Tuesday, November 5, 2024

TV tonight: Hugh Bonneville and Karen Gillan star in a juicy cancel culture drama

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Douglas is Cancelled

9pm, ITV1
A juicy swipe at cancel culture, which writer Steven Moffat swears isn’t based on real recent cases. The drama follows white, middle-aged, trusted national news anchor Douglas (Hugh Bonneville) whose career is about to go up in flames, thanks to a viral social media post about a sexist joke he made at a wedding. Things get worse when his younger, savvier co-host Madeline (Karen Gillan) reshares the post. With his boss (Ben Miles) telling him to be “balanced, boring and bland” and his newspaper editor wife (Alex Kingston) knowing how these things play out (“Delete these messages – I work with people who hack your phone!”), can Douglas avoid being cancelled? Hollie Richardson

Dispatches: Can AI Steal Your Vote?

8pm, Channel 4
Some might say the press don’t need any help, but concerns have been raised about AI pumping voters’ heads full of disinformation to influence how they vote. Cathy Newman investigates whether deepfakes and AI content work, conducting an experiment in which 12 unwitting households are fed a diet of plausible digital bilge. Jack Seale

The Outlaws

9pm, BBC One
Stephen Merchant’s comedy thriller, sunny and upbeat without ever tipping over into schmaltz, ends the third and final series with a typically twisty adventure. The gang have to rob the London drug dealer known as the Dean (Claes Bang) in order to incriminate him: cue a domestic heist and a lot of shamelessly goofy feints and near misses. JS

The Plymouth Shootings

9pm, BBC Three
On 12 August 2021, Jake Davison, 22, shot and killed five people in Plymouth before taking his own life. This documentary explores the events leading up to the mass murder via an investigation into police failure to adequately regulate possession of firearms and the killer’s online involvement with the incel movement. Phil Harrison

Glastonbury 2024

10pm, BBC Two
Calm before the swarm: the music stages may not get properly under way until tomorrow but the Glastonbury site will already be buzzing as eager festival-goers arrive. Clara Amfo and Lauren Laverne report from their eyrie overlooking the Park stage to stoke excitement for a crammed weekend of live coverage. Graeme Virtue

Geared up for Glasto … from left, presenters Jo Whiley, Clara Amfo, Lauren Laverne, Jack Saunders. Photograph: Ray Burmiston/BBC

Paul Whitehouse’s Sketch Show Years

10pm, Gold
Do sketch shows tell us more about society than any other form of TV? That is the set-up to this glorified clips show in which Whitehouse looks at a decade per episode. It starts with the 70s, including Benny Hill’s smut-packed musical shenanigans and The Two Ronnies satirising Mastermind. Alexi Duggins

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