THE PACT, BBC2, 10pm
A BOY and a girl walk home from school. The girl says: “I reckon if we’re both still single by the time we’re 35 we should get together.”
Twenty years later, Amy and Andy have their own messy, romantic lives. Andy is divorced, and Amy has a chaotic love life, has never had a serious relationship, and we first see her doing “the walk of shame” after a one-night stand.
This is a romantic comedy so, of course, they meet again one day, and the question of their teenage pact rears its embarrassing head.
Amy is still living the life of a teenager, slouching around in hoodies and leggings, shunning all responsibilities, whereas Andy has a marriage behind him and is now a sensible father. They are a classically mismatched couple, setting the scene for lots of comedy – which never quite delivers.
BILLION DOLLAR DEALS AND HOW THEY CHANGED YOUR WORLD, BBC2, 8pm
This new series argues that it’s not just politicians and international events that shape our lives, but business deals. Men in suits shaking hands and dishing out the brandy and cigars can have as much influence on your life as the decisions of our leaders in parliament.
This three-part series looks at the business deals of three particular aspects of life, and this first one is about health and the business of “big pharma”, which wants to medicalise every aspect of our existence. One businessman remarked that he wanted popping pills to be as commonplace as chewing gum.
If diseases are cured then the need to take a pill vanishes, and there’s no money in that! And so we look at how everyday life has been medicalised, with pills available for just about everything: a fidgety child, feeling a bit down, having a slight headache … there’s money to be made from every aspect of being human.
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