KING ARTHUR (2004)

GREAT! Movies: FRIDAY 12TH APRIL AT 9PM

Starring Keira Knightly, Ioan Gruffudd and Clive Owen, GREAT! movies brings you an historical adventure with a difference for Friday Night Film Club.

Differing from the tale usually told, in this version of King Arthur the hero battling to rule the island is a Roman cavalry officer, known as Artorius Castus, who commands a cavalry unit in Britain at the close of the Roman occupation in 410AD.

During his time guarding Hadrian’s Wall against the Woads, Arthur meets the elusive Guinevere and Merlin – taking us back to the origins of the legend of Excalibur and the Knights of the Round Table in this earthy, bloody adventure.

From acclaimed thriller and action director Antoine Fuqa.

Yaaas: Available now on Freeview

Follow the journey of our unlikely hero, Dax, who has been bestowed with the task of an epic quest to restore peace in Dragamar as well as unite the land and his fellow Dragamonz.

Ancient Apocalypse

PBS: Starts Monday 8 April at 8.30pm

Delving into the ancient world’s greatest mysteries, this six-part series follows renowned archaeologists as they uncover fascinating historic secrets. Exploring civilisations including the Minoans, the Rapa Nui, the Aztecs, the Moche, the Greenland Vikings, and the Khmer Empire; the Kings of Angkor Wat.

Every continent has its ruins – places where only stones tell the tale of fallen civilisations. Lying buried under the earth, in the shade of jungle canopy or hidden by a modern city they all raise the same questions – how could societies so great all but vanish? And why do civilisations collapse?

This insightful docuseries examines archaeologi- cal remains across the world, uncovering the reasons why some of history’s greatest empires collapsed in the face of the natural world’s might.

GREAT Action: THURSDAY 28TH MARCH AT 9PM

COLD COMES THE NIGHT (2013)

Bryan Cranston heads the superb cast in this stylish and menacing modern film-noir.

Directed by Tze Chun, who co-write the script, it’s a suspenseful crime thriller also starring Alice Eve and Logan Marshall-Green.

A struggling motel owner and her daughter are taken hostage by a nearly blind career criminal to be his eyes as he attempts to retrieve his cash package from a crooked cop.

There’s strong lead performances, plenty of tension and unexpected plot twists.

It’s a must-see for Cranston fans.

THE PLAY-DOH SHOW

AVAILABLE NOW

Join the Doh-Dohs and their friends in a PLAY-DOHMATION world where they find creative solutions to all kinds of colourful and hilarious situations!

Available on Freeview and YouView Channel 209, Samsung Smart TVs and Google Play for Android Tablets and Smartphones and the Apple App Store.

PBS: Starts Friday 5 April at 9.50pm

Mafia’s Greatest Hits

Offering exceptional access to the FBI’s secret files, this docuseries uncovers the truth behind some of the Mafia’s most notorious killers, revealing how the FBI and the law took on organised crime and brought it down.

This gripping series includes stories of those including Joe Valachi whose fear of the mob saw him giving up details of the Mafia, thus con- firming its existence, and the undercover agent who lived as jewel thief Donnie Brasco, later immortalised in film by Johnny Depp.

Featuring dramatic reconstruction, archive footage, exclusive testimony and interviews with key witnesses including FBI special agents, federal and state prosecutors, anti-narcotics agents, and ordinary cops, this is the ultimate series on the fight against the Mafia, told by those who tried to stop them.

HAILEY & THE HERO HEARTS

NEW TO KETCHUP

Hailey, a charmingly meddling 7-year-old girl with bigger-than- big emotions, gets a magical heirloom bracelet for her birthday that transforms daily issues into huge adventures.

Available on Freeview and YouView Channel 209, Samsung Smart TVs and Google Play for Android Tablets and Smartphones and the Apple App Store.

Victorian Britain on Film

PBS: Saturday 9 March at 3.50pm

The birth of photography coincided, more or less, with the start of Victoria’s reign. The sub- sequent invention of the motion picture cam- era would make that era the first to leave not only a photographic legacy, but a cinematic one.

With input from historians, filmmakers and authors, this documentary offers a fresh perspective on a bygone world familiar from count- less period dramas, with the careful addition of colour helping to lend the footage a vivid immediacy.

Not only recording big events, but capturing Victorians going about their lives, these films bely the stiff poses of the photographic studio and testify that, although the past may be a foreign country in some respects, these were people not so unlike ourselves.

THE SHALLOWS (2016)

SATURDAY 9TH MARCH AT 9PM

Dive into the weekend with this tense action horror starring ‘Gossip Girl’ favourite, Blake Lively.

Struggling to cope with personal tragedy, Nancy, a former medical student and skilled surfer, seeks solace at her late mother’s secret surfing spot in the sunny Baja California.

Finding solace in the waves, her peaceful moment shatters when a sudden attack by a feared predator, the great white shark, leaves her badly injured in the water.

Stranded on a small rock outcrop not far from shore, Nancy faces a fierce battle for survival against nature’s forces. Alone in the blistering sun and under the starry sky, she grapples with the daunting question: can anyone evade the powerful and deadly jaws of this bloodthirsty leviathan?

WINSTON STEINBURGER & SIR DUDLEY DING DONG

Available on Freeview

Follow the intergalactic exploits of Winston Steinburger, his cat Dudley, and a high-strung alien named Hampton.

GARAGE SALE MYSTERIES ON GREAT! TV

GREAT! TV: WEEKEND EVENINGS AT 9PM

The intriguing and entertaining murder mystery show, Garage Sale Mysteries, follows antique dealer, Jennifer Shannon, who has a knack for stumbling across bargains… and bodies! Her eye for detail helps her solve the murders but also puts her own life in danger.

Sandra, a friend of Jennifer and the owner of an antique shop, decides to sell all her antiques to Jennifer. However, when Sandra becomes a suspect in the murder of her fiancé, Jennifer is determined to clear her friend’s name in Guilty Until Proven Innocent.

While delivering an item from her consignment shop to an impoverished man’s apartment, Jennifer discovers he has been murdered. The crime scene eerily mirrors a murder from a classic mystery novel, sparking Jennifer’s realization that the victim’s death is a deliberate re-enactment. Now, she finds herself entangled in solving a mystery that hits close to home in The Novel Murders.

PBS: Thursday 29 February at 9pm

Much studied by historians and mined by Hollywood, the 1876 battle commonly known as Custer’s Last Stand has frequently cast US Cavalry commander George Armstrong Custer in a heroic light.

This documentary looks afresh at the confrontation that cost Custer his life and saw his forces defeated by their Native American opponents. These indigenous tribes’ resistance to the US government’s policy of confining them within reservations, the encroaching railroad and the discovery of gold in South Dakota’s Black Hills – previously recognised as belonging to the Sioux by an 1968 treaty – had all contributed to tensions that finally exploded.

Amplifying negative perceptions of Native Americans, this historic defeat would hasten efforts to subdue them, with the facts obscured beneath heroic myth.

GREAT Romance: SATURDAY 24TH FEBRUARY FROM 8PM

One Winter Weekend

In One Winter Weekend Cara, a women’s magazine writer splits up with her boyfriend on New Years’ Eve and decides to go on a dating detox. Challenged by her employer to write about it, she hopes a spontaneous ski getaway with her best friend will spark inspiration. Complicating matters, they discover they’ve double booked their chalet with two eligible men, including Ben, an entrepreneur. When the share-mates get snowed in, Cara and Ben are thrown together.

GREAT TV: WEEKDAYS FROM 1PM

Join GREAT! tv from 1pm every day for four classic detective shows Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye, Father Dowling Mysteries, Diagnosis Murder, and Murder, She Wrote.

Episodes of Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye will air every weekday from 1pm. Inspired by a true story, Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye follows a deaf woman who works for the FBI in Washington, D.C. Cracking crimes with her trusty hearing-dog Levi, you can join Sue on Monday afternoon in Prodigal Father, where Bobby’s wayward father resurfaces with a surprising proposition, and Sue starts to come to grips with her feelings for Jack until someone from his past reappears.

PBS: Starts Tuesday 27 February at 7.40pm

Thirties in Colour: Countdown to War

From the hardships of the Great Depression to the looming spectre of international conflict, film footage from the 1930s leaves a record of a turbulent decade.

Adding colour to this visual legacy lends an extraordinary immediacy to events further distanced by grainy monochrome. By doing so, this documentary series offers vivid insights into the Britain of almost a century ago, and the everyday lives of its citizens.

Be it ordinary East Enders taking to the streets in the fight against home-grown fascism, or families enjoying the then-novel attractions of Butlin’s holiday camp, each episode shows how we used to live during that pivotal era, a time of steady scientific advances and increasing social freedoms – but also enormous political uncertainty.

Pingu

YAAAS!: AVAILABLE NOW

Pingu is a cheeky, charming young penguin who spends his time playing with friends and family, landing himself in comical situations whilst living in his snowy world!

AN AURORA TEAGARDEN MYSTERY ON GREAT! TV

GREAT! TV: WEEKEND EVENINGS FROM 9PM

Candace Cameron Bure stars as Aurora Teagarden a 28-year-old librarian who, along with her co-members of the Real Murders club, gathers monthly to examine various unsolved crimes. Catch the amateur sleuth in action this weekend from 9pm.

It’s another day of mysterious mayhem for the sleuthing Aurora Teagarden in How To Con A Con. When Aurora’s mother, Aida, learns that one of her real estate clients has been murdered, Aurora and her fiancé, Nick, set out to solve the case with the help of the Real Murders Club.

At their high school reunion Aurora and her best friend Sally observe that their former schoolmates haven’t changed much over the years. The nostalgic gathering takes a sinister turn when one of them is found dead, turning everyone present into a potential suspect in Reunited And It Feels So Deadly.

Just days before Aurora and Nick’s wedding day, a body is discovered with the death being treated as suspicious. As the soon-to-bes set out to solve the murder before they walk down the aisle, Aurora fears that a suspect may be closer to home than what she would have liked in Til Death Do Us Part.

When a priceless crown is stolen during a benefit gala held by the Lawrenceton library, Aurora and the Real Murders Club must investigate who would kill to get their hands on it in Heist And Seek.

Pearl Harbor, World on Fire

PBS: Thursday 15 and Friday 16 February at 8.40pm

A de facto declaration of war, Imperial Japan’s surprise attack on December 7, 1941 saw the United States drawn into the raging conflict that had already engulfed Europe and had now suddenly widened to encompass the Pacific theatre.

This illuminating documentary explores one of World War II’s key events and its historical and geopolitical context. What exactly did Imperial Japan’s leaders intend to achieve with their apparent emulation of Nazi Blitzkrieg tactics? Were the Americans forewarned by their own intelligence service and others? If so, why was pre-emptive action not taken?

Also explored are the myths have grown up around that ‘Day of Infamy’, with evidence of grave errors on both sides perhaps going some way toward explaining the course of events.

COCOMELON: DANCE PARTY

New to Yaaas: Available on Freeview

In Cocomelon, baby JJ and his siblings go on fun everyday adventures with nursery, play, exploration, and learning – situations that any pre-schooler could relate to.

Available on Freeview and YouView Channel 209, Samsung Smart TVs and Google Play for Android Tablets and Smartphones and the Apple App Store.

PBS: Friday 9 February at 7.50pm

Blitz Spirit with Lucy

In 1940, Hitler may have brought death and devastation down on London’s East End, yet the Luftwaffe’s relentless bombing campaign would also engender a stoical resilience that came to be celebrated as the ‘Blitz Spirit’.

Join historian Lucy Worsley as she examines the plight of those whose neighbourhoods had become target areas, their local streets scarred by fire, rubble and ruin, with the grim expectation of more to follow. From a variety of back- grounds and social classes, these people persevered under the constant threat of annihilation from the air.

While courageous tales of ‘keeping calm and carrying on’ are part of the story, this account also acknowledges that a sometimes unhelpful government would also contribute to the frustration and anger.

GREAT! Romance: Monday 12TH February 10PM

Seasoned With Love

In Seasoned With Love, Winona Applegate is on the fast track to becoming a celebrity chef. She leaves for New York to audition for her own show in front of television executives. Unfortunately, her car breaks down near New Holland, a small, quirky town where Winona rents a room at a local inn run by Adam, a widower. With the local Spring Festival coming up and the resident cook unavailable to manage the menu, Winona agrees to get her car fixed in time for her audition in exchange for her much-needed help in the Inn’s kitchen. As she prepares for the festival with Adam, Winona begins to fall in love with New Holland and one of its residents as well.

Pingu

YAAAS!: AVAILABLE NOW ON FREEVIEW

Pingu is a cheeky, charming young penguin who spends his time playing with friends and family, landing himself in comical situations whilst living in his snowy world!

WEEKDAY DOUBLE-BILL: CASTLE

GREAT! TV: WEEKDAYS FROM 11AM

The best-selling mystery novelist Richard Castle and his dedicated detective partner Kate Beckett are back this week as double showings of Castle feature in the line-up from 11am every weekday.

In Hedge Fund Homeboys a group of wealthy teens play Russian Roulette with a bullet-less gun. One night, however, a bullet is placed in one of the chambers and kills one of them. When another boy supposedly commits suicide, it’s up to the team to discover the truth and decide whether the suicide was committed due to guilt.

Then, later in the week, a woman found drowned in a bathtub full of motor oil is initially identified as a missing suburban housewife, until it’s discovered that her identity had been stolen from a deceased child, and it is up to Castle and the crew to uncover who the woman really is in Ghosts.

Finally, in A Death In The Family, Castle and Beckett investigate when a plastic surgeon is brutally murdered; Alexis goes to her first prom; Castle uncovers surprising information when he looks into Beckett’s past.

Afghanistan: The Wounded Land

PBS America: Tuesday 30 January – Friday 2 February at 9.50pm

Its strategic importance as a gateway for trade and migration between East and West has ensured Afghanistan a complex, turbulent his- tory as, repeatedly, its territory saw the play- ing out of local and imperial rivalries.

Narrated by Khaled Hosseini, this four-part series examines six decades of modern Afghan history through the eyes of those who witnessed the country’s tempestuous national narrative unfolding.

Tracing events from the 1960s, when a society divided between a Westernised elite and a tra- ditional, largely impoverished majority was engulfed in a communist revolution, through the ill-fated Soviet invasion of 1979 and its chaotic aftermath, the rise of the Taliban and their overthrow and resurgence after 9/11, the series also gives voice to the future hopes of Afghanistan’s resilient populace.

PIPER’S PONY TALES

YAAAS! NEW SEASON AVAILABLE ON FREEVIEW

When Piper makes up stories about her toy ponies, they magically come to life through the power of her imagination, transporting her and her friends into amazing adventures.

PBS: Wednesday 24 – Friday 26 January at 7.10pm

Elizabeth I’s Secret Agents

In late 16th-century England, Queen Elizabeth I was under siege. A Protestant royal threatened by Catholic enemies, both within Britain and on the largely Catholic continent, she faced very real threats upon her life – not least from the Pope, who had given license to kill her.

Defeating these threats would require cunning – and would lead to the world’s first secret service. Run by William and Robert Cecil, and using espionage, spies and even kidnappers, this father-and-son team would create a secret state that would help to keep Queen Elizabeth I in power for over 40 years. Discover a covert spy network, dedicated to protecting Queen and country, as leading historians reveal Elizabethan England as it really was – and how yesterday’s events helped shape today’s Britain.

Great Romance: WEEKDAYS FROM 2PM

I Do, I Do, I Do

In I Do, I Do, I Do, Autumn Reeser is an architect who relives her disastrous wedding day over and over until she faces her fears and discovers what she really wants in life.

SUPER DINOSAUR

YAAAS!: Available on Freeview

Follow the adventures of Derek Dynamo and his best friend Super Dino, as they fight monsters and evil scientists on a mission to protect the Earth’s supply of “Dynore”.

CROSS THE LINE (2015)

GREAT! ACTION: MONDAY 15TH JANUARY AT 9PM

Jeremy (Luke Goss) and Pam (Mischa Barton) Miller both work for the police, as an officer and a call operator respectively.

Though they are due to be divorced, they must work together in order to help their daughter who has been kidnapped by notorious criminal Richard (Ving Rhames).

Richard call the police and winds up on the line to Pam where he admits to the kidnapping of their daughter. Using the young child as leverage, he attempts to make Pam direct her husband to a location where Richard plans to kill him.

Can the couple work together to save not only themselves, but also their daughter?

Cross The Line is an edge-of-the-seat action-thriller and is packed with tension from start to finish.

The Korean War

PBS America: Wednesday 17 – Thursday 18 January at 8.35pm

The conflict itself has largely faded into obscurity, yet it cost the lives of millions, and its profound impact on international relations lingers on into the 21st century. Technically, it has never ended.

Victory over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan had redrawn the geopolitical map. No longer preoccupied with fighting a common enemy, East and West had diverged into two increasingly antagonistic power blocs. The Korean War of 1950-53 would see this ideological clash play out on the battlefield, testing the resolve of the newly formed United Nations.

Offering multiple perspectives, this two-part documentary sheds new light on one of the most perilous episodes in post-war history, examining how and why its legacy – a tense stalemate – continues to this day.

Harvest Love

GREAT! ROMANCE: SATURDAY 6TH JANUARY 12PM

Be swept off your feet by some of the best known stars on GREAT! romance.

In Harvest Love, a widowed surgeon from Seattle, played by Jen Lilley, visits her family’s pear orchard in hopes of taking a break from her hectic life and reconnecting with her distant son. Once there, she begins to fall for the farm manager, Will, who is growing a new hybrid pear.

The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family

PBS AMERICA: Wednesday 10 – Friday 12 January at 8:25pm

Betrayal, adultery, charges of treason and execution by beheading all feature in the story of Anne Boleyn, the ill-fated second wife of Henry VIII. Their relatively brief union would have centuries-long repercussions for Crown and Church alike.

Drawing upon sixteenth-century sources, among them rare original letters and documents, along with input from prominent Tudor scholars and dramatic re-enactment, this three- part documentary explores Anne Boleyn’s family background.

Tight-knit and adept at intrigue, the aristocratic Boleyns would profit from Anne’s association with Henry, although her failure to provide the king with a much-desired son and heir would, in the end, seal her fate. Yet her daughter Elizabeth would go on to preside over another eventful chapter in the history of these islands.

GREAT MOVIES: TUESDAY 9TH JANUARY AT 9PM

CHANNEL PREMIERE: LIONS FOR LAMBS (2007)

There’s another channel premiere on GREAT! movies this week as Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep star in the political-thriller Lions For Lambs.

In ninety gripping minutes, three parallel narratives unfold in real time in Lion For Lambs.

A Republican Senator and presidential hopeful engages in a tense hour-long interview with a sceptical TV reporter, outlining a strategic vision for victory in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, amidst an ambush on an Afghani ridge, two special forces operatives desperately await rescue while encircled by advancing Taliban forces, directly relative to the strategy in which the Senator is interviewing for.

Simultaneously, a political science professor, who taught the two special force operatives at a Californian college, extends an invitation to a promising student, urging them to rekindle their involvement and do something important with their life – exactly how he convinced his two former students to do the same, leading them to enlist in the forces. The weight of critical decisions bears down on the reporter, the soldiers, and the student, each faced with pivotal choices that could alter their trajectories profoundly.

ZO ZO ZOMBIE  

AVAILABLE ON FREEVIEW

Zo Zo Zombie is our undead hero who, with his best (human) friend Isamu, is just trying to do some good in this world but somehow always ends up in pieces. Literally.

Greek Myths: True Stories

PBS: Friday 5 January at 7.15PM

For centuries, figures such as Hercules, Oedipus, Adonis and Atlas and the stories sur- rounding them have served as a rich source of inspiration for countless writers and artists.

This documentary sees historian Robin Lane Fox set out to uncover the truth behind these colourful tales of ancient heroes and deities. Join him on his mission to find out more about how such time-honoured myths first emerged and how they evolved.

Going back to the source material, Robin looks at the people, journeys and topography from which some of history’s most celebrated stories were born. Passed on by word of mouth, record- ed, celebrated, embellished and handed down through the generations, these ancient tales continue to influence creators across the globe.

GREAT! MOVIES: MONDAY 1ST JANUARY

Ease those sore heads by settling on the sofa and watching these three brilliant films back-to-back on New Year’s Day!

4.30pm – Robin Hood (2018) 

In the latest version of the legendary story, Robin of Loxley (Taron Egerton) a war- hardened Crusader and his Moorish commander (Jamie Foxx) mount an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown. Robin Hood is a thrilling action-adventure packed with gritty battlefield exploits, mind-blowing fight choreography, and a timeless romance which also stars Ben Mendelsohn, Eve Hewson, Tim Minchin, and Jamie Dornan.

6.50pm –Deepwater Horizon (2016)

When technician, Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg), and trusty rig supervisor, Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell) recognise a potentially catastrophic defect in a rig’s infrastructure due to a lack of care from BP oil executives, disaster strikes and a chain of fatal events unfold. Based on the true events of the worst oil disaster in U.S. history, Williams and Harrell heroically struggle to rescue their shipmates from the 87-day-long nightmare in Deepwater Horizon.

9.00pm –Allied (2016)

The must-see wartime drama, Allied, will keep viewers guessing until the very end. Max (Brad Pitt), a Canadian intelligence officer serving amidst the height of World War II, meets a member of the French Resistance, Marianne (Marion Cotillard) in Morocco. Whilst on a mission to assassinate a German officer, the pair fall in love with each other. They return to London and have a child together, but their love is put to the test under the strain of war. When Marianne’s true identity is brought into question, Max must embark on a mission to confirm whether or not Marianne is on the side of the enemy.

Great TV: Weekends from 9pm

Courtney Throne-Smith stars as Emma Fielding, a dedicated archaeologist she also puts her skills to work by solving murders.

An archaeologist professor, Emma Fielding, is doing her last job with some students in her hometown to prove her late father’s theory that there would be a colony settled there. One night she has an argument with a man, and the next day he is found dead and buried in the place of the dig. Among the suspects are art and artefact thieves and an ex-boyfriend! With the help of an FBI agent, Emma tries to unravel the mystery in Site Unseen.

In Past Malice, Emma finds her colleague murdered in the crypts below Chandler Castle. When she makes unsettling connections to an age-old curse, Emma, her students, and FBI agent Jim (James Tupper) soon find themselves in danger.

Saturday 16th December
9pm Site Unseen

Sunday 17th December
9pm Past Malice

PBS: Monday 18 December at 7.10pm

The True Story of King Tut’s Treasure

When the tomb of Tutankhamun was opened on 17 February 1923, the world was awed by the lavish trove of relics discovered in the young king’s burial chamber, among them his golden mask and solid gold coffin.

Now, a century on, this documentary casts new light on the familiar story. Using techniques including 2D and 3D imagery, the tomb, the mummy, the funerary objects and the topography of the famous Valley of the Kings are all reconstructed for the viewer.

In addition, the programme examines what the artefacts tell us about Tutankhamun and his ancient world, and explores the circumstances in which they were discovered and then taken from the pharaoh’s tomb.

GREAT Christmas: 16 December from 2PM

Christmas is just around the corner and GREAT! Christmas continues its countdown of favourite festive films.

For a newly-wed couple, having their families over for Christmas is anything but perfect in A Perfect Christmas. They invite their families to join them for the holidays, but when Steve is laid off just before the holidays and Cynthia discovers she’s pregnant, they both keep their news secret in hopes that the celebration runs smoothly.

Jesse Metcalfe stars in Christmas Next Door as Eric Randall, an author of bachelor lifestyle books who is left in charge of his young niece and nephew for the holidays. Unsure of himself, Eric turns to his neighbour April, a lover of all things Christmas, for help.

With only a week to go before Christmas, Miranda is far from in the festive spirit in Finding Father Christmas. Her mother died 20 years ago around the festive season, whilst her father’s identity was never divulged before her mother’s passing. When she comes into possession of a suitcase belonging to her mother, she puts together some clues and embarks on a quest to find her father in Vermont. There she meets new families and a romantic flame!

16 December on Great! Christmas

2pm – Family For Christmas
4pm – A Perfect Christmas
6pm – Christmas Next Door
8pm – Finding Father Christmas
10pm – A Family For The Holidays

GOTTA CATCH SANTA CLAUS

TX: AVAILABLE ON FREEVIEW

A 12-year-old boy tries to catch Santa Claus, just to prove to his friends and the world that Santa really exists.

7 SECONDS (2005)

GREAT! Action: WEDNESDAY 20TH DECEMBER AT 9PM

7 Seconds is a high-octane action-thriller and follows Jack Tuliver (Wesley Snipes), a skilled thief who inadvertently becomes entangled in a daring heist involving a valuable Van Gogh painting.

Having pulled off the planned heist successfully, Tuliver and his crew are ambushed by a group of Romanian outlaws who were tipped off by a traitor within Tuliver’s crew. Tuliver’s associate ‘Bull’ (Andrei Ionescu) is killed in the commotion. Tuliver is able to escape captivity, taking a briefcase from the loot with him which happens to contain the priceless painting. As he makes his escape via Sgt. Kelly Anders’ (Tamzin Outhwaite) car, he must leave Anders behind. Tuliver eventually returns to help save a team member from the clutch of Alexie Kutchinov (Pete Lee-Wilson), a barbarous Russian mobster in charge of the Romanian racketeers that ambushed Tuliver.

With time quickly passing, it is a race against time for Tuliver and his crew to save themselves from the deadly gangsters holding them hostage.

Edwardian Britain in Colour

PBS: Wednesday 20 & Thursday 21 December at 8.35pm

The world of our Edwardian ancestors was visually documented mainly in flickering, black-and-white images. Yet, just as we do today, those long-gone people lived their lives in full colour.

By the careful addition of colour to archive footage, this two-part documentary lends a vivid immediacy to historically distant events. From Queen Victoria’s state funeral in 1901 to that parallel world of workers eking out a living in mills, down mines and in metropolitan dock- lands and markets, or enjoying the novelty of leisure time at the seaside, a whole era is captured as never before.

Social historians and experts on the industries depicted, chart the changes afoot during this time, as the old order was challenged while war clouds gathered over Europe.

HE-MAN & THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

Yaaas!: New. Available now on Freeview.

On the planet Eternia, a young prince gains the ability to become a powerful warrior to defend Castle Grayskull against the dark lord Skeletor.  

THE 5TH WAVE (2016)

GREAT! Movies: SUNDAY 3RD DECEMBER AT 9PM

Talented actress Chloë Grace Moretz stars in the dystopian sci-fi outing The 5th Wave.

The human race stands on the brink of extinction as a series of four alien attacks decimate the planet, causing earthquakes, tsunamis and disease which rip families and the Earth itself to shreds.

Separated from her family, Ohio teenager Cassie Sullivan (Chloë Grace Moretz) will do whatever it takes to reunite with her brother. Fate leads her to form an alliance with a mysterious young man who may be her last hope. Forced to trust each other, they fight for survival during the fifth assault from the invaders.

The Fall and Rise of New York

PBS America: Tuesday 5 December at 9.45pm

Turn the clock back three decades and New York was a city in what seemed to be an advanced state of urban decay, struggling with high levels of violent crime, depressed property values, a declining middle class and associated woes.

The story of its subsequent transformation and revival, due to astute political leadership, the questioning of long-established tradition, and grassroots-level change, is both remarkable and inspirational, as this documentary details.

In the 21st century, cities around the world find themselves increasingly challenged by those same complex issues. As the 400th anniversary of The Big Apple approaches, the programme asks, what useful insights can be gleaned from the intellectual paradigm shift that helped turn around the fortunes of this great metropolis.

47 RONIN (2013)

GREAT! Movies: TUESDAY 21ST NOVEMBER AT 9PM

From ancient Japan’s most enduring tale, the epic fantasy-adventure 47 Ronin is born.

After a treacherous warlord kills their master and banishes their kind, 47 leaderless samurai vow to seek vengeance and restore honour to their people.

Driven from their homes and dispersed across the land, this band of Ronin must seek the help of Kai, played by Keanu Reeves, as they fight their way across a savage world of mythic beasts and shape-shifting witchcraft.

Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts

PBS America: Monday 27 November at 20:20

African Americans have a long and honourable history of serving with America’s armed forces, participating in both World Wars and many other conflicts across the globe. Yet at home they faced discrimination and a lack of civil rights.

Their involvement in many of their country’s military campaigns is not without its contradictions. As American soldiers under orders, they would also play a part in the subjugation of Indigenous peoples as the US appropriated tribal land; the persecution of striking silver miners in Idaho, and the fight against Filipinos seeking for independence in the Spanish-American War.

Drawing upon the testimony of historians, experts and descendants, along with archive material, re-enactments and animation, this documentary tells the complex story of the so- called ‘Buffalo Soldiers’.

GARFIELD

YAAAS!: Available Now on Freeview

Cat-astrophic comedy capers with the wise- cracking, nap-taking and lasagne-loving cat Garfield.

Royal New Year’s Eve

GREAT CHRISTMAS: SUNDAY 12TH NOVEMBER 12PM

As the festive season fast approaches, there’s some all-new Christmas film offerings to enjoy.

In Royal New Year’s Eve, magazine assistant Caitlyn is stunned when Prince Jeffrey and his presumed future fiancé Lady Isabelle come to town. Having always dreamed of a huge future in fashion, Caitlyn is ecstatic when Isabelle hires her to design her dress for the royal New Year’s Eve ball, where Jeffrey is supposed to propose. As Caitlyn and Jeffrey begin planning for the ball, whilst Caitlyn also designs Isabelle’s dress, the two begin to fall for each other.

The Stuarts

PBS: Monday 13 – Wednesday 15 November at 5.50pm

For most of the 17th Century, the Stuart dynasty would rule a newly united Britain dur- ing a period of religious conflict, civil war and political revolution.

When Elizabeth I died, her cousin James VI of Scotland was installed as James I of England. His son, Charles I, was beheaded following a civil war, and his family members forced into exile. As the family’s fortunes ebbed and flowed, eventually James II was forced from the throne by his own daughter, Mary, along with her hus- band, William of Orange.

Join Dr Clare Jackson as she tells the story of a family who, though an era of political violence and spiritual conflict, helped lay the foundations of the modern UK.