UK TV programmes to watch this week : 31/05/2014

George Clarke's Amazing Spaces | 05/06/2014 (YouView app screenshot)Triathlon (BBC 1/HD | 2:00pm to 5:10pm | Saturday 31st May 2014)

Hyde Park once again plays host to the London leg of the World Triathlon Series, the fourth event of the eight-race calendar. The famous venue provides the ideal backdrop for both the men’s and women’s sprint triathlons – fast and furious action is anticipated, with both races taking place on the same afternoon. The Brownlee brothers go head-to-head in the men’s race and lead British hopes. The sprint distance is the one event in which Jonny has been able to get the better of elder brother Alistair in recent years so it should make for a great contest. 2013 world champion Non Stanford makes her 2014 debut as she returns from injury but she faces tough competition from fellow Brits Jodie Stimpson, who leads the series, and two-time world champion Helen Jenkins.

All Aboard: East Coast Trains (Pick TV | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Sunday 1st June 2014)

Train driver Steve hasn’t looked back since leaving his accountancy job, while at King’s Cross Station, customer services deal with an irate passenger.

Commonwealth City (BBC 1 Scotland/HD & BBC iPlayer only | 10:35pm to 11:35pm | Monday 2nd June 2014)

Documentary following the fortunes of some of the residents of Dalmarnock in the aftermath of the successful bid to host the Commonwealth Games. Now a local councillor, Yvonne has managed to secure five million pounds for a new community centre with a creche and doctor’s surgery attached, but must act quickly to find available land. Darren’s fortunes rebound as he takes over a local pub, opens a new shop and uses the compensation money to pay for his oldest daughter’s education a one of Glasgow’s top private schools.

Coast Australia (BBC 2/HD | 9:10pm to 10:00pm | Wednesday 4th June 2014)

Series exploring Australia’s coastline. In the tranquil south-east of Tasmania, Neil Oliver probes Port Arthur’s harsh penal history. Brendan Moar examines the dramatic grip of lighthouse life on a remote island. Emma Johnston dives into an underwater battleground to see how science and industry are saving the marine neighbourhood. Neil joins the southern hemisphere’s largest wooden boat festival, and Tim Flannery investigates Hobart’s long and illustrious role in Antarctic exploration. Finally, Xanthe Mallett delves into the violent history of whaling, and a legacy that helped build a colony.

George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces (Channel 4/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Thursday 5th June 2014)

Architect George Clarke helps imaginations run wild as once again he celebrates the extraordinary world of small spaces and unique builds. The new series features secret hideaways, space-saving retreats, eco-friendly bolt holes and reconditioned vehicles. He shows that with careful planning, cunning design and masses of imagination, the unachievable is doable. The new series particularly celebrates the potential to create small space builds in your own back yard. With the help of his design buddy, master craftsman Will Hardie, George sets out to transform his own wasted garden space into the ultimate family garden studio; with a games room, cinema room, planetarium and, fulfilling a childhood ambition of his own, a butterfly house. For inspiration, they travel to Texas, a Mecca for free thinkers and ingenious design, on a road trip that takes them from Houston to Austin and Dallas.

Clydebuilt: The Ships That Made the Commonwealth (BBC 4/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Thursday 5th June 2014)

Series exploring the stories of four ships built on the river Clyde. David Hayman tells the story of CS Mackay-Bennett, a cable repair ship launched on the Clyde in 1884. She kept information flowing along a network of underwater cables that connected Britain with her empire and the world – the Victorian internet of its day. It’s also a story of a date with disaster, as the ship and her crew recovered the bodies of those who died when the Titanic sank. David travels to Halifax in Canada to find some facts about the ship and to unravel a DNA mystery that’s taken over a century to solve.

All TV guide information taken from DigiGuide — www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=15119.