Has Richard III turned up in a car park in the East Midlands? Sue Johnston stars in a new sitcom on the Beeb and Lucy Kennedy sets parents at each other's throats. Well, kinda...
TV highlights for February 4
Richard III; The King in The Car Park, Channel 4, 9.00pm
Normally when human remains are found under a car park in the East Midlands, the diggers call in the cops. However, when a skeleton was unearthed under a Leicester council parking lot last September, it wasn’t another lame storyline for Cold Case. Could it be the remains, lost for 500 years, of England's most infamous king? In this world exclusive, Channel 4 has the full inside story of the hunt for Richard III. The discovery of the body and the battery of scientific tests to establish its identity have been carried out in complete secrecy and, to date, no footage of them has been seen by anyone but the investigating team. But this programme - made by the only team allowed to follow the scientists - tells every step, twist and turn of the story. It unveils a brand new facial reconstruction made from the skull and - in scenes to be shot just hours before broadcast - reveals the results of the final tests that will confirm or deny the body's identity.
Being Eileen, BBC One, 9.30pm
Blame or give credit to Gavin and Stacy, but of late there’s been a glut of new provincial English sitcoms that strike the right balance between syrupy and actually quite funny. The best are Hebburn and Him & Her and here’s another one to add to the list. Being Eileen is a new six-part comedy starring the great Sue Johnston of Brookie and The Royle Family fame which follows the lives of the large, close-knit and dysfunctional Lewis family from Birkenhead, Merseyside. In episode one, chaos descends on the Lewis family as it appears that Eileen has gone missing and isn’t answering her mobile phone, prompting daughter Paula to have a meltdown and drag the rest of the family into a search to find her.
Reality Bites: Keeping Mum, RTÉ Two, 9.35pm
There’s nothing more annoying than other people’s children. Ok here’s something more annoying - those children’s parents telling you that you’re doing it all wrong when it comes to your kids. Lucy Kennedy presents this Reality Bites episode which gives two sets of parents an opportunity to observe each other’s parenting skills first hand and decide for themselves who’s the better mum and dad. Tricky one this because who in fairness is gonna fess up to not being the perfect parent to their little treasure? Two sets of parents and their kids will share a house for five days under the scrutiny of 13 robotic (it sez here) cameras. We watch as they eat together, play with the kids, do the homework, handle the tantrums and deal with any emergencies. Each evening Lucy Kennedy will meet with the parents one-on-one, to hear what they’re really thinking. On the final day, it’s time for both sets of parents to sit down at the kitchen table and let each other know what they think of each other’s parenting skills. This could get messy...
Alan Corr
