One to Watch: Trevor McDonald and the Killer Nurse, 9pm, ITV, STV and UTV
Let’s head back to 1991 and Sir Trevor McDonald was in his first year of reading the headlines on News at Ten, when he covered the extraordinary case of one of Britain’s worst serial killers: a young, female nurse.
A nation was stunned to learn 22-year-old nurse Beverly Allitt murdered four children in her care, and attacked a further nine, at Grantham Hospital in Lincolnshire. Now, 25 years since he reported on her conviction, Trevor is able to shed new light on a case that has fascinated him ever since.
Trevor is given access to the original police interviews with Beverly Allitt, and tracks down several of her surviving victims, some of whom are speaking for the first time about their traumatic experiences, and the impact it has had on their lives. Bradley Gibson was 5 years old when Allitt tried to kill him, in the children’s ward of Grantham Hospital.
Now 32, Bradley tells Trevor how his heart stopped beating for thirty-two minutes, long after many doctors would have given him up as dead while Kayley Asher was just fifteen months old when Beverly Allitt attacked her. She was already suffering from a serious disability affecting her development. She says that Beverly Allitt is still a major presence in their lives.
Trevor also meets the detective that caught Beverly Allitt, and hears the extraordinary story of an investigation against the odds. He also uncovers a document that suggests Beverly Allitt was faking the original symptoms that had her transferred from jail to hospital while on remand, and he hears from experts who suggest she should be in prison, rather than Rampton Secure Hospital.
Trevor finds Beverly Allitt’s surviving victims troubled by her apparent lack of confession, but in the course of making this film he discovers a document which shows that she has in fact confessed to all of the crimes of which she was convicted.
Invictus Games 2018, 7.30pm, BBC One
Alex Jones and JJ Chalmers present coverage from the fourth Invictus Games in Sydney.
They are joined in the studio by former Olympian Ian Thorpe, as the swimming finals take place at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park.
The UK team have many great medal hopes, including Mike Goody, who won eight gold medals at the first two Games and will be looking to add to that total, after missing the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto. Liz Johnson and Matt Chilton provide the commentary.
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Micky Flanagan: Thinking Aloud, 11pm, Sky One
Our often used term for a ‘repeat’, ‘another chance to see again’. And tonight its another chance to see again Micky Flanagan on Sky One.
In the first of the series, with an episode entitled ‘Men and Women’ the comedian tackles the big questions that keep him awake at night, beginning with the complicated world of the male and female beings; as he explores dating, mixed gender identities and the battle for equality in the home and workplace.
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How to get a Good Night’s Sleep, 9pm, Channel 5
As quick as it came, this two part series goes off, without you hopefully hitting the snooze button.
This Morning personalities Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford continue their mission to cure their sleeping disorders. Eamonn is given a new sleep programme by top sports scientist Nick Littlehales, which requires that he sleeps in short bursts over 24 hours. Next, the couple investigate two luxury hotel ‘sleep packages’, before testing out a sleep pod designed to allow workers 20 minute naps.
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Empire, 10pm, BBC Four
In the final episode of the series Jeremy Paxman explores the contrasting approaches of two key figures of two key British figures in trying to do good in Africa.
He tells how David Livingstone inspired a flood of missionaries to the so-called Dark Continent and recalls his famous meeting in 1871 with journalist Henry Stanley. Paxman also examines how mining-magnate and maverick politician Cecil Rhodes laid the foundations for apartheid, and concludes by asking whether the British Empire actually did any good.
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Bodyguard, streaming from today on Netflix (Ireland and World)
The finale of BBC One’s Bodyguard was watched by an audience of 17.1 million people, 28-day 4-screen consolidated figures have revealed. This makes it the UK’s most watched episode of any drama series across all channels since current records began, in 2002. This is the largest audience recorded for a TV programme outside of sporting and national events since 2010. Now the UK has enjoyed it, Netflix viewers in Ireland and the rest of the world can now enjoy it too. Obviously as its still available via the Beeb in the UK and Northern Ireland you’ll have to wait a bit longer for a Netflix binge of it.
Set in and around the corridors of power, Bodyguard tells the fictional story of David Budd (Richard Madden), a heroic, but volatile war veteran now working as a Specialist Protection Officer for the Royalty and Specialist Branch (RasP) of London’s Metropolitan Police Service. When he is assigned to protect the ambitious and powerful Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes), Budd finds himself torn between his duty and his beliefs. Responsible for her safety, could he become her biggest threat?
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Sir Trevor heads back to 1991 and a story that left viewers horrified at the time, ITV, 9pm
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