One to Watch: The Parachute Murder Plot, 9pm, ITV, STV and UTV
This documentary sees Fiona Bruce gains exclusive access to never seen before police tapes from the investigation into army sergeant Emile Cilliers, who attempted to murder his wife by tampering with her parachute. On Easter Sunday 2015, Cilliers’ wife Victoria, a highly experienced parachuting instructor, jumped out of a plane at 4,000 feet, but both her main and reserve parachutes failed and she crashed to the ground, causing near-fatal injuries.
Over the following months, the police investigated the circumstances around the sabotage and became certain that her husband Emile had tried to kill her – not once, but twice. His first attempt came a week before her skydive when he tampered with the gas valve at their home in Wiltshire. The plan failed when Victoria smelled the gas and reportedly joked with Cilliers by saying, ‘Are you trying to bump me off?’
Fiona interviews key contributors, many of whom have never spoken before, including police officers at the heart of the case who provide vivid insights into Cilliers’ motives and background before he was arrested for attempted murder for sabotaging the parachute. Some pivotal elements of the case they describe to Fiona include the fact he was having multiple affairs and accumulating out-of-control debts. He increased his life insurance policy, so that he would benefit if his wife was to die.
“Fiona also finds out how Cilliers sought to use his extraordinary charm to evade justice, and explores what the case tells us about the hidden epidemic of domestic violence.” – ITV
The Bisexual, 10pm, Channel 4
New Yorker Leila (Akhavan) is feeling lost in London having decided to go on a ‘break’ from her 10-year relationship with girlfriend and business partner Sadie (BAFTA-nominated Maxine Peake). Moving out of their shared flat but still faced with the fresh hell of seeing her ex every day at their joint tech company, Leila ends up renting a room from neurotic novelist Gabe (Brian Gleeson), a Hackney-dwelling 30-something dwarfed by the success of his debut novel which came out years ago and has long been forgotten.
Leila begins sleeping with men but struggles to come out as bisexual to her gay friends, most importantly her best mate, the near un-shockable Deniz (Saskia Chana). She finds an unlikely wingman in the form of Gabe. He helps her navigate a new life dating men and women – and Leila, in return, introduces wide-eyed Gabe to the London lesbian scene, whilst doing her best to help him decipher his unreadable, sort-of-girlfriend, sort-of student Francisca (Michelle Guillot). As Leila makes changes, so does Sadie – changes that take her in a very different direction.
In the second episode, Leila (Akhavan) and Sadie (Peake) try to be civil. It’s anything but, behind the scenes. Neurotic new housemate Gabe (Brian Gleeson) tries to cheer up Leila with a night out that turns into a drunken odyssey with a twist.
|
Eamonn & Ruth: How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep, 9pm, Channel 5
TV couple Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford embark on a mission to cure their own sleeping disorders, and also help some other Brits who struggle to get a good night’s sleep.
From buying a new bed to working with sleep gurus and trying state-of-the-art sleeping aids, they leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of a great night’s kip. Like one-third of the UK population, Eamonn and his wife Ruth have sleeping problems. Eamonn usually survives on four hours or less a night, and Ruth snores.
In this first episode of the two-part series, they both begin a journey to find a cure. For many couples, it’s the bed that is often blamed for sleeping problems, so they head off to one of London’s top bed shops, where they road-test beds worth more than £20k to see if you get what you pay for.
Then it’s time to get serious as they buddy up with two of Britain’s worst sleepers. Ruth joins forces with Jenny, whose snoring sends husband Colin to the spare room every night. Ruth brings in a sound engineer to record Jenny’s snoring, discovering that it’s as loud as a low-flying aircraft! She and Jenny vow to find a solution, starting out by trying a ‘snoring workout’ in a local gym.
They then road test a variety of snoring ‘aids’ under the watchful eye of their husbands. Meanwhile, Eamonn meets insomniac Sam, and together they try out a sleep programme that focuses on establishing a set bedtime routine. It works for Sam, but Eamonn is left as sleepless as ever. At the end of the programme, Ruth is delighted to be snore free, but Eamonn’s mission continues…
|
 9-1-1 – A Whole New You, 9pm, Sky Witness
The thrill-a-minute drama following the lives of stateside emergency services personnel reaches the conclusion of its first ten part series, as they take on an unusual domestic disturbance, a death at a psychic’s and arrive on the scene of a horrific motorcycle crash.
Meanwhile, Bobby dips his toe into the dating pool, Abby takes a walk down memory lane, Buck is confronted by his past actions and Athena tries to start her new life.
|
The Kindergarten Teacher, streaming on Netflix
When a Staten Island kindergarten teacher discovers what may be a gifted five year-old student in her class, she becomes fascinated and obsessed with the child—spiraling downward on a dangerous and desperate path in order to nurture his talent.
|
Taskmaster, 9pm, Dave
UKTV channel Dave tonight brings us the seventh episode in this the seventh series of Taskmaster with an edition entitled ‘The Perfect Stuff’. As usual Greg Davies challenges his five fearful funny people to entertain him by completing more baffling challenges, which this week involve corneas, crackers and construction.
Setting perplexing challenges, the Task Tzar will preside over the inspired genius, or utter ineptitude of comics, each scrapping for his fleeting and often fickle respect, praise, and points. Record breaking stand-up James Acaster, comedy writer and actress Jessica Knappett, actress and stand-up Kerry Godliman, internationally acclaimed comedian Phil Wang, and renowned Welsh comic Rhod Gilbert are this series’ comedy line-up battling for a chance to win the most prestigious title in showbiz, and possibly the world, and be crowned a Taskmaster Champion. |
Five stars, Eamonn and Ruth try out expensive beds, nothing saucy missus, tonight at 9pm on Channel 5
|
