TODAY'S TV WITH SARA WALLIS: Jean Charles de Menezes' tragic death explored 20 years on in new drama with Line of Duty star
Written by Cilla's Jeff Pope, the series tells the story of the Brazilian electrician who was tragically killed by police aged just 27 back in 2005. Elsewhere, David Tennant hosts his first game show on ITV, while Amanda Holden hosts a number of cheaters at a luxury Mallorca retreat for her latest Netflix show.
With so much to choose from, here are the top TV picks from Emma Bullimore - who is filling in for Sara Wallis.
Pick of the day
Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, Disney+
Since Mr Bates vs The Post Office reminded us of the power of good telly to spark big conversations, our screens have seen a slew of great dramas inspired by real-life injustices. The latest is this hotly anticipated four-part series about the killing of 27-year old Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes, who was shot by police at Stockwell tube station in the aftermath of the 7 th July London underground bombings 20 years ago.
Written by biopic maestro Jeff Pope (who penned Cilla and Mrs Biggs to name just two) and supported by the victim's family, it tells the story of an ordinary man who met his untimely death as a result of flawed intelligence and police mistakes. In the febrile atmosphere of the capital city, as London security services were reacting to both the fateful terror incident and an unsuccessful copycat attack, we see the police grappling with a manhunt that ended in tragedy, as de Menezes was misidentified as a suspect. The story continues beyond his death, to show how the Met reacted, and why so many people still think the victim jumped over a station barrier and ran away from the police, when in fact that did not happen at all. Instead, he tapped in with an Oyster card and walked calmly to the escalator.
Featuring an all-star cast including Danny Mays, Russell Tovey and Emily Mortimer, the compelling drama offers a brutally accurate version of an event that is still shrouded in misinformation two decades after it happened.
The Best of the Rest
Genius Game, ITV, 9pm
The Traitors meets The Crystal Maze, with a touch of Golden Balls, as David Tennant brings a fiendish new format to our evenings. To be a contestant on this show, you have to boast some kind of intellectual brilliance – either you're an academic, an entrepreneur or you're just very good at making other people trust you. The 11 contestants are thrown straight in at the deep end, with the first of a series of puzzles designed to test their brains and social skills.
To succeed they will need to outwit their opponents, while also forming important allegiances, but at breakneck speed. Tonight, they will be staging heists at a vault to try to steal million-pound bars. But it's not just a race to get the most money – if they get their strategy wrong they could end up in the final death match and find themselves eliminated from the game.
Cheat: Unfinished Business, Netflix
This isn't the first dating show to put exes face to face. But Amanda Holden's glossy new series is all about the chance of a happy ending – she's reuniting cheaters with their former partners, hoping for rekindled romances rather than dramatic showdowns. Joined by love expert Paul C. Brunson, Amanda encourages the one-time couples to air their feelings, in a bid to work out whether there's any hope for them post-betrayal.
Although their happiness was once wrecked by infidelity, Paul suggests that cheating might not be the ultimate dealbreaker, and that there might be grey areas for the spurned exes to discuss. The eight couples sharing their history at a luxury retreat in Mallorca include Love Islanders Rebecca Gormley and Biggs Chris, who met in 2020 but split just one year later. Will any of them walk out hand in hand, or will their hearts get broken all over again?
EastEnders, BBC1, 7.30pm
Nicola struggles to contain her fury as she and Teddy deal with a delicate situation. Things get worse when an intruder enters Harry's Barn.
Avani is upset with Priya after her row with Callum. Suki encourages Priya to take responsibility for what happened, and to apologise. Meanwhile, Avani visits her dealer, but she can't afford to pay. Joel steps in to help.
Johnny hopes he still has a chance with Felix after his bad date. But their movie afternoon is interrupted by gatecrashers.
Emmerdale, ITV, 7.30pm
Caleb is concerned when he realises the flight number Steph gave him doesn't exist. After logging onto her computer, he discovers her plastic surgery plans. Caleb and Ruby dash to the clinic, and arrive just in time. But Steph insists they can't change her mind.
Sarah tells Vanessa she has started researching IVF to push ahead with having a baby. When Charity turns up, Sarah panics about what she might have overheard. Vanessa encourages Sarah to confide in Charity.
Coronation Street, ITV, 8pm
Knowing that Jenny has just transferred a big lump sum, Daisy is concerned to hear Christina talking to Dom in the back yard of the Rovers. Gary tells Maria he's considering selling the shop and buying the builder's yard instead. Maria insists it's a no-go, but Mick tells Gary to ignore Maria's concerns.
Carla isn't impressed to be left at home with Betsy. It doesn't take her long to work out that Betsy's arm is actually fine, and Lisa returns to chaos.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
5 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
'Alien: Earth is the best the franchise has been in years - but it has one glaring issue'
The Alien franchise returns to its roots with a gruesome new prequel set two years before the original film, but it doesn't quite surpass the 1979 classic Alien: Earth has finally arrived with two episodes dropping this week on Disney+ - FX on Hulu if you're in the States - and countless fans of the franchise will be eager to find out how it stands up to the rest of the franchise. Boasting incredible production values, an incredible cast of established stars and newcomers, and Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley leading the charge, everything is in place for the new prequel to become a monster success. Personally, I'm a huge fan of the Alien franchise, having watched the first two films multiple times, even once getting the chance to see Ridley Scott's 1979 masterpiece that started it all on the big screen. I even enjoy the much-maligned prequel Prometheus, which I've watched maybe five times - that's how much I love this gooey, grotesque and mystifying sci-fi epic. Fellow Alien aficionados will be pleased to know that the critical response to the new series has been stellar so far, currently scoring 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. I'm pretty much in agreement with the consensus - the first six episodes of the eight-part season I was able to watch are as propulsive and gory as any Alien instalment should be, while veering off into some eerie new directions I wasn't expecting that have the makings of a stunning finale and, hopefully, multiple future outings. However, there's just one niggling problem I'm having with the series so far that I'm praying gets fixed by the finale, or else is tackled in a potential second season. The iconic body horror saga has already had its fair share of ups and downs over the years, the first wobble occurring with the divisive Alien 3 in 1992, which was packed with interesting ideas and launched the career of auteur filmmaker David Fincher but was overall a bit of a mess. This was followed by the increasingly woeful Alien: Resurrection and the two barely connected Alien vs. Predator films before Scott himself returned to the franchise for the divisive prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Both underrated, in my opinion, though again a little too overstuffed with existential ramblings and diversions from the original series that put off most casual audiences. Then came last year's Alien: Romulus, a sort of greatest hits of the Alien franchise which got things back on track but was ultimately far too beholden to Scott's masterpiece to offer anything fresh and exciting. With Hawley's take on the franchise, you still get the mash-up of all the best the franchise has to offer, though with far less of Romulus's nostalgic pandering and far more courage to remix and reinvent Alien's most recognisable iconography. Much like the original film, which is still the benchmark for the franchise, Earth is more concerned with ethical conundrums and biological dread than cheap kills. The grisly horror is still here in spades, but, after a cataclysmic opening two-parter, the pacing slows just enough to let Hawley's skin-crawling exploration of biology and human psychology breathe. Taking the series' familiar themes of artificial intelligence one step further by questioning the legitimacy of transferring human consciousness, exemplified by Sydney Chandler's literally child-like 'Wendy', this is far more compelling than Romulus' heroic android Andy (played by David Jonsson), who was largely present to tell bad jokes and recycle old one-liners. But fans are also coming for the 'Alien' itself, the iconic Xenomorph that has haunted spaceships for over four decades. And it's my regret to inform you that this is the show's biggest downfall. Although the creature is as terrifying as ever, thankfully brought to life primarily with a practical costume and in-camera trickery, its role in the first season has been somewhat muted and it doesn't quite feel like the unstoppable force from previous entries. Here, the Xenomorphs can be incapacitated more easily than ever before, by both humans and synthetics, rendering them some of the least threatening foes in the franchise yet. To counter this, a number of brand new lifeforms never seen before in the Alien universe have been introduced, but these are also a little hit-or-miss. In contrast to the Xenomorph, they're disappointingly reliant on CGI and their own methods of tearing humans apart from the inside aren't nearly as memorable as the now iconic facehugger-to-chestburster lifecycle that has since become ubiquitous. Hopefully Hawley has something up his sleeve to remedy this but, until we get to see those final two episodes, so far Alien: Earth is still a fantastic watch, even if it's lacking a little bite. Alien: Earth continues Wednesdays on Disney+. For a limited time only, witness the first stage of the life cycle of the Xenomorph up close with a thrilling new display at London's Natural History Museum. Visitors can touch real pieces of the solar system at the Museum's blockbuster exhibition, Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth?, and discover more about one of pop culture's most iconic and frightening creatures just by the entrance until Friday, 22nd August.
Daily Mirror
5 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Cooking With the Stars contestant admits he was 'banned' from sitting next to co-star
Jordan North and Hugh Dennis were treated like "naughty school boys" while filming Cooking With The Stars Jordan North has revealed he received a telling-off from the production crew whilst filming Cooking With The Stars. The radio host's kitchen abilities were tested on the ITV programme, where he competed against stars including Outnumbered's Hugh Dennis. However, whilst they attempted to remain competitive for the cameras, the atmosphere was completely different away from the spotlight, with the duo being forced to sit apart and handled like "naughty school boys". "We got told off, didn't we?" Hugh confessed on The One Show, when questioned about his "bromance" with Jordan. "Yeah we got separated like we were naughty schoolboys by the floor manager, to the point where we weren't allowed to sit next to each other during filming," Jordan revealed, reports Wales Online. Hugh joked: "We were giggling - it was a bit like being at school!" Jordan continued: "While the other two celebrities are cooking, you're all sat on the side and you're not really meant to be talking, but I'd never met Hugh before, and obviously I'd watched him on Mock The Week and Outnumbered, so I just ended up fangirling. "There's cutaways of me just smiling at him, I followed him around during lunch breaks and stuff, sitting next to him." The pair feature in the reality competition alongside stars such as Love Island's Ekin-Su Culculoglu and EastEnders ' Natalie Cassidy. Presented by Emma Willis and Tom Allen, Cooking With The Stars features eight celebrities matched with professional chefs who serve as their guides. However, the professionals aren't permitted to participate in most of the tasks as the famous faces battle it out to create different meals. Throughout the preparation phase, they can strike a gong to let their guide jump in and assist for two minutes. Following each segment, the expert chefs serve as assessors to score the stars' creations, with the lowest two facing elimination in a cook-off culminating in a blind tasting challenge. Confessing his approach after being matched with Rosemary Shrager, Jordan later disclosed on The One Show that he plans to rely on "eye contact" to secure his place in the finale. He said: "You can see your chef from your cooking station, but you're not allowed to talk to them as technically that's cheating. "But it's all about eye contact, so if you look at your chef and they go like that [pulls a funny face], you know something's not right, but if they go [smiles] it means you're doing something right. "I had Rosemary Shrager, Sergeant Major Shrager, who is not afraid to tell you off." "She'd give you a stare and sometimes she'd shout, 'No, you nana!'" he chuckled. He continued: "I was a bit of a flapper but Hugh was quite calm, the most middle-class dad in the kitchen, watching him was quite amazing. He took about 20 minutes cutting up butternut squash at one point." When Hugh questioned, "Why were you watching me?" presenter Roman Kemp chuckled at the duo: "It's a strange bromance!" Cooking With The Stars is available to watch on ITVX. The One Show airs weekdays from 7pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Who is in the cast of In Flight? Full cast explained
Katherine Kelly leads the cast of Channel 4's In Flight ✈ Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... In Flight will make its debut on Channel 4 tonight. Katherine Kelly leads the cast of the six-part thriller. But who else is in the show? A thrilling new series is set to take flight on Channel 4 this evening. Katherine Kelly is the star of In Flight which will make its debut today (August 12). The six-part series is about a flight attendant who is blackmailed into smuggling drugs. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The one-time Corrie favourite is not the only familiar face in the cast for the show. Here's all you need to know: Who is in the cast of In Flight? Katherine Kelly in Channel 4's In Flight | Channel 4 Katherine Kelly (Mr Bates vs the Post Office, The Long Shadow, Happy Valley) stars as single mum and flight attendant, Jo Conran, alongside Stuart Martin (Rebel Moon, Miss Scarlet and The Duke) as Cormac, a leading member of the criminal gang who coerces Jo into using her job to smuggle drugs, and Ashley Thomas (Them, Top Boy) as Jo's ex, Customs Officer, Dom Delaney. As Jo becomes ensnared in the murky underworld of corruption and hired killers, she is forced to carry out their orders while desperately trying to find a way out. She turns to her ex, Dom, for help; however, no matter how far Jo finds herself from her old life, her mission remains the same, to keep her son alive. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Joining the ensemble cast are Bronagh Waugh as Melanie, Harry Cadby as Sonny, Corinna Brown as Kayla and Ambreen Razia as Zara. Where do you know the cast from? For viewers familiar with British TV, Katherine Kelly will be a very familiar face. She famously played Becky McDonald on ITV's iconic soap Coronation Street from 2006 to 2012. After departing the cobbles of Weatherfield, she has had plenty of memorable roles. She was Lady Mae in Mr Selfridge and DI Jodie Shackleton in Happy Valley. Most recently, Katherine played DCI Hannah Wheatley in ITV's crime drama Protection. It reunited her with Happy Valley and Coronation Street co-star Siobhan Finneran. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad She was also Angela van Den Bogerd in Mr Bates vs The Post Office. What time is In Flight on TV? The show will make its debut on live TV tonight (August 12). It will be on Channel 4 from 9pm with episodes lasting approximately an hour. New episodes of In Flight will be broadcast weekly on the broadcaster. For those who can't wait the full boxset is available on Channel 4's on demand platform. If you love TV, check out our Screen Babble podcast to get the latest in TV and film.
