HER MAJESTY’S PRISON: NORWICH, STV, 9pm
This is not a typical prison documentary - and for that reason it deserves plaudits, but I must admit it aggravated me.
Most of the prisoners in HMP Norwich, both adult and young offender, are fathers and this is the crux of the documentary. What does fatherhood mean for these men when they’re denied regular access to their children? How can they sustain relationships with their families when they only see them in a crowded visiting room under supervision? How do they deal with the knowledge that their children are searched – even the babies’ nappies will be checked – before they’re allowed inside?
Some viewers might shrug and say, “Tough luck, mate. You should’ve thought of that before committing the crime.” I admit to being one of those, but viewers more sympathetic might enjoy hearing how the prison staff are trying to encourage family bonds as a way of cutting recidivism, but occasionally portraying the prisoners as boys and daddies who just need a cuddle will rankle with many.
HORIZON, BBC2, 8pm
In Antarctica, ice floes are strewn across the sea like cracked and frozen picnic blankets. The RRS Ernest Shackleton batters its way through to reach the isolated Halley research station where they conduct “science at the end of the world.”
Peter Gibbs is now a cheerful BBC weatherman but in his earlier career he worked at Halley and was present when they carried out research proving the existence of the hole in the ozone layer. Now he’s returning, but not only to show us the experiments being done there; he’s also on a “rescue mission”.
Halley sits on top of an ice shelf which is cracking and shifting and the prospect is very real that the station might split from the shelf and be cast adrift on a massive ice berg.
Gibbs takes us on a tour of the station and explains why its work is so important to our daily lives and this is the best part of the programme, with the iceberg story perhaps being shoved in for some Hollywood excitement.
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