Big Cats, BBC 1, 8pm
OF all the rare and fascinating creatures that have been caught on camera of late, there is still one group of animals that enthral us more than any other – the big cats. They are the planet’s top predators, yet even in this remarkable animal family, some members stand out. The African lion, for example, is the only wild cat that lives in large family groups, and in Ruaha, Tanzania, we see how they form huge “super prides” in order to hunt giants. There is also footage of a tiny rusty spotted cat in Sri Lanka, a lynx surviving the bitterly cold winter in Canada, an African leopard raising her cub, and perhaps the world’s most lonesome cat, the snow leopard, searching for a mate in the Himalayas.
George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces, Channel 4, 8pm
THE architect returns with a fresh selection of ingenious and eccentric builds created by pioneering small-space designers around the UK. Throughout the series Clarke also travels through Japan, where ground-breaking design and innovation blend seamlessly. To begin Clarke visits a canal boat conversion in Dudley, a cattle trailer in Yorkshire being turned into a luxury holiday camper and – in Japan – a dynamic, multi-coloured open-plan space. He and right-hand man Will Hardie also get their heads together to build their own four-ton treehouse.
Walks with My Dog, More4, 9pm
THE series returns as more celebrities explore the great British outdoors with their favourite walking companions . In the first episode, Caroline Quentin and her pooch are in Cornwall to stroll through the Helford estuary, including Frenchman’s Creek. Dom Joly heads to Hadrian’s Wall with his two black Labradors, while former rugby captain Gareth Thomas and his German pointer Boyo are in the Brecon Beacons.
A House Through Time, BBC 2, 11.15pm
DAVID Olusoga continues to chart British history through the successive inhabitants of a terraced house in Liverpool, focusing on the 1850s to the 1890s. Olusoga uncovers the stories of a widow who turned the dwelling into a boarding house, and a Jewish immigrant struggling to stay afloat in the midst of a financial crisis.
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