This week’s Primetime Picks are dominated by documentaries in the main! But they do look really interesting…

On Monday we kick off with Dispatches: The Problem Princes, 8:00pm on Channel 4 presented by Alex Thomson which investigates the roles currently adopted by the royal princes and asks how their activities are shaping the modern monarchy that Prince William will inherit.

Thomson delves into just how transparent the Royals’ finances are, both in relation to what they cost the tax payer and concerning some of the older princes’ personal business and property dealings.

Thomson also examines claims that the Palace are not averse to media manipulation, investigating the handling of stories such as William’s commandeering of an RAF helicopter to visit a stag party on the Isle of Wight and for a visit to his girlfriend’s parents…

As Prince William is unlikely to be crowned King anytime soon, Dispatches looks at how he might occupy himself until his coronation – if he might follow the examples of either Edward or Andrew, or if there are princely lessons to be learnt from his uncles?

Another Monday documentary is Panorama, BBC1 at 8:30pm. This edition is entitled, Credit Where It’s Due in which Business dragon Theo Paphitis asks if the banks and the government are doing enough to help Britain’s 4.7 million small businesses survive the recession.

Providing jobs for some 13 million people, they are currently going bust at a rate of 120 a day, according to the Federation of Small Businesses. In a bid to stop the rot, the government says it has ordered the banks to be more supportive, but what is really happening? Are Britain’s small firms are getting credit where it’s due?

On Tuesday, Horizon: The Secret Life of Your Bodyclock is on BBC2 at 9:00pm.
This fascinating documentary investigates why you’re more likely to have a heart attack at eight o’clock in the morning or crash your car on the motorway at two o’clock in the afternoon.

Can taking your medication at the right time of day really save your life? And have you ever wondered why teenagers will not get out of bed in the morning?

The answers to these questions lie in the secret world of the biological clock!

Yet another documentary offering on Tuesday – although this is more of a docu-drama – is True Stories: Trouble the Water at 10:00pm on More4.
This harrowing film was a ‘Grand Jury Prize’ winner at the Sundance Festival and is a documentary that uses genuine camcorder footage that was shot by New Orleans couple Kimberly and Scott Roberts to show how Hurricane Katrina and the subdequent floods devastated their community.

It has drama, realism – because it IS real – and genuine emotion as lives and homes were destroyed by Katrina in a matter of minutes.

On Wednesday, Five is showing The Superheroes as part of its Extraordinary Animals series at 7:30pm. If there’s one creature that tops the list of people’s ‘most hated animals’, it’s the much-maligned rat, and justifiably so in my opinion! These furry, whiskery rodents will never triumph in any popularity contest with me or indeed most people… We perceive them to be dirty, dangerous and diseased, and the oft-quoted fact that a person is never far away from a rat only serves to send shivers down the spine. One man on the street sums it up best: “I think rats and humans just don’t mix.”

Yet in Tanzania, one breed of especially large rat has been taken to heart as a cuddly household pet. Moreover, these creatures – so long blamed for spreading disease – are actually helping to save human lives. Their powerful sense of smell has won them employment at a nearby research lab, where scientists have trained them to detect TB. The idea was the brainchild of Belgian scientist Bart Weetjens, who harbours a lifetime’s love of rodents. “As a boy, I was breeding rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils, all kinds of rodents,” he says. “They’re actually very nice creatures in spite of what’s being told about them.”

At the Apopo laboratory, researchers train rats to identify the smell of TB in samples of human saliva. A procedure that can take scientists up to a day can be completed by the rats in around seven minutes. This is a major advantage in treating a disease which kills half a million people a year.

So maybe we owe a word of thanks to rats… but someone else can do that eh?!

Wednesday also gives us ‘Rehab’ on Living at 9pm which this week features the story of X Factor finalist Rowetta Satchell’s battle with the booze.

This new series puts ‘rehab’ under the microscope by charting the journeys of seven fallen stars as they prepare to combat their various destructive addictions, at the established rehabilitation clinic Passages in Malibu, California.

Other celebrities confronting their dangerous and potentially life-threatening habits will be glamour models Alicia Douvall (body dysmorphia) and Cassie Sumner (bulimia), former Bay City Roller singer Les McKeown (alcoholism), actress/comedienne and daughter of Britt Eckland and Peter Sellers – Victoria Sellers (drug addiction), musician and son of Dad’s Army’s John Le Mesurier and Carry On…’s Hattie Jacques – Robin Le Mesurier (alcoholism), and US Bold and the Beautiful soap star Sean Kanan (painkiller addiction).

With their lives spiralling out of control, and their once successful careers overshadowed by their addictions, each has resolved to embark upon 2009 with a renewed outlook.

Each episode will follow a celebrity as they search for the determining factors that drove them towards their dependencies. In a world far away from showbiz parties, the stars will finally be able to face their demons to understand the pressures that have brought them to breaking point.

Both our Primetime Picks on Thursday clash, but there’s always the video recorder or Sky+ if you have it! So first up, let’s take a look at Cutting Edge: Love, Life, Death in the Day which is on at 9:00pm on Channel 4.

This Emmy-nominated film from director Sue Bourne documents Love, Life and Death in a Day, in which she films the intensely personal moments that accompany some of the births, deaths and marriages that take place in one city – in this episode, in Bristol – on one day.

There’s coverage of weddings, civil partnership ceremonies, births and the tragic story of a 26-year-old man who died suddenly of a congenital heart condition.

Our second choice for Thursday is ER: Age of Innocence on More4 at 9pm. It’s the eighth episode of this final season and sees Neela’s student Andrew getting a chance to prove he’s a good candidate for the professionally elite world of surgery. His big chance comes when a suspected paedophile is brutally beaten and requires surgery, but if massive needles, nasty looking clamps and eye socket fiddling makes you feel spewy, then you may suffer during this one!

Here’s a sneek peek at it…

Friday at 9pm on Channel 4 has the ever wonderful Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA which features troubled eatery Trobiano’s where Gordon meets Anthony Trobiano, an ‘executive chef’ who’s struggling with half a million dollars worth of debt.

Despite being bailed out by his partner’s parents – who gave him their life savings to keep his restaurant afloat – the business is failing, as is his relationship. Can Gordon turn things around? I don’t doubt it for a minute! Here’s a clip from this show but it’s quite long so you may not want to watch it if you want to wait until Friday to see the whole show!

To end your Friday night, I highly recommend scaring your pants off with the epic film, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. It’s on BBC1 at 11:40pm, and you will need to sleep with the lights on after it!

This smart and suspenseful thriller scares up a bone-chilling good time with original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis and a hot cast of hip young stars!

Now the headmistress of a private school, Laurie Strode (Curtis) is still struggling with the horrifying, 20-year-old memories of the maniacal killer Michael Myers … when he suddenly reappears with a vengeance! And this Halloween, his terror will strike a whole new generation!

Laurie’s rebellious son – played by Josh Hartnett – his girlfriend and the school security guard will become Michael’s newest victims unless Laurie can conquer her greatest fear and put evil in its place once and for all… Don’t watch it alone unless you’re super-brave! Here’s the original trailer…

On Saturday, Let’s Dance for Comic Relief is on BBC1 at 7:25pm and hosts
Claudia Winkleman and Steve Jones present a celebrity-packed dance show in aid of Comic Relief.

Anton Du Beke and guest judge Paul O’Grady are on hand to judge, criticise or praise the performances and in tonight’s show, Jo Brand, Dragons’ Den entrepreneurs Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden and Duncan Bannatyne, the Blue Peter gang and the cast of Hollyoaks are among the acts hoping to dance their way to the final.

There’s also special performances from Will Young and the cast of the new West End musical Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

An absolute must-see film on Saturday is The Shawshank Redemption on Channel 4 at 9:00pm.

This deeply poignant version of Stephen King’s story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption was a first outing for director Frank Darabont and is without doubt one of the best adaptations of the King’s work that there’s ever been.

Tim Robbins is on his best form with his haunted, cunning portrayal of Andy Dufresne, a young banker sentenced to life imprisonment. It’s the nineteen-forties, and he is sent to Shawshank, a dark and doomy jail where the inmates protest their innocence and the satanic warden (Bob Gunton) brandishes a Bible.

What at first may seem like a plotless tale of companionship between Andy and Red –
Morgan Freeman – turns into something far more extraordinary.

Here’s the original trailer…

Sunday is Lost day on Sky1 at 9pm. This episode is entitled The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham. The pieces of the puzzle start to fall into place as Locke’s mission off the island, under the psuedonym Jeremy Bentham, is revealed. Here’s a promo for this episode…

Sunday’s other Primetime Pick is The Vicar of Dibley Top 40 which is on GOLD at 7:00pm and is exactly what it says on the tin; the top 40 Dibley classic moments. Here’s a clip of my favourite Dibley moments… the end jokes that Alice never gets!

Happy viewing and we’ll be back next week with more Primetime Picks!