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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Hollie Richardson, Jack Seale, Graeme Virtue, Ellen E Jones and Simon Wardell

TV tonight: Guy Martin makes cocaine, gets kidnapped and meets Pablo Escobar’s nephew in Colombia

Our Guy in Colombia on Channel 4.
Our Guy in Colombia on Channel 4. Photograph: Channel 4

Our Guy in Colombia

9pm, Channel 4

“Two coffees with milk please,” Guy Martin says to the men who have tied him up and bunged him in a car during “kidnap training”, after being told the number one rule is not to antagonise them. He’s visiting Colombia to see if it can ever shed its narco reputation, which leads him to help make cocaine and meet Pablo Escobar’s nephew (who was once kidnapped by a gang who shot him and put a chainsaw between his legs). Hollie Richardson

Islands

7pm, Sky Nature

This wonderful new wildlife series from Bafta-winning producers Wall to Wall takes us deep inside the world’s ecosystems. It starts in Vancouver, where sea wolves feast on salmon and where one of the world’s rarest mammals, marmots, can be found. HR

A Year on Planet Earth

8pm, ITV1

Stephen Fry’s slightly too cute nature series gambols into summer, with furry pikas bringing the laughs as they forage for vegetation, often from each other’s burrows. In Africa, meanwhile, the Great Migration forces zebras and wildebeest to cross a crocodile-infested river. Jack Seale

Beethoven’s Ninth at the Proms

8pm, BBC Four

It’s a rollover … Beethoven’s beloved choral symphony has been performed at every Proms since 1897. This year, the honour of ringing out Ode to Joy falls to the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with soloists Eleanor Dennis, Karen Cargill, Nicky Spence and Michael Mofidian, all under the baton of conductor Ryan Wigglesworth. Graeme Virtue

World on Fire

9pm, BBC One

Mark Bonnar joins the already brilliant cast of the thrilling war drama this week, as a suave houseguest of Lesley Manville’s uptight matriarch Robina – but what is his real motive for being there? Over in the Sahara, Harry (Jonah Hauer-King) is reunited with an old buddy. And Lois (Julia Brown) questions her future as a mother. HR

A Spy Among Friends

9pm, ITV1

The Americans are on to Elliott (Damian Lewis) and the British – a formidably unsmiling combo of Anna Maxwell Martin and Adrian Edmondson – are close behind. What information did Philby (Guy Pearce) give him in Beirut? Is there any connection with the Queen’s private art collection? And what clues lie in a thrilling flashback to wartime Istanbul? Ellen E Jones

Film choice

Cleopatra, noon, BBC Two

Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra.
Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra. Photograph: cineclassico/Alamy

Everything about this historical drama is epic. The story of the ancient Egyptian queen and her affairs with Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Marc Antony deals with the rise and fall of empires. The film was the most expensive ever made, got through two directors and saw its lead actor, Elizabeth Taylor, hospitalised twice, while her affair with co-star Richard Burton (playing Marc Antony) made global headlines. And it’s four hours long. But what a show it puts on – sumptuous and melodramatic, with the real-life passion between Taylor and Burton quite clear. Simon Wardell

Live sport

Athletics: Diamond League London, 1.15pm, BBC One The 10th meeting of the season, held at London Stadium.

Challenge Cup Rugby League: Hull Kingston Rovers v Wigan Warriors, 4.30pm, BBC Two Semi-final at Headingley Stadium.

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