Britain’s Most Historic Towns (Channel 4/HD | 7:30pm to 8:30pm | Saturday 5th December 2020)

Professor Alice Roberts is in Glasgow to investigate the impact of steam power on Britain’s major towns in the 18th and 19th centuries. She also learns about the arrival of migrant workers in the city and how the insanitary conditions in which they lived, which made Glasgow both a hotbed of disease and a place of great medical advancement. Aerial archaeologist Ben Robinson flies his drone over Loch Katrine as he tells the story of how Victorian engineers overcame geographical barriers to bring fresh drinking water to the workers of Glasgow.

Britain’s Wildest Weather (Channel 4/HD | 8:30pm to 9:30pm | Saturday 5th December 2020)

Footage of the most extreme weather conditions in the UK over the past year, from the worst floods in a decade and a freak landslide in Fife, to an account of being in a house when it is struck by lightning. The programme also explains the scientific reasons behind the wildfire that destroyed one of the UK’s most precious nature reserves, as well as a look back at record-breaking days of both heat and rain.

Paddington Station 24/7 (Channel 5/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Monday 7th December 2020)

Staff prepare for a VIP visitor, who turns out to be Prince Harry, while a buckled rail is threatening to disrupt the timetable at Route Control in Swindon, while a failed freight train requires a rescue locomotive as delays and cancellations stack up at Paddington.

Canal Boat Diaries (BBC 1/HD 7:30pm to 8:00pm | Wednesday 9th December 2020)

On the last leg of his journey across England, Robbie Cumming crosses an epic aqueduct near Stratford-upon-Avon, and gets stuck in a lock in central Birmingham.

Walking Britain’s Lost Railways (Channel 5/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Friday 11th December 2020)

Starting out from the Regency splendour of Cheltenham, Rob Bell crosses the Cotswolds, following the 46-mile route of the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway. The line passes many quarries, all producing the famous Cotswold stone – some now abandoned and some still supplying stone to sites like Hampton Court. With numerous hills to negotiate, this railway was never an express route, but it did open up this landscape to visitors for the first time. From the late 1800s, tourists piled in by rail to explore picture postcard villages like Bourton-on-the-Water, establishing a new local `industry”.

The World’s Most Scenic Railway Journeys (Channel 5/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Friday 11th December 2020)

A trip through Devon to the tip of Cornwall, going back in time to recapture the golden age of luxury train travel. Travelling in the elegantly restored Statesman, passengers relax in its vintage carriages and enjoy the exquisite service. The first stop is on the stunning Devon coast, which suffered devastating destruction during the heavy winter storms of 2014. From Dawlish, it heads to Cornwall and across the Royal Albert Bridge, a masterpiece of railway engineering.

The Sound of TV with Neil Brand (BBC 4/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Friday 11th December 2020)

With the advent of commercial television in the UK, ITV rivalled the BBC for airtime and lured viewers in with the new language of advertisements. However, these had not yet reached the impact they had seen in the USA, the home of the TV jingle, where a 30-second tune could make or break a brand, as seen in the competing fortunes of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Neil reveals the lasting musical power of jingles,

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