WHAT’S ON TV TONIGHT: THE REPAIR SHOP WELCOMES POET LAUREATE SIMON ARMITAGE AND HIS HARMONIUM

Pick of the day: The Repair Shop

8pm, BBC One

The Repair Shop, which is returning for a new series, doesn’t tend to feature notable people – that visit from Prince Charles (as he was then) being an exception. First through the doors now, however, is the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, who brings with him a harmonium, the subject of one of his poems that brings back memories of his late father. Cobbler Dean Westmoreland, meanwhile, is given the task of repairing a pair of children’s leather clogs that helped the owner’s sister with mobility issues balance in the 1950s. Ceramics conservator Kirsten Ramsay is tasked with reviving a broken sculpture made by a Czechoslovakian art student in 1947.

Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig

9pm, Channel 4

The QI presenter sets off to stay in another selection of enviable-looking rentals (prices not included), starting in Ireland with Eddie Izzard, or Suzy Izzard as the transgender comedian and actor is now primarily known. They’re in the rolling countryside of Co Clare, where Izzard opens up about her mother’s death from bowel cancer (“I was trying to over-achieve to pull her back”, she says) and much else.

The Great British Sewing Bee

9pm, BBC One

The 10 remaining sewers make garments from West Africa, with Sara Pascoe and judges Patrick Grant and Esme Young joined for the occasion by guest judge, Nigerian fashion designer, Banke Kuku. The pattern challenge takes inspiration from a Ghanaian batakari or fugu tunic which involves sewing strips of handwoven deboya fabric. In the transformation challenge, the sewers make hand-dyed adire fabric into dresses. And in the made-to-measure challenge, the contestants make dramatic wide-sleeved robes worn by people across West Africa.

The Gallows Pole

9pm, BBC Two

Known for his contemporary drama, writer-director Shane Meadows’ unexpected plunge into the history books got off to a sluggish start last week as it established its cast of characters from 18th-century Yorkshire. The action picks up apace now as David Hartley (Michael Socha) gets going with the counterfeiting operation he hopes will enrich the weavers impoverished by the Industrial Revolution. He gives his family and friends a demonstration in the art of coin clipping, a method of forgery that uses slivers taken from several real coins to make a fake version.

Britain’s Forgotten Pensioners – Dispatches

10pm, Channel 4

Dispatches follows four pensioners through winter as they struggle to make ends meet with the exceedingly high price of energy and soaring inflation. John, 76, lives alone in Sunderland and spends his nights sitting in darkness, afraid his energy bills are too high to turn the lights on. Doreen, 68, meanwhile goes to bed early to stay warm. And in rural Leicestershire, 82-year-old Harry and his wife, 77-year-old Christine, skip dinner in an effort to cut costs.

Kisses at Fifty

10pm, BBC Four

Actor and screenwriter Colin Welland is best known for writing Chariots Of Fire. This is Welland’s 1973 TV play, directed by Michael Apted and starring Bill Maynard, about a married factory worker who kisses a barmaid in front of the whole pub on his 50th birthday – and the consequences for all around him.

2023-06-07T05:47:24Z dg43tfdfdgfd