I hope you’re all having a lovely Easter weekend and once it’s over, here’s what we here at Primetime reckon is worth watching this coming week…

Easter Monday

The Jet Stream and Us, 8:00pm, BBC4

This new documentary traces how human understanding of the jet stream – a ribbon of fast moving air high in the atmosphere – has grown. Now, that may sound boring but it’s actually very interesting!

It’s been responsible for bewildering effect on bomber pilots in World War II, turbo charging modern transatlantic flyers, the infamous 1987 hurricane and the devastating floods of recent years.

Scientists now believe this powerful weather phenomenon is now changing its pattern of behaviour and could have an even bigger impact on our climate and the way we live our lives.

Interviewees include Sir Brian Hoskins, University of Reading and Kirsty McCabe from the BBC Weather Centre…

Lifegivers, 9.00pm, BBC1

More than 8,000 people are currently waiting for an organ transplant. Nadia Sawalha and Dr Jonty Heaversedge present a series following patients and families going through these life-saving operations.

The programme reveals the agonizing ordeal of those waiting for an organ and tells the amazing stories of the people whose lives have been changed for the better after receiving their gift of life.

Through a mixture of live interviews and moving films, Lifegivers speaks to patients, families, friends and celebrities about the miracle of modern medicine and how their lives have been transformed by it.
Today’s opening episode features the moving story of Jennifer Foster, who became Scotland’s first living liver donor when she donated two thirds of her liver to save her dying husband Daniel.

As the week continues, Lifegivers features the first woman in the UK to have four separate transplants – a new heart, lung, liver and kidney – and a young man who had 90 operations and four kidney transplants before his sixth birthday. Each day there’ll be an update on blood stocks and donor sessions happening across the country, while viewers can get further information from bbc.co.uk/lifegivers or by phoning the BBC Action Line.

Tuesday

The Hospital, 9:00pm, Channel 4

Tonight’s is the second of third episodes; this one examines teenage pregnancy. The UK has the highest number of teenage mothers in Europe.

And teenage pregnancies are neither simple nor cheap. Consultant Gabrielle Downey explains the higher risk of complications during childbirth for teens whose bodies aren’t mature enough for pregnancy.

Liz Gibbs, a midwife at Birmingham’s City Hospital, describes the hostility of some teenage mums and explains how she tries to help “repeat offenders”, girls who quickly get pregnant again. Often, it seems, they’ve had trouble at home and are just looking for love.

But it’s a young mum who sums up the dire situation best when she says, “If all adults could be good parents, there wouldn’t be so many teenage parents.”

New Living with the Dead, 9:00pm, Living

This week’s show is entitled Restless Spirits and features ex-Emmerdale and Bad Girls actress Claire King who invites the Living with the Dead team to investigate her 17th century farmhouse for signs of paranormal activity.

Claire reckons her house is being haunted by the ghost of a murderer and while her on-screen persona – Kim Tate – was being a super bitch, Claire had to get used to the weird goings on in her own property in Yorkshire.

While most of us would be running for the door, Claire refused to budge.

It was only by calling in the ghostbusting experts from the TV show LivingWith The Dead that the 46 year old actress was finally able to “lay her demons to rest”.

Wednesday

Embarrassing Bodies, 8:00pm, Channel 4

This is the first of ten episodes of the new series which “destigmatises” common medical complaints. With Christian Jessen and Pixie McKenna, this episode focuses on the pelvic floor.

One in three women in the UK suffer some level of leakage due to weak pelvic floor muscles. Three women test the latest in pelvic toners and reveal the results.

Patients include a woman with a major vaginal prolapse and a man who has to wear incontinence pads until he’s saved by a revolutionary operation.

Hillsborough, 9:00pm, ITV3

First shown in 1996, this is ‘The Street’ writer Jimmy McGovern’s impassioned take on the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, where 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death.

Applauded for shedding light on discrepancies between Lord Justice Taylor’s official report and the inquest that followed, it reconstructs the tragic events of that afternoon twenty years ago through the eyes of three families who each lost teenage children.

Christopher Eccleston stars and is heartrending as a bereaved dad. Hillsborough Remembered is on History at 8:00pm.

Thursday

Missing: Race Against Time, 9:00pm, Channel 4

This documentary reports on the shocking statistics and devastation caused when a loved one goes missing.

Only a handful of missing persons cases hit the headlines – including Madeleine McCann, Shannon Matthews and ‘Canoe Man’ John Darwin – but most people who go missing never make the newspapers.

Some choose to disappear, some are found too late and others just seem to walk out of their lives, leaving their families desperate for answers and the police in a race against time to find them.

Three days after 81-year-old Josephine O’Hara disappeared, her daughter Pauline contacts the police. Elderly and vulnerable, she may also have taken her life savings of £10,000 with her, and the police don’t even have her photograph.

Meanwhile it’s been 36 hours since 25-year-old Adam Warren left home for an appointment at the job centre. He was expected back within the hour by his girlfriend Katie and their 11-week-old-baby daughter Ellie, but he’s vanished.

And five years ago another young father, Vinny Derrick, disappeared after a night out with friends. His wife Vicki still has no idea what happened to her husband, and seven-year-old Lewis has grown up not knowing his dad.

My Life as an Animal: Pigs, 9:00pm, BBC3

This is a new four part series in which two brave and/or mad individuals volunteer to “experience life as an animal” for four very long days.

In this edition, they sleep among pigs, eat like pigs and even learn to speak like pigs.

By the end of the experience, our wannabe Dr Doolittle’s will’ve learned everything they need to know about a pig’s life in Britain from the cradle to the grave… but I’m assuming they aren’t going to go as far as “from the cradle to the plate”

Friday

Empty House Syndrome: Tonight, 8:00pm, ITV1

As the number of empty properties looks set to top the one million mark this year, Jonathan Maitland investigates why so many houses lie empty and unused when there’s an acute housing shortage in the UK.

In the course of his investigation, Jonathan also tries to find out just what’s being done to tackle this problem, if indeed anything is.

Me, Myself & Irene, 9:00pm, Sky1

If you’ve never seen it, this film is a seriously funny must-watch; Charlie – played by the awesome Jim Carrey – is a Rhode Island state trooper with a split personality. He’s usually mild-mannered and non confrontational until somebody or something pushes him a little too far and that’s when his maniacal alter-ego, Hank, takes over.

Charlie’s assigned on a routine mission to return alleged fugitive Irene back to upstate New York, but they wind up on the run from corrupt police officers. And their escape would be a lot simpler on everybody involved if Hank didn’t keep stepping in at the most inopportune times… Here’s the film’s trailer

Saturday

Tonight’s the Night, 6:55pm, BBC1

John Barrowman hosts this entertainment show which features appearances from some of the biggest names in music, movies and the West End.

Each week John makes dreams come true for members of the public as he unleashes a series of spectacular surprises.

Katherine Jenkins, McFly and the cast of West End hit Hairspray are on hand to help fulfil the wishes of unsuspecting dreamers.

And John dons a football kit as he attempts some freestyle football skills in a celebrity head-to-head challenge.

Family Guy: The Story So Far… 9:05pm, BBC3

Narrated by Mathew Horne, this BBC3 special takes a look at how the multi award winning animation show was originally created.

It’s a must see for all Family Guy fans as the show includes exclusive interviews with the cast and creators, sneak peak clips from season eight and examines the success of Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.

Sunday

Louis Theroux: A Place for Paedophiles, 9:00pm, BBC2

For this film, Louis gained access to Coalinga Mental Hospital in California, which houses more than 500 of the most disturbed criminals in America; convicted paedophiles.

Most have already served lengthy prison sentences but have been deemed unsafe for release. Instead, they’ve been sent there for an indefinite time.

Spending time with those undergoing treatment, Louis wrestles with whether he can ever allow himself to believe men whose whole history is defined by deception and deceit.

101 Things Removed from the Human Body, 10:00pm, Bravo

This pretty gruesome but fascinating show features interviews with surgeons, doctors and people who – through accident or idiocy – have had unusual objects embedded in their flesh and who’ve had objects surgically removed from their bodies.

Among the cases featured are a fisherman who was skewered through the eye by a leaping swordfish, a man who had half his brain removed and lived to tell the tale, a car-crash victim who had a 5ft wooden stake driven through his skull and a man who discovered at the age of 36 that he had a dead conjoined twin attached to the inside of his stomach.

With contributions from the people involved, their families and the doctors who saved their lives, it contains graphic scenes.

Hope you have a great day off on Monday and an equally great week. See you next week!