Monday's TV tips

Your spoiler-free guide to what's on telly tonight.

Monday's TV tips

FOOD: Jamie’s Comfort Food (Channel 4, 8pm)

Cynics may think they don’t need any help in preparing comfort food – they just mash a few potatoes, heat up a can of beans or dive head first into a family sized bag of crisps.

But Jamie Oliver is here to put a new twist on some old favourites, showing how everything from shepherd’s pie to stick toffee pudding can keep its nostalgic appeal without tasting like something you were once served in the school canteen.

And just to add to the homely ambience, the series has been filmed at Jamie’s Essex residence, and features contributions from his friends and family.

The first mate to make an appearance is Christian, aka DJ BBQ who reveals his ultimate burger – and no, it’s not one he picked up from a fast food drive-through.

Instead, he talks to Jamie about the perfect cut of meat for making the burger, how best to cook it, and what to serve on the side.

QUIZ: Only Connect (BBC2, 8.30pm)

It’s smart thinking on the part of BBC Two to show the new series of Only Connect straight after University Challenge – at least that way, viewers can give their brains a bit of a warm-up before they attempt the hardest quiz show on TV.

For anyone who didn’t catch Only Connect when it was over on BBC Four, it’s the show that’s so highbrow, the contestants pick their questions by choosing Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell even summed up the channel move with a reference to Greek mythology, saying: “I and the rest of the Only Connect team are hugely excited about our Icarus-like flight towards the sun of mainstream broadcasting. If our wings start melting, I’ll just flap harder.”

The first two teams to brave the beam of BBC Two are Politicos and the Felinophiles, who will be trying to prove that not only do they know their to prove their Eye of Horus from their Horned Viper, they can also spot the connections between apparently unrelated series of clues.

DOCUMENTARY: Long Lost Family (UTV, 9pm)

It may be an award-winning, emotionally wrenching TV series, but we’re almost glad Long Lost Family is coming to an end this week – our tear ducts need a break.

They’ll get one final workout though as Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell bring us the story of 53-year-old Sandra Macdonald, who was given up for adoption as a baby.

Growing up in Edinburgh, she never felt fully accepted by her adoptive family, and at the age of 15 she decided to search for her biological mother. She began her journey at the offices of the church organisation, where she was cruelly told that her mother had sinned, and wouldn’t want to be reminded of her transgressions.

Two years later, Sandra was finally old enough to access her adoption records, which gave her a name, Elizabeth Blair, and an address of a farm in Linlithgow, but the trail soon went cold. Now the Long Lost Family pick up the case, but will Sandra get the reunion she’s been hoping for?

MEDICAL: The Human Tissue Squad (BBC3, 9pm)

In case you’re wondering, no, this isn’t a documentary about people who make sure everyone’s got something to wipe their eyes with after a particularly moving edition of Long Lost Family.

Instead, it focuses on the work of the donation team at Liverpool’s national human tissue bank.

They’re the people in charge of maintaining a supply of potentially life-saving heart valves, skin and bone, and as you might expect it’s emotionally and physically demanding work. But over the course of two episodes, we’ll see how the team deal with the challenges, and meet the young people whose lives are transformed by tissue transplants.

The first edition introduces us to 19-year-old Morgan, who is in need of a donor shin bone. But there’s a shortage of tissue supplies, and the team are battling to meet demand from hospitals nationwide. Will they be able to find a match for Morgan?

DOCUMENTARY: Close To Evil: (RTE One, 9.35pm)

An interview to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on RTÉ Radio 1’s God Slot in February 2012 leads a listener to confidentially contact Bergen Belsen concentration camp survivor Tomi Reichental.

This move provides the catalyst for a remarkable journey. Tomi discovers one of his former jailers, the SS Guard Hilde Lisiewicz, is alive and well and living in Hamburg.

Close to Evil charts Tomi’s quest to meet one of the women who held him in captivity in Bergan Belsen and to investigate her claims that she is ‘a victim of victor’s justice’. The documentary follows the series of events that finally lead him to meet Alexandra Senfft, the grand-daughter of the man who ultimately sanctioned the murder of Tomi’s family in the Shoah.

FILM: Mission: Impossible (Film4, 6.55pm)

(1996) Tom Cruise stars in the first film in the lucrative franchise as Ethan Hunt, a secret agent who is framed for killing his colleagues and stealing a list of the world’s spies.Determined to prove his innocence, he sets out to find the real culprit and prevent the information being sold to the highest bidder.

This blockbuster works on many levels: as a cracking spy yarn, a hi-tech thriller, a Bond-style actioner and a hip take on a classic TV series.

Cruise is fine in the lead role, but he’s occasionally upstaged by co-stars Jean Reno and Vanessa Redgrave.

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Beart, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Redgrave, Jean Reno, Henry Czerny, Kristin Scott Thomas

FILM: The Haunting in Connecticut (Film4, 11.35pm)

(2009) A family decide to move to a new home, closer to the clinic where their terminally ill son is receiving treatment. Unfortunately, while the location may be convenient, the house comes complete with all manner of other drawbacks. And when the son starts to see visions of demons, the family are forced to look into the building’s grisly past.

In some respects, it’s a standard issue haunted house story, complete with the usual number of shocks and scares.

But what helps this movie stand out is the family’s plight – Kyle Gallner and Virginia Madsen’s performances as the ill son and his anguished mother add a very human dimension to this supernatural shocker.

Starring: Virginia Madsen, Kyle Gallner, Elias Koteas, Amanda Crew, Martin Donovan, Sophi Knight, Ty Wood

FILM: Green Street (ITV4, 12am)

(2004) After he’s kicked off his Harvard journalism course just months before graduation, American student Matt moves to London to stay with his sister.

He strikes up a friendship with her brother-in-law, who introduces him to the joys of watching West Ham United – and running with the hooligans who swear their allegiance to the club.

Before he knows it, Matt is developing a taste for violence, but not everyone in the ’firm’ approves of the newcomer in their midst.

Elijah ’Frodo’ Wood may seem like an odd choice to play a football hooligan, but if you can overlook that small fact, this is a watchable drama that makes a brave attempt to explore the lure of hooliganism, without glamorising it.

In the process, it became enough of a cult hit to spawn two sequels.

Starring: Elijah Wood, Charlie Hunnam, Claire Forlani, Marc Warren, Leo Gregory

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