Don’t write off Harry just because Wills got married. Fortune has a funny way of finding the ‘second son’. George VI, Charles I and Henry VIII were all notable examples who grew up without the pressure to land the big prize. So it’s good to see he’s enjoying himself while he can, chasing skirt, championing swastikas and creating scandals about his parentage (there’s the red hair, but surely he’s got Papa’s nose and mouth?).
“From the battlefields of Afghanistan to the top of the world,” introduces John Hurt’s voiceover to Prince Harry, Arctic heroes, which follows his participation in a polar expedition that includes four servicemen disabled in action. One of them’s missing his ankle and calf – no, not the war, it was a forfeit in one of Harry’s drinking games.
Worse has happened to the 22nd century crew of Red Dwarf (BBC Ent, Thu 22:50), which in this revival (after a gap of ten years) time-warp back to Earth in 2009. Meanwhile, a new series is currently screening in the UK.
Also in Britain, Kate! The making of an Icon looks back at the career that made waifish the most popular item on the fish menu; The Secrets of Scientology (SV2, Sun 18:00) is a 2010 Panorama production that one UK newspaper described as “exemplary”, while the jury’s out on Clatterford (BBC Ent, Tue-Thu 19:35), which is also known as Jerusalem & Jam. With French & Saunders on board, many were disappointed by its low laugh ratio, but it has a strong following among old and middle-aged women.
Elsewhere, Banksy’s doc Exit through the Gift Shop takes its TV bow; delayed coverage of both of England’s 2014 WC qualifiers is on Friday and Tuesday on K6; catch the fifth series of legal drama Damages (SV1 Sat 23:05); for those of you feeling homesick for more dangerous climes, Dark Minds (TV3 Puls, Fri 20:00) is a welcome window to weirdo killers; Kirk Douglas is the subject of this week’s Stars Of The Silver Screen (DRK, Sat 20:00), while Infamous Assassinations revisits the 1918 murder of the Romanovs (DRK, Mon 22:55); and finally Japan (DRK, Tue 17:15) looks at some of the country’s bizarre festivals, including one that involves a Shinto priestess and a giant wooden penis.
