What’s on telly tonight? Our pick of the best shows on Thursday 22nd March

What’s on telly tonight? Our pick of the best shows on Thursday 22nd March
(Image credit: BBC NHU/Richard Mann)

TV Times top picks for today

What’s on telly tonight? Here the TV Times team of expert reviewers highlight the best shows on Thursday 22nd March

Big Cats About the House, 8.00pm, BBC2

Tiger expert Giles Clark has been hand-raising big cat cubs for more than two decades, but when he was asked to save a five-day-old jaguar he knew it would be one of his toughest challenges yet. In the first episode of this new three-part series, Giles takes the tiny black jaguar, named Maya, back to his house when her mother rejects her soon after she’s born. There are plenty of obstacles to overcome before Maya starts to becomes part of the family at the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent, where Giles is the manager. This opening chapter might melt your heart, but there are also tense moments when Giles begins to suspect that the young cub isn’t developing as she should. Rating: ****

Contagion! The BBC4 Pandemic, 9.00pm, BBC4

Do you know what the Government considers to be the biggest risk to life in the UK? It’s not terrorism or war; it’s flu. In the past century there have been four pandemics, the worst of them in 1918 when the Spanish flu killed 100 million people worldwide. In this one-off documentary we meet the experts working to prevent and manage the next big outbreak. Dr Hannah Fry spearheads an experiment to simulate a deadly virus, using app technology to ‘infect’ and track volunteer users to see how far they travel and how many people they come into contact with. The results are astonishing and will help scientists predict how disease spreads and what can be done about it. Rating: ****

Martin Luther King by Trevor McDonald, 9.00pm, ITV

On 4 April 1968 Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. To mark 50 years since his murder and to celebrate his life, Sir Trevor McDonald travels to the US to get closer to one of his heroes. He learns that Dr King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech was actually off the cuff, and speaks to black role models, including Naomi Campbell, about King’s legacy. Rating: ****

More previews tomorrow

David Hollingsworth
Editor

David is the What To Watch Editor and has over 20 years of experience in television journalism. He is currently writing about the latest television and film news for What To Watch.


Before working for What To Watch, David spent many years working for TV Times magazine, interviewing some of television's most famous stars including Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, singer Lionel Richie and wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough. 


David started out as a writer for TV Times before becoming the title's deputy features editor and then features editor. During his time on TV Times, David also helped run the annual TV Times Awards. David is a huge Death in Paradise fan, although he's still failed to solve a case before the show's detective! He also loves James Bond and controversially thinks that Timothy Dalton was an excellent 007.


Other than watching and writing about telly, David loves playing cricket, going to the cinema, trying to improve his tennis and chasing about after his kids!