentary on the extraordinary events that shook a small American town in Ohio when one man's collection of almost 50 dangerous animals, including lions, tigers and bears, were found roaming free in a residential area. The creatures belonged to notorious local figure Terry Thompson, who had amassed a private collection of exotic pets. Thompson was later found dead on his farm, partially eaten by his own animals. True Stories tells the compelling story of this bizarre incident.

 

Friday, 10/08/2012
9pm
The Million Pound Drop 7/8
Commemorating a historic summer of sport, over four weekends teams of celebrity friends and noted athletes from the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games and other sporting fields will play The Million Pound Drop with the challenge of raising as much money as they can for Paralympic and disability related charities. In this penultimate show, Ade Adepitan and Iwan Thomas play The Million Pound Drop followed by Dave Berry and Lisa Snowden.

 

Friday, 10/08/2012
11:40pm
Celebrity Bedlam 2/6: Environment
Comedian Lee Kern brings his new six-part series to Channel 4, in which a plethora of celebrities are confronted with one outlandish set-up after another in a surreal and ambitious take on the prank show. In the second episode, Lee Kern looks at the environment by staging a fashion show where the celebrities model clothes that they believe are made from the ultimate recyclable material - human leather.