This week’s best telly includes the dramatic finale of Liar, some hard-hitting documentaries and a new Saturday night drama for BBC One.
Here are the 7 shows you have to watch this week...
1. Liar
Monday 16th October at 9pm on ITV
In the final episode of the drama that’s gripped the nation, Andrew is terrified of arrest and enlists Luke’s help as an alibi. But Laura Nielson won’t give up easily, and the final match between the two is set to have violent consequences.
6/6
2. Chris Packham: Asperger’s And Me
Tuesday 17th October at 9pm on BBC Two
For most of his life, broadcaster and naturalist Chris Packham didn’t tell anyone about the one thing that in many ways has defined his entire existence - that he is autistic. He has Asperger’s Syndrome, which means he struggles in social situations, has difficulty with human relationships, and is, by his own admission, "a little bit weird".
In this one-off documentary, Chris invites us inside his autistic world to try to show what it’s really like being him. He lives alone in the woods with his "best friend" Scratchy the dog; but he also has a long-term partner, Charlotte, who discusses the problems Asperger’s creates in their relationship and describes him as being sometimes "like an alien".
Chris experiences the world in a very different way, with heightened senses that at times are overwhelming, and a mind that is constant bouncing from one subject to the next.
Growing up at a time when little was known about autism, Chris wasn’t diagnosed with Asperger’s until he was in his 40s. With scientific advances offering new possibilities to treat his condition, Chris travels to America to witness radical therapies that appear to offer the possibility of entirely eradicating problematic autistic traits; but he also meets those who are challenging the idea that autistic people need to change in order to fit into society.
Confronting this deeply personal subject with brutal honesty, and reflecting on the devastating struggles of his adolescence, Chris explores the question of whether he’d ever want to be cured himself, or whether, ultimately, Asperger’s has helped make him who he is today.
1/1
3. Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine
Thursday 19th October at 9pm on ITV
This brand new two-part documentary, as part of ITV’s Crime & punishment series, sees Gordon Ramsay explore the criminal business behind the global cocaine trade.
Once the exclusive drug of millionaires and celebrities, cocaine is now Britain's favourite Class A drug. The UK consumes 30 tonnes of cocaine a year, more than any other country in Europe and in Gordon's own industry, the restaurant trade, it's rife. With UK cocaine-related deaths at an all-time high, Gordon is determined to strip away the drug's glamorous image, so he's teaming up with the police and military, both here and abroad, who are battling to stop the lucrative trade in this deadly drug.
In this episode Gordon joins Dorset Police as they arrest motorists driving under the influence of cocaine, he witnesses National Crime Agency officers intercepting drug-couriers laden with tens of thousands of pounds on their way to a major deal and handles 30 kilos of freshly confiscated cocaine when it arrives at a forensics laboratory for testing.
Heading to the source, Gordon treks deep into the jungle of Colombia, the world's biggest producer of cocaine, to meet a coca farmer who risks everything to produce the drug, and he witnesses the illegal cooking process by which the plant is transformed into the notorious drug.
1/2
4. Cold Feet
Friday 20th October at 9pm on ITV
In the final episode of the current series of Cold Feet, David takes matters into his own hands when a threat is made towards his daughters.
Elsewhere, Pete ropes his pals into help at a care home outing. Although in no position to do so, Adam offers Pete some relationship advice with disastrous consequences. A family emergency forces the gang to reassess their relationships.
7/7
5. Strictly Come Dancing
Saturday 21st October and Sunday 22nd October on BBC One
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman return to the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom this weekend as the battle to lift the Glitterball Trophy continues and the 12 remaining couples will each take to the floor in a bid to impress the awesome foursome on the judging panel, Darcey Bussell, Bruno Tonioli, Craig Revel Horwood and new head judge Shirley Ballas as well as the viewers at home.
As the competition reaches its fifth week, the judges will be looking for the couples to really show what they are capable of. After the judges have given their scores, the public will have the chance to cast their votes. The two couples with the lowest combined judges’ scores and viewer votes will face the dreaded dance-off on Sunday’s Results show.
In the results show on Sunday, the bottom two dancing duos take to the famous ballroom floor to dance for survival. Shirley, Darcey, Bruno and Craig will once again be putting Saturday night’s routines under the microscope and be deciding who should leave the competition.
The remaining 11 couples will then go forward to next weekend's spook-tacular Strictly Halloween special which will feature a performance from The Script.
6. Gunpowder
Saturday 21st October on BBC One
Kit Harington and Liv Tyler star alongside Peter Mullan, Mark Gatiss, Tom Cullen, Edward Holcroft, Shaun Dooley, Robert Emms, Derek Riddell and Pedro Casablanc in BBC One’s new Saturday night three-part drama Gunpowder, a retelling of The Gunpowder Plot.
England, 1603. Elizabeth I is dead and King James of Scotland has taken the throne. With the country at war with Catholic Spain, English Catholics are persecuted and priests caught saying Mass are punished with death. Several attempts have already been made on the new King’s life. All so far have failed. But deep in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside a new plot is brewing. A plot that will become legend, and leave a mark on the country that will still be felt over 400 years later.
Robert Catesby (Harington) attends a covert Mass celebrated by Father Garnet (Mullan) at the home of Catesby’s cousin Anne Vaux (Tyler). But when the King’s men arrive at the door, will the quick-thinking actions of Catesby, his family and the house’s ingenious priest holes be enough to save the outlawed priests from arrest and certain death?
The barbaric acts that follow have a profound affect on Catesby, who vows to plot the highest act of treason imaginable - to kill the King (Riddell) and all who surround him, and install James’ nine year-old daughter Princess Elizabeth on the throne as the puppet of a Catholic government.
It is a plot that puts Catesby in a tense cat-and-mouse game with the King’s ‘spymaster' Robert Cecil (Mark Gatiss), and it is a plot that takes us to Brussels, where the services are required of a hardened veteran named Guy Fawkes (Cullen).
1/3
7. Louis Theroux: Dark States - Murder In Milwaukee
Sunday 22nd October at 9pm on BBC Two
In the final episode of Louis Theroux’s Dark States series, Louis spends time with the Milwaukee Police Department as they patrol District 5, home to some of the nation’s deadliest streets and with a homicide rate more than 12 times the national average - and follows the Homicide division as they investigate one of the city’s many killings.
Milwaukee is said to be one of the most racially divided and impoverished cities in the US. With spiralling gun crime and homicide rates, this Midwestern city encapsulates America’s complex and troubled relationship with guns and the increasing disharmony between African American communities and the police.
On the streets of Milwaukee, Louis discovers a community often misunderstood by, and mistrustful of, the police. Arriving at a time of heightened tension between the police and the African American community due to a recent police shooting, Louis hears from both sides of the debate and uncovers hope in a desperate city.
3/3
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