Welcome to our Primetime Picks of what we reckon is worth tuning into this coming week!

Monday

A brand new series of the fabulous Monkey Life starts at 6:30pm on Five. The series follows the residents – both human and primate – of Dorset’s Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre. In this episode, 88 capuchin monkeys rescued from a research laboratory in Chile wake up to their first morning at Monkey World.

Over in the Chimp nursery, Rodders has a run-in with a sticky melon and the park’s naughtiest resident, Seamus the chimp, comes face to face with alpha male Butch in the bachelor pad…

Also on Monday is what looks like a fascinating documentary entitled, Addicted to Surrogacy on Channel 4 at 9:00pm.

Around 1,000 surrogate babies have been born in the UK over the past two decades. In recent years, half of them have been born to serial surrogates: women who’ve been surrogates more than once.

Jill Hawkins, Britain’s most prolific childless surrogate, has given away seven babies over the past 18 years. Is it finally time for Jill to wean herself off her need to have babies for other people, and start living her own life?

Janie and Peter have been trying to have a baby through a surrogate for three years. After several bad experiences in the UK, Tammy Lynn in Kansas is now having twins for the couple, and they’ve travelled the 5,000 miles to be with her at the birth.

In Essex, Amanda – a first-time surrogate – is having a baby boy for Stephen and Olga. With Olga and Amanda not always seeing eye-to-eye, we witness the complex and emotional journey that leads to having a surrogate baby.

Carole Horlock, the world’s most prolific surrogate, tells the story of her career-low: when she discovered that a baby she had given birth to had been accidentally conceived with her own partner. What did she decide to do about the child, and has she ever regretted that decision?

Tuesday

Deborah 13: Servant of God, 9:00pm, BBC3 also looks truly fascinating; It’s a documentary about 13-year-old Deborah Drapper, who, unlike other British teens has never heard of Britney Spears or Victoria Beckham.
She’s been brought up in a deeply Christian family and her parents have tried to make sure she and her ten brothers and sisters have grown up protected from the sins of the outside world.

Deborah is a bright, confident girl who has big ambitions for her life and the film spends a summer with her as she ventures out in the world to see what life outside her family could be and starts putting her beliefs forward to a wider audience.

Then we have Horizon: How to Survive a Disaster which unfortunately clashes with the above documentary, but if you’re about to get on a plane to Benidorm or somewhere, I’d strongly recommend you watch the documentary about Deborah!

If however you’re not, then this episode of Horizon’s on BBC2 at 9:00pm.When disaster strikes who lives and who dies is not purely a matter of luck. In every disaster, from those people face once in a lifetime, to those they face every day, there are things that can be done to increase the chances of getting out alive.

Horizon has gathered a team of leading experts to produce the ultimate guide to disaster survival. Through controversial experiments, computer simulations and analysis of hundreds of survivor testimonies from plane crashes to ferry disasters and even 9/11, they will reveal what happens in the mind in the moment of crisis and how the human brain can be programmed for survival.

Wednesday

The next installment in the desperately sad life of Jade Goody is revealed in, Jade: Bride to Be which airs at 9:00pm on Living.

The two part wedding special, Jade: Bride to Be and Jade’s Wedding (Thursday 12th March at 9pm), follows Jade as she plans her fairytale wedding day.

In the first of these two programmes, the cameras capture Jade’s friends and family as they help her meticulously take care of everything, from choosing her dream dress and picking out the beautiful bouquets to making sure Bobby and Freddie are the perfect page boys.

Despite her illness, Jade’s resilience shines through as she meets with Bishop Jonathan Blake to discuss the ceremony and partakes in a typically girly hen night with her loyal bridesmaids at home.

In addition, the episode also follows the groom as he and his friends try on their wedding suits and indulge in a stag do, and our cameras accompany her devoted mum Jackiey to Harrods to pick out the perfect outfit for a mother of the bride.

From a group tooth whitening session with her bridesmaids to a private helicopter transfer from her house to the hotel, Jade lets nothing get in the way of her big day.

Jade and Jack originally planned to tie the knot in Jade’s garden – they even put up the marquee – but as the terms of Jack’s curfew were relaxed by Justice Secretary Jack Straw for their wedding day, the happy couple were able to hold their big day at the stunning 16th Century Down Hall Country House in Hertfordshire.

Also on Wednesday, a macabre documentary hosted by the gorgeous Martin Kemp, and entitled, Crime Museum UK with Martin Kemp: The Poisoners, airs on the Discovery Channel at 9:30pm.

As the German writer Goethe observed, ‘there is no such thing as poison, it all depends on the dose’.

Poisons have featured in many murder cases, and for the determined poisoner, history has shown that there is always a vast range of materials at hand. Arsenic used to be one of the most widely available poisons. For the prospective poisoner, few substances could match it. It looks so harmless, like flour or sugar, and its virtual lack of taste means it is easy to disguise in drink or food.

One case highlighted in the show was in 1922 when the British public was enthralled as medical experts explored the powers of arsenic in a case that showed, in gruesome detail, the poison’s fatal strength.

Hay-on-Wye is a picturesque town near the Welsh border, a place now famous for its wonderful bookshops and annual literary festival. But to the people of Hay the name Herbert Rowse Armstrong is as well known today as it was all those years ago, when Hay-on-Wye was famous; as the home of a poisoner.

The story began in 1921. Major Armstrong ran a solicitor’s practice in the centre of the town. A small, well mannered man, he had recently lost his wife and had not long returned home from a much needed restful holiday… you’ll have to tune in to see and hear the rest of this grisly story!

Thursday

The second part of this documentary follows on directly from yesterday’s episode and features Jade’s Wedding at 8:00pm on Living.

Jade’s Wedding, follows the beautiful bride on her special day as she walks down the aisle with her devoted fiancé Jack.

The cameras follow Jade as she, despite being in crippling pain, walks down the aisle with her grandfather John Caddock to the emotive sounds of Canon in D by Pachelbel. In addition, the programme also includes the moving ceremony from start to finish including the signing of the register by the new Mr and Mrs Tweed.

The episode also features an interview with Bishop Jonathan Blake who crafted their vows especially, Jade and Jack’s poignant first dance to Aerosmith’s classic ‘Don’t Want To Miss A Thing,’ and release of ten white doves alongside a show-stopping fireworks display to celebrate their union.

Also on Thursday – and again, another programme time clash – is ER on More4 at 9:00pm. This episode is entitled, The High Holiday and will be the last ever Christmas episode from this well loved series!

It’s Christmastime in the ER and Sam’s son Alex is still on a ventilator, and a simple mistake can change everything… oh jiminy I hope they don’t have Alex die at Christmas! I’m going to have used up an industrial sized box of Kleenex by the end of the hour if he does!

Friday

Comic Relief 2009 dominates Friday on BBC1 and altogether will run from 7:00pm – 3am as stars come together to raise money for charity on Red Nose Day.

The night begins with David Tennant and Davina McCall, a Harry Hill TV Burp special, the Saturdays performing their Comic Relief single and an alien Ronnie Corbett landing himself in a Sarah Jane Adventure.

David and Davina go head to head in a special edition of Mastermind, the kids in Outnumbered outsmart the adults doing something funny for money, and there are highlights of high-kicking celebs re-creating famous routines in Let’s Dance for Comic Relief.

There’ll also be full coverage of the well publicized and highly dangerous celebrity trek up Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of the charity.

If however a Comic Relief marathon isn’t quite your thing, try Tonight: Brand vs Budget at 8:00pm on ITV1 in which money saving expert Martin Lewis challenges “luxury addicts” to ‘trade down’ on food, alcohol and cosmetics to see if they can tell the difference between more costly and cheaper brands, and potentially save themselves thousands of pounds.

It should be interesting this one!

Saturday

Our PTPs on Saturday are both about Hollywood legends, Heath Ledger and Patrick Swayze.

The first is about the life of Heath Ledger and is on the Biography Channel at 7:00pm.

Australian born actor Heath Ledger tread the delicate line between Hollywood movie-star and brooding artist until his tragic death at the age of 28 in January 2008.

Launched to success as a teen heartthrob in his early films such as ‘Ten Things I hate about you’ (1999), Ledger’s career progressed to more challenging roles including gay cowboy Ennis Del Mar in ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and the Joker in the latest Batman offering ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008).

Refusing to be defined solely by his good looks, Ledger pursued new challenges with each role he took on and his untimely death has extinguished a rising star that looked set to break the mould.

Here’s a clip from not only one of my favourite movies of all time, but my favourite Heath Ledger film of all time. He truly was beautiful and a real legend…

This clip contains swearing…

Then we have yet another programme clash, so get Sky+ at the ready; Patrick Swayze: The Truth at 7:00pm on Fiver.

Best known for his starring roles in such big-screen successes as Dirty Dancing and Road House, actor Patrick Swayze has developed the devastatingly rapidly spread and inoperable form of pancreatic cancer.

In this special programme, US TV reporter Barbara Walters talks to Swayze and his wife Lisa Niemi at their ranch in California.

Again, another of my all time fave films is Dirty Dancing and as with Heath in Knight’s Tale, Patrick made that movie for me, so here’s a clip from it…

Sunday

Now if your idea of an idyllic life is relocating to Spain then this documentary series, Living in the Sun on UKTV Style at 7:00pm is for you. There’s actually two back-to-back episodes on tonight, the first being ‘Costas Fish and Chip Shop’

The series features Kristian Digby who helps families who’re planning a new life in Spain and in this episode, she revisits an Essex entrepreneur who’s hoping his second fish and chip shop will fare better than his first!

The second show features two Brits who’ve started an off-road buggy safari company, and we watch a couple house hunt for a home near a marina, and presenter Kristian Digby tries his hand at auctioneering in the Costa del Sol.

Then there’s a bio of Amy Winehouse at 9:00pm on, unsurprisingly, the Biography Channel.

Amy Jade Winehouse was born in Enfield to parents Mitchell, a taxi driver, and Janis, a pharmacist. She has one older brother, Alex.

Growing up in the Southgate area of Enfield, Winehouse went to Southgate School and then Ashmole School. She was introduced to music at an early age by her parents whose tastes ran from Carole King and James Taylor to the jazz classics her father favoured.

At age 10 Winehouse and a friend formed a short-lived rap band called Sweet and Sour and then at 12, Winehouse entered the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Her first brush with controversy came just two years later when she was expelled for “not applying herself” and piercing her nose.

At about the same time Winehouse began to experiment with song writing. Conventional school did not last long either and Amy eventually dropped out, taking up part-time work that included a stint singing with a jazz band…

Tune in to hear the rest of what is ultimately a sad – but self-induced – story.

I hope we’ve given you a few ideas about what to watch this week, but whatever you tune into, have a good one and we’ll see you same time, same place, next week!