Britain’s Most Historic Towns, C4, 8pm
ALICE Roberts explores Cardiff’s Edwardian past, discovering how the coal industry transformed the Rhondda Valley in the early 1900s. She investigates the difficult and often dangerous work of the miners, and visits the trading floor where the first-ever £1 million cheque was signed. The programme also examines how global shipping routes and plentiful employment brought immigrants to Wales.
The British Soap Awards 2019: Live, STV, 8pm
AFTER the year they’ve had, the UK’s soap stars deserve a chance to put on their glad rags and give themselves a slap on the back. Between them, the casts of EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Doctors and Hollyoaks have dealt with storylines concerning knife crime, cancer, abuse and car crashes. Now they are about to find out which plots and performances made the biggest impact as Phillip Schofield hosts live from Salford’s Lowry Theatre.
Pointless Celebrities, BBC1, 8.15pm
ALEXANDER Armstrong and Richard Osman present a 1990s edition of the celebrity quiz, as teams of famous faces from the decade look for Pointless answers. The contestants are former Top of the Pops host Jayne Middlemiss, ex-Blue Peter presenter Diane Louise Jordan, The Girlie Show’s Sarah Cawood, the ‘Man from Airport’ Jeremy Spake, Angus Loughran, aka Fantasy Football League’s Statto, Olympic medal-winning athlete Kriss Akabusi, The Darling Buds of May star Philip Franks and Brookside actress Sue Jenkins.
Holst: The Planets with Professor Brian Cox, BBC2, 9pm
HE’S currently presenting his new series, also called The Planets, but if you’d like Professor Brian Cox to give you a more condensed rundown of the solar system, interspersed with one of the best-loved pieces of 20th-century classical music, then this is definitely the show for you. Filmed at the London Barbican last year, the BBC Symphony Orchestra perform British composer Gustav Holst’s The Planets to mark the centenary of its premiere. Before each movement, Cox will discuss what modern science reveals about each of the planets.
Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, STV, 10pm
MICHAEL Parkinson finds himself on the opposite side of the talk show format, as he discusses his life and career with Piers Morgan. The veteran host looks back on his encounters with some of the world’s biggest stars, including Fred Astaire and Madonna, as well as what is perhaps his most famous moment, a powerful series of interviews with Muhammad Ali. He also reflects on his roots in a Yorkshire mining village, the death of his father, and his struggle with alcohol and the impact it had on his 60-year marriage.
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