Week 44 highlights 2012

17 October 2012

Derren Brown: Apocalypse

 

The best programmes on Channel 4 from Saturday 27th October - Friday 2nd November.

 

Saturday 27/10/2012
7pm
Comedy World Cup 7/7
David Tennant plays host to the grand final as Jason Manford, Paul Chowdhry and Nicholas Parsons take on the comedy might of team Johnny Vegas with Josh Widdicombe and Mick Miller. Find out which team of comedy talent will be crowned ultimate champions and winners of the Comedy World Cup 2012.

 

Saturday 27/10/2012~
9:05pm
The A-Team
Network premiere of director Joe Carnahan's big-screen take, co-produced by Tony and Ridley Scott, on the 80s TV series, which was an OTT action-fest that, at the same time, gloried in and poked fun at its tough-guy stars and their adventures. This time around, a little brasher and more serious than their first incarnation, the team of soldiers comprises the cigar-chomping Col 'Hannibal' Smith (Liam Neeson), the wilfully eccentric Murdock (Sharlto Copely), toned babe-magnet Face (Bradley Cooper) and, of course, BA Baracus (Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson).

 

Sunday, 28/10/2012
7pm
The American Road Trip: Obama's Story
After nearly four years in power what do ordinary Americans think of President Barack Obama? Ahead of the crucial US election, Channel 4's Washington Correspondent, Matt Frei, takes a road trip through the heart of the Midwest. Obama entered the White House adored by millions, but has since faced an uphill struggle, wrestling with the worst recession for 60 years and Republican opponents. With the Republican candidate Mitt Romney breathing down his neck, Matt asks whether Obama - America's first black president - will also be a one-term president.

 

Sunday, 28/10/2012
9pm
Homeland 4/12: New Car Smell
The second series of the Emmy Award-winning, dark, compelling US thriller starring Damian Lewis and Claire Danes. Estes is stunned by information given to him by Saul during a secret debrief. As a result, he authorises a covert operation to pursue intelligence recovered in Beirut, but not without putting his own trusted operative in charge first. Still reeling from his misadventures with the bomb-maker, Brody gets another shock when he runs into Carrie at Langley. However, a casual invitation to bury the hatchet turns into an encounter that neither of them could have foreseen..

 

Monday, 29/10/2012
8pm
Getting Rich on the NHS: Channel 4 Dispatches
Under the new health reforms, private firms are being awarded millions of pounds-worth of NHS contracts. One of the major new players is Virgin Care, a global brand more readily associated with planes, trains and record stores. The company is already providing medical services and running entire medical centres and is developing links to GPs across England. Health reforms were meant to improve choice and competition, and put GPs in the driving seat. Morland Sanders examines whether the rapid handover of services to private contractors is really good for the public purse, and good for patient care.

 

Monday, 29/10/2012
9pm
999: What's Your Emergency? 7/10
'It's a mixture between a zoo and Jeremy Kyle's waiting room,' says Sergeant Dunne... This episode focuses on a factor fuelling problems across the UK: alcohol. Britain likes to drink and Blackpool is a magnet for stag and hen parties, with around 2000 clubs and bars. And with more than a quarter of adults drinking to hazardous levels, alcohol is a major factor in half of all crime and more than 70% of violent crimes, and costs the NHS £2.7 billion a year. It dominates the work of all three emergency services. The programme also looks at other problems associated with excessive drinking, including anti-social behaviour and the fallout from alcohol dependency.

 

Tuesday 30/10/2012
8pm
George Clarke's Amazing Spaces 2/6
Architect George Clarke continues to look at the extraordinary world of small builds and micro design, and meets people turning tiny, unpromising spaces into the most amazing places to live and work. This time he meets Tim Sands, who is following an increasingly popular trend in the UK and has bought his own plot of countryside. Tim has spent his life savings on a piece of overgrown scrubland in the Lake District and, despite his lack of experience, plans to build his very own bolt-hole with incredible views of the national park.

 

Tuesday 30/10/2012
9pm
Jewish Mum of the Year 4/4
The competition reaches its climax as the two remaining mums must battle it out to win the title. And to do so they must take on the mother of all challenges, taking turns putting on the traditional Friday night dinner for a party of 16. The guests include their own families, well-known Jewish celebrities including David Baddiel and Jay Rayner, the other mums from the competition, and judges Tracy-Ann Oberman, Professor Dovid Katz and Richard Ferrer, editor of the Jewish News. Jews at Ten follows straight after on More4 (and is repeated on C4 on Thursday night).

 

Wednesday 31/10/2012
8pm
Come Dine with Me: Halloween Special
For Halloween, Come Dine with Me gets spooky with a horror-themed special. Prepare for zombies, vampires, ghosts, and two sacrificial goats, as four celebrities scare the wits out of each other in a bid to win £1000 for charity. First to host is Robert Englund, better known as A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddie Krueger. Joining Freddie is model and self-confessed scaredy cat Nicola McLean, psychic medium Sally Morgan and cross-dressing cage fighter Alex Reid, in a week of shocks, schlocks and some heated discussions inspired by the trials and tribulations of Alex's complicated private life.

 

Wednesday 31/10/2012
10pm
Shameless 9/10
Jamie must act swiftly to lay down the law and protect his family from gang threats, but it's not easy when the enemy are so well informed. Someone has to be passing the gang inside information, but who? The final episode of the series airs tomorrow.

 

Wednesday 31/10/2012
11:10pm
Frankenstein: A Modern Myth
Originating in the novel written by 19-year-old Mary Shelley nearly 200 years ago, Frankenstein's monster was the first and greatest myth of the modern scientific age. Frankenstein - published anonymously in 1818 - has gone on to inspire its own popular genre of horror movies, punk rock and theatre productions. Frankenstein: A Modern Myth looks at some of these depictions, including Danny Boyle's sell-out hit at the National Theatre. The film has exclusive access to rehearsals and interviews with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller.

 

Thursday, 01/11/2012
9pm
The Human Mannequin
Teenager Louise Wedderburn is determined to start a career in fashion, despite having a rare genetic condition called FOP, which is causing her body to freeze and turning her into a human mannequin. Will the notoriously image conscious fashion industry accept her?

 

Thursday, 01/11/2012
10pm
Music on 4: Barclaycard Mercury Prize: Live Winner Announcement
Live coverage of the announcement of the winner of the 2012 Barclaycard Mercury Prize from The Roundhouse in London, hosted by Lauren Laverne and Nick Grimshaw. Shortlisted artists include Plan B, Richard Hawley, The Maccabees, Ben Howard, Django Django, Lianne La Havas, Alt-J and Jessie Ware. Full coverage of this year's event airs tomorrow night.

 

Thursday, 01/11/2012
10:05pm
Shameless 10/10
In the final episode of the tenth series it's a big day for Mimi Maguire - it's her first wedding anniversary to Billy and they're going to renew their vows. Determined to make a fresh start, Mimi sets about throwing away memories of her past life with Paddy, but she alienates a furious Ruby with her comments about her dad.

 

Friday, 02/11/2012
7:30pm
Unreported World 1/8: USA: Talk-Radio Nation
Channel 4's award-winning foreign affairs strand returns for a new series. With decision time just days away in the US election, reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy and director Sue-May Oram meet the talk-radio hosts broadcasting to a country more polarised than ever before.

 

Friday, 02/11/2012
9pm
Derren Brown: Apocalypse 2/2
Derren Brown continues his extraordinary odyssey beyond the end of the world in his two-part special for 2012, combining his customary inventive, intelligent mix of thought-provoking, compelling entertainment, stunts and suggestion with extraordinary psychological tricks and experiments. In this concluding episode, our unwitting participant continues his adventure in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by the infected. Meticulously crafted challenges and situations begin to transform his way of seeing himself and his life, as he hurtles towards the thrilling climax of his own horror story.