Week 7 highlights

1 February 2012

Big Fat Gypsy Weddings

 

Here are the best programmes on Channel 4 for week 7, Saturday 11th -  Friday 17th February.

If your birthday takes place in week 7, you will be invited to take part in the last episode of the current run of The Million Pound Drop Live. You will lose all your money on question four, possessing not even the most rudimentary knowledge of butterflies, before publicly breaking down and covering Davina's shoulder in a mix of tears and snot.

Fate sees a bald stranger at your window. It's Heston Blumenthal, and he wants his colander back.

 

 

Saturday 11/02/2012
9:20pm
The Million Pound Drop Live 10/10
In the last of the current run, Davina McCall guides more pairs of contestants as they face the daunting Drop in the hopes of taking home some seriously big money. Contestants are given one million pounds at the top of the show; all they have to do is keep hold of it over eight tricky questions... Players at home can also play along with a virtual million pounds.

 

Sunday, 12/02/2012
7pm
Home of the Future 1/5
In this bold experiment, an ordinary family, the Pereras, from Sheffield, have their home gutted and completely re-engineered as a home of the future. The house is packed with all the latest technology and gadgets that are predicted to become the must-haves of homeowners in the coming decades. But how will they stand up to the rigours of real product testing as they are guided by expert presenter Chris Sanderson of the Future Laboratory, a world leader in the business of 'futurism'.

 

Sunday, 12/02/2012
9pm
The Wedding Proposal
Asking the one you love to marry is one of the most nerve wracking events in a person's life. To add to the pressure, getting down on one knee just doesn't cut it anymore. And many Brits seem to be doing away with tradition, devising increasingly more adventurous ways of simply saying 'Will you marry me?' This programme follows four ordinary people who are about to have their dreams come true - or experience the most crushing rejection - as they propose to their loved ones in the most spectacular way possible.

 

Monday, 13/02/2012
8pm
Olympic Tickets for Sale: A Dispatches Special
We've spent £9 billion paying for the London 2012 Olympics. The organisers say London 2012 will be an accessible and affordable Games, leaving a lasting sporting legacy. But 1.8 million British people applied for tickets in the public ballot - over a million applied for the 100 metres final alone - and the vast majority were disappointed. So who got the tickets and for what events? Antony Barnett investigates in this Dispatches Special.

 

Monday, 13/02/2012
10pm
America's Serial Killer: True Stories
Over the last two years, in one of the worst serial killings in American history, police have discovered 11 bodies dumped on an isolated stretch of coast road in Long Island, New York, leading to a wealthy gated community. Four of the dead were sex workers who had advertised online as part of a rapidly growing internet sex trade worth millions. The killer is still at large. With access to several people close to the case and to the victims, this True Stories film pieces together a crime that exposes a darker side of middle class, white America.

 

Tuesday 14/02/2012
9pm
Big Fat Gypsy Weddings 1/6
The first film in the brand new series, Diamantes Are Forever, explores the now infamous 'gypsy look' - the motivations behind it and the time, effort and money it takes to get it right. The show explores what inspired the pineapple and palm tree-themed dresses at Thelma's most flamboyant wedding to date. Sixteen-year-old Sammy Jo competes in a traveller-only beauty pageant, and four cousins compete to have the most memorable outfit at their first Holy Communion.

 

Wednesday 15/02/2012
8pm
Daddy Daycare 1/3
British women do twice as much childcare as men, and nearly half of all mothers feel that their partners don't do their fair share. In this brand new three-part documentary series, nine men are sent on a crash course in childcare by their long-suffering wives and partners. Sent to work in three busy London nurseries, for the first time in their lives they'll tackle every aspect of childcare under the watchful eyes of the nursery staff. Can throwing them in at the deep end teach these dads to be better fathers and give their kids the loving, positive male role models they need?

 

Thursday, 16/02/2012
9pm
Restoration Man 7/7
The last episode in the run follows former Bradford police officer Mark Rand and his wife Pat; fervent enthusiasts for the Settle-Carlisle railway line. It's the couple's dream to own part of the line's history, which is why they bought the Victorian Settle station water tower to convert and live in. Mark wants to bring this Grade II listed building into the 21st century and has plans to add a glass rooftop extension, seeking advice from architect George Clarke. But unsurprisingly, Mark and Pat face a battle with the planners, which threatens to de-rail the whole project...

 

Friday, 17/02/2012
9pm
The Bank Job
George Lamb returns with a brand new run of the high-stakes game show. Live from a real bank in the heart of London, contestants aim to pull off the ultimate heist as they play a tense game of knowledge, luck and strategy. Four players are taken to a bank vault packed with hundreds of thousands of pounds, but only one can leave with a life-changing fortune. In a test of general knowledge, courage and nerve, who will get rich and get out?

 

Friday, 17/02/2012
10pm
The Mad Bad Ad Show 1/6
Hosted by Mark Dolan, The Mad Bad Ad Show is a brand spanking new comedy entertainment series that brings together an original mix of challenges, comic banter and a bit of ad land insight. Each week team captains Micky Flanagan and Mark Watson are joined by a famous guest and an ad industry insider to be quizzed about classic ads from the past, present and overseas. The team captains are also challenged to shoot their own adverts with the studio audience voting for the best. Kicking off the first show are ads themed around Public Information Films, and the guests are Lorraine Kelly and Josh Widdicombe.

 

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