Last night on television Jasper Reeses
Fighter Pilot: The Real
Top Gun
ITV, 9.00PM
There’s a highly
excruciating moment
in this opening episode
of a new three-part series
where a highly trained
RAF pilot is taking his first
flight in the world’s most
advanced jet fighter, the
F-35 Lightning II, which
has cost Britain and the
US a staggering £9 billion
to develop. The only
way to get this “flying
computer” up and running
is to log into it first. But
the computer keeps saying
no. It seems a remarkably
basic problem for a £100-
million killing machine to
have. Still, it’s a moment
of levity in a serious series
following fighter pilots in
training – a mesmerising
process.
Most of the focus is
on three trainees – one
of them the RAF’s only
woman student jet fighter
pilot – competing to
qualify as combat-ready
pilots at the “fast jet”
training facility on
Anglesey, trying to
assimilate vast quantities
of technical know-how
and extreme practical
flying skills in the space of
just 12 months. Elsewhere,
it’s off to South Carolina to
follow already qualified
pilots as they train on thenew F35, a machine so
technologically advanced
that, no matter how
extensive their flyingexperience, it leaves them
breathless. After they’ve
mastered logging in, that
is. Gerard O’DonovanArtsBattle of the Brass Bands
SKY ARTS, 8.00PM Brass bands – dull and
old-fashioned? Not judging
by the sheer intensity of the
rivalries on show in this
new series, which follows
some of the giants of the
brass scene through
competitions such as the
Whit Friday Brass Band
Contest. GODocumentaryRevolutions: The Ideas
That Changed the World
BBC FOUR, 9.00PM Jim Al-Khalili turns his
attention to the history ofthe telescope, one of the
world’s most culturally
significant instruments,
from early experiments
with optics in 8th-century
Baghdad to Galileo’s famed
invention and the Hubble
Space Telescope, still in
use by Nasa today. GOKathy Burke’s All Woman
CHANNEL 4, 10.00PM In this second episode,
Kathy Burke turns her
attention to motherhood,
contemplating the reasons
as to whether or not women
choose to have children.
She meets a City financial
analyst who froze her
eggs, and talks to actress
Samantha Morton and
comedian Katherine Ryan
about their own individual
parenting experiences. GODramaKeeping Faith
BBC ONE, 9.00PM Still struggling to deal
with the fallout from Evan’sWhat to watch
Radio choice Clair Woodward
Forty years on: Lord Mountbatten was killed while on holiday in Mullaghmore
A powerful look at one of the
darkest days of the Troubles
T
he recent YouGov poll
which asked Conservative
members what they
would be prepared to
sacrifice in order to
achieve Brexit did not
propose the ultimate option. Would
they rather have Brexit than peace?
The question loitered discreetly in
the background for most of The Day
Mountbatten Died (BBC Two), Sam
Collyns’s powerful commemoration
of one of the blackest days of the
Troubles, when the IRA murdered
British royalty and blew up 18 members
of the Parachute regiment, while an
innocent civilian was shot in error.
“He would have been astonished,”
said Mountbatten’s biographer Philip
Ziegler, exuding plummy English
detachment, “that there were IRA
members interested in his existence.”
Their target styled himself
Mountbatten of Burma; his
granddaughter was named India, after
the country whose partition he
oversaw. But these grand imperial
associations were no defence when the
IRA’s South Armagh brigade snuck
onto his unguarded fishing boat,
moored in the village of Mullaghmore
just south of the border, and planted
the bomb that would kill him, his
daughter’s mother-in-law, his
grandson and a local teenage boy.
The story of both atrocities was
carefully stitched together from
every perspective: witnesses, rescuers,
those who survived and the relatives
of those who didn’t, all in different
ways were still scarred and bereaved.
To observe a cultural neutrality,
the voice-over was spoken by the
Scottish actor Bill Paterson.
Remembering terror does funny
things to people; India Hicks wore a
brave smile and apologised for her
tears as she recalled being packed off
to Gordonstoun days after the state
funeral, where that night in her dorm
someone cracked the most appalling
joke about her grandfather’s murder.
“The mindset would have been
operational,” explained Kieran
Conway, who had been the IRA’s
director of intelligence. “Kill them,
without too much reflection.” He
emitted a stab of laughter that mingled
cold callousness with baffled regret.
Conway confirmed that it was
Martin McGuinness who signed off on
all this carnage. Put in this clarifying
context, the handshake in 2012 that
the Queen offered to McGuinness
became an ever more profound
symbol of reconciliation.
The 40th anniversary falls with the
troubled border once more at the
heart of geopolitics. “The problem
with peace,” concluded the veteranIrish journalist Olivia O’Leary, “is you
have to keep working at it.” Essential
viewing for our leaders.W
hat do you do with dull
forebears? Kate Winslet is
much the biggest star in the
current run of Who Do You Think
You Are? (BBC One), but there was
nothing stellar about her ancestral
narrative. Lightning struck again as
Katherine Ryan, the delightfully perky
comedian, clambered about her family
tree in Canada. But this was a very
different style of unearthing nothing
very interesting.
Her goal was to disinter some form
of English heritage and buy some
cultural credit with her British-born,
rank-pulling daughter Violet – to
“move up in the world, backwards”,
as she put it. And she wanted to
explore her mother’s lesser-known
lineage which, when she was a child,
was somehow never discussed: “We
were overscheduled.”
But her journey back to the snows of
her native Canada yielded only doughty
forebears who strived and loved and
bred without troubling the headline
writers. There was a Wesleyan
Methodist preacher who was the first
principal of a college in Toronto. Back
more generations there was a couple
who traded in Newfoundland cod
who lost everything at sea, including
one of their sons.
Winslet would have rent her
garment at such a reverse. Ryan,
whose whole shtick is about being
essentially unserious, managed a sad
emoji face. But if her history lacked
oomph, you get something else with
Ryan, which is the joyous lack of an
off switch. She’s always scoping a
conversation for the next quip. Did she
reckon she resembled a good-looking
ancestor who wrote poetry? “I don’t
really know what I look like naturally
any more. That ship has sailed.”
The story ended in Corfe Castle in
Dorset where a forebear once owned a
pub and got into trouble for being
lippy with a pair of magistrates. His
home was, disappointingly, not
actually a castle that she could boast
about to Violet. “She won’t know it’s a
village,” Ryan said. “We won’t tell her.”BBC Proms 2019
RADIO 3, 7.30PM Live from the Royal
Albert Hall, the London
Symphony Orchestra and
Chorus, conducted by Sir
Simon Rattle, perform
Koechlin’s Les bandar-log,
Varese’s Amériques and
Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast,
with Canadian baritoneGerald Finley as soloist.
The interval Proms Plus
discussion features Frances
Hardinge, Sue Walsh and
Anindya Raychaudhuri
discussing Rudyard
Kipling’s The Jungle Book,
which inspired Koechlin to
write Les bandar-log, which
transports listeners to the
primeval forest, where the
noise comes from monkeys.Troubles Shared
RADIO 4, 8.00PM Fifty years on from the
beginnings of the Troubles
in Northern Ireland, two
journalists whose lives
were shaped by covering
the events come together
for the first time to look
back on their experiences.
Fergal Keane grew up inCo Cork, and his family
history is entwined with
the conflict between Ireland
and Britain, while Peter
Taylor had a journalistic
baptism of fire when he
arrived in the country on
the night of Bloody Sunday
in 1972. They discuss their
experiences in the Troubles,
and look back at the process
of peace and reconciliation.(Bradley Freegard) return
home, Faith (Eve Myles)
uncovers some more
disturbing information
when she probes deeper
into the background to
Madlen’s (Aimee-Ffion
Edwards) case. GOEntertainmentHeartbreak Holiday
BBC THREE, FROM 10.00AM & BBC ONE,
10.35PM; NI, 11.05PM; SCOTLAND, 11.35PM This new reality series
(which runs from Tuesday
through Friday both this
week and next) explores
modern relationships, as
10 young Brits united by
heartbreak head to Greece,
where all their calls, texts,
posts and “every social
interaction” will be
monitored. GOFactualTrain Your Baby Like
a Dog
CHANNEL 4, 8.00PM In one of the week’s
more bizarre offerings,
animal behaviourist Jo-
Rosie Haffenden outlinesthe benefits of reward-based
training systems for your
(human) little ones. The
downside? Being forced
to trail around after them
with compostable bags,
presumably... GOInside the Tower
of London
CHANNEL 5, 9.00PM The behind-the-scenes
series returns for a second
run. Tonight, raven chicks
are born at the Tower
for the first time in three
decades – which leaves
the raven master facing
a difficult decision over
which should be kept. GOThe Day Mountbatten Died ★★★★★
Who Do You Think You Are? ★★★Revolutions: glassmaker ShelleyKathy Burke’s All WomanIntrepid: fighter-jet pilot Bally prepares to take to the skiesRadio 1
FM 97.6-99.8MHz
6.30am The Radio 1 Breakfast Show
with Greg James 10.00 Radio 1
Anthems with Clara Amfo 11.00 Clara
Amfo 12.45pm Newsbeat 1.00 Scott
Mills 4.00 Nick Grimshaw 5.45
Newsbeat 6.00 Nick Grimshaw 7.00
Radio 1’s Future Sounds with Annie
Mac 9.00 Rickie, Melvin and Charlie
11.00 Radio 1’s Indie Show with Jack
Saunders 1.00am Annie Nightingale
3.00 The Reality Tea 3.40 Radio 1 and
1Xtra’s Stories – How Wrestling Saved
My Life 4.00 - 6.30am Early Breakfast
with Adele RobertsRadio 2
FM 88-90.2MHz6.30am The Amol Rajan Breakfast
Show 9.30 Ken Bruce 12.00 Jeremy
Vine 2.00pm Steve Wright in the
Afternoon 5.00 Vanessa Feltz 7.00 Jo
Whiley 9.00 The Jazz Show with Jamie
Cullum 10.00 Trevor Nelson’s Rhythm
Nation 12.00 OJ Borg 3.00am Sounds
of the 80s with Gary Davies 4.50
Radio 2 Sounds of the 80s Mastermix
5.00 - 6.30am Nicki ChapmanRadio 3
FM 90.2-92.4MHz
6.30am Breakfast 9.00 Essential
Classics 11.00 Edinburgh International
Festival 2019 1.00pm News 1.02
Composer of the Week: Bologne 2.00
Afternoon Concert 5.00 In Tune 7.00
In Tune Mixtape. A selection of unusual
performances of music by Bach 7.30
BBC Proms 2019. The London
Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
perform Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast.
See Radio choice 10.00 Free Thinking10.45 The Essay: Forests. Writer Will
Ashon walks Eleanor Rosamund
Barraclough through Epping Forest
11.00 Late Junction 12.30am -
6.30am Through the NightRadio 4
FM 92.4-94.6MHz; LW 198KHz
6.00am Today 9.00 Fry’s English
Delight 9.30 Classified Britain 9.45
Book of the Week: Coventry 9.45 LW:
Daily Service 10.00 Woman’s Hour
11.00 Power of Peace 11.30 Art of
Now: Tin Roof Symphony 12.00 News
12.01pm LW: Shipping Forecast
12.04 Heartburn 12.18 Call You and
Yours 12.57 Weather 1.00 The World
at One 1.45 World War 2: The
Economic Battle 2.00 The Archers
2.15 Found 3.00 Short Cuts 3.30 No
Triumph, No Tragedy 4.00 Word of
Mouth 4.30 Great Lives 5.00 PM.
Presented by Carolyn Quinn 5.54 LW:
Shipping Forecast 5.57 Weather 6.00
Six O’Clock News 6.30 Austentatious
7.00 The Archers 7.15 Front Row
7.45 The Country Girls 8.00
Troubles Shared. See Radio choice
8.40 In Touch 9.00 Science Stories
9.30 Fry’s English Delight 10.00 The
World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime:
Heartburn 11.00 Phil Ellis Is Trying
11.30 Beyond Today 12.00 News and
Weather 12.30am Book of the Week:
Coventry 12.48 Shipping Forecast
1.00 As World Service 5.20 Shipping
Forecast 5.30 News Briefing 5.43
Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today
5.58 - 6.00am Tweet of the DayRadio 5 Live
MW 693 & 909KHz
6.00am 5 Live Breakfast 9.00 Your
Call 10.00 The Emma Barnett Showwith Chris Warburton 1.00pm Nihal
Arthanayake 4.00 5 Live Drive 7.00 5
Live Sport: The Tuesday Night Club
10.00 5 Live Sport: The Tuffers and
Vaughan Cricket Show 10.30 Sarah
Brett 1.00am Up All Night 5.00
Morning Reports 5.15 - 6.00am Wake
Up to MoneyClassic FM
FM 99.9-101.9MHz
6.00am More Music Breakfast 9.00
John Suchet 1.00pm Anne-Marie
Minhall 5.00 Classic FM Drive 7.00
Smooth Classics at Seven. Relaxing
sounds 8.00 The Full Works Concert.
Jane Jones presents a concert fit for
royalty 10.00 Smooth Classics
1.00am - 6.00am Sam PittisWorld Service
DIGITAL ONLY6.00am Newsday 8.30 Business Daily
8.50 Witness History 9.00 News 9.06
The Arts Hour 10.00 World Update
11.00 The Newsroom 11.30 In the
Studio 12.00 News 12.06pm Outlook
1.00 The Newsroom 1.30 The
Documentary 2.00 Newshour 3.00
News 3.06 People Fixing The World
3.30 World Business Report 4.00 BBC
OS 6.00 News 6.06 Outlook 7.06 The
Newsroom 7.30 Sport Today 8.00
News 8.06 People Fixing The World
8.30 Digital Planet 9.00 Newshour
10.00 News 10.06 The Documentary
10.30 World Business Report 11.00
News 11.06 The Newsroom 11.20
Sports News 11.30 In the Studio
12.00 News 12.06am The Arts Hour
1.00 News 1.06 Business Matters
2.00 News 2.06 The Newsroom 2.30
The Documentary 3.00 News 3.06
HARDtalk 3.30 The Compass 4.00News 4.06 Newsday 5.00 News 5.06
The Newsroom 5.30 - 6.00am Digital
PlanetRadio 4 Extra
DIGITAL ONLY
6.00am To the Moon and Back
6.30 Once in a Blue Moon: The Songs
of Lal Waterson 7.00 Living with the
Enemy 7.30 Andy Hamilton Sort of
Remembers 8.00 Listen to Les 8.30
Beyond Our Ken 9.00 Lobby Land
9.30 Stilgoe’s Around 10.00 The Right
Chemistry 11.00 Telling Tales
12.00 Listen to Les 12.30pm
Beyond Our Ken 1.00 To the Moon and
Back 1.30 Once in a Blue Moon: The
Songs of Lal Waterson 2.00 Reef
2.15 A Brief History of Mathematics
2.30 Bindi Business 2.45 Not My
Father’s Son – A Family Memoir
3.00 The Right Chemistry 4.00 Act
Your Age 4.30 The Sit Crom 5.00
Living with the Enemy 5.30 Andy
Hamilton Sort of Remembers 6.00
Robert Aickman Stories 6.15 The Man
Who Invented Yesterday 6.30 Dad
Made Me Laugh 7.00 Listen to Les
7.30 Beyond Our Ken 8.00 To the
Moon and Back 8.30 Once in a Blue
Moon: The Songs of Lal Waterson 9.00
Telling Tales 10.00 Comedy Club
12.00 Robert Aickman Stories
12.15am The Man Who Invented
Yesterday 12.30 Dad Made Me Laugh
1.00 To the Moon and Back 1.30 Once
in a Blue Moon: The Songs of Lal
Waterson 2.00 Reef 2.15 A Brief
History of Mathematics 2.30 Bindi
Business 2.45 Not My Father’s Son – A
Family Memoir 3.00 The Right
Chemistry 4.00 Act Your Age 4.30 The
Sit Crom 5.00 Living with the Enemy
5.30 - 6.00am Andy Hamilton Sort of
RemembersTelevision & radio
32 ***^ Tuesday 20 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
RELEASED BY "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws