TV Weekly: From spectacular pyramids to a problem with fidelity

Telly picks for the coming week…

In this brand-new two-part series, Dara Ó Briain unravels the most intriguing mysteries surrounding the world’s pyramids. His destination is Egypt, where some of the most spectacular pyramids dominate the landscape. Dara explores the mysteries of these phenomenal structures, and joining him is archaeologist Raksha Dave and Egyptologist Dr Chris Naunton.

With their help, Dara unravels some of the questions still unanswered: ‘How were the pyramids built using massive blocks of stone, so heavy that even today a modern crane would struggle?’ and ‘What were the pyramids’ true function?’, and ‘If tombs, why has no-one ever discovered a Pharaoh in any of them?’. With so many questions, there will always be conspiracy theories, which sceptic Dara endeavours to demystify through archaeological, historical, and scientific findings and tell the story of the Pyramids.

In the first episode, Dara – comedian, amateur astronomer and confirmed sceptic – embarks on a journey to explore the mysteries of the world’s pyramids. With the Royal Pyramids of Egypt as a backdrop, Dara, assisted by Egyptologist Chris Naunton and archaeologist Raksha Dave, delves into the fundamental questions: Why and how were these pyramids built? How did they come to be?

The journey begins with a search for answers about the missing body of pharaoh Khufu, the man behind the most intriguing pyramid on the planet: The Great Pyramid of Giza. Inside the King’s Chamber Dara meets up with his main accomplice Dr Chris Naunton who reveals the vast gaps in our understanding of both pyramids and ancient Egypt, emphasising that we have barely scratched the surface of this captivating civilisation and its remarkable architectural feats. Chris sends Dara off to meet Salima Ikram who sheds light on the significance of pyramids in ancient Egyptian beliefs, linking them to the afterlife and how pyramids are ‘resurrection machines’ essential for safeguarding the Pharaoh’s body and maintaining cosmic order.

Channel 5, Monday, May 20th at 9pm

Showcasing Tasmania’s rugged west coast, Bay Of Fires, tells the story of Stella (Marta Dusseldorp), who unexpectedly finds herself in a small, remote community. But it’s not the kind of place they put on postcards – it is instead rife with simmering feuds, crime and sometimes, murder.

Anika Van Cleef is the last person you would expect to find living in a remote community in Tasmania. Betrayed and in danger, she has no other option but to trust a stranger who claims to be on her side, accept a new name she hates (Stella Heikkinen), and move her family to Mystery Bay — a town so remote it eludes GPS.

Mystery Bay isn’t the kind of place they put on postcards. There are no waterfalls, murals, or floral clocks, and the natural beauty that is there (a dense, primordial forest) — the town does its very best to hide.

ITVX – Full series drop available from Thursday, 23rd May

For the last seven years Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire’s Major Crime Unit has thrown its weight behind a pioneering forensic and investigative project – to look once again at 5,400 unsolved rape and sexual assault cases from the last 50 years.

By harnessing the power of modern DNA techniques, this group of detectives has achieved what was previously impossible – identifying perpetrators and delivering justice for victims whose crimes happened years ago.  They have achieved great success, with the team winning 90% of the cases it has taken to court, proving that there is no timescale on justice.

In this first episode, a team of detectives try to find those responsible for the kidnap and sexual assault of two schoolgirls, and the rape of a teenage boy.

Can they use modern DNA techniques to catch the perpetrators?

193,566 sexual offences were recorded in England and Wales in the last year alone. Across the country, 1 in 6 (or 16.6%) adults have been the victims of rape or sexual assault at some point. Despite these high numbers, only 2 in every 100 rape allegations result in a criminal charge, let alone a conviction.

BBC Two, Monday, 20th May, 9pm

Jerrod Carmichael, actor, writer, filmmaker and stand-up comedian.

Now the stateside funnyman comes to Sky Comedy with a darkly funny documentary series featuring the recent star of the Academy Award®-nominated Poor Things, Jerrod Carmichael. The docuseries follows Jerrod through his encounters with friends, family and strangers, all in his tumultuous quest for love, sex, and truth.

As his experiment in radical honesty begins, Jerrod confronts his crush, avoids his mother and scrambles to find a date to the Emmys®. Then, As Jerrod falls in love with his new boyfriend, he learns he has a problem with fidelity.

Carmichael was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 1987. He moved to Los Angeles at the age of 20 to pursue his dream of being a stand-up comedian although he had never performed comedy and his first gig doing stand-up was at an open mic night at West Hollywood’s Comedy Store.

Friday 24 May

Sky Comedy, Friday, May 24th, 9pm

Part of True Crime on Channel 4.

In December 2021, a man known locally as Arthur Knight wakes from a Covid coma in a Glasgow hospital to find himself surrounded by the police. It’s claimed that his name is not Arthur Knight and that he is really Nicholas Rossi – a fugitive from justice and one of America’s most wanted criminals, who’s been identified by the distinctive tattoos on his arms.

Arthur insists this is all a terrible mistake.

He is, he assures everyone, a bookish Anglo-Irishman trying to live a peaceful life with his English wife Miranda. This four-part series follows the twists and turns of the months that follow. Is the man at the centre of this story an extraordinary criminal, constantly changing his name and identity to escape the handcuffs of justice? Or is he a wronged innocent thrown into a limelight he doesn’t deserve?

As the authorities double down in their attempts to extradite Arthur to face trial in the United States, the series follows the unlikely Glasgow-based couple and records how Arthur’s increasingly bizarre and erratic behaviour in the public eye starts to cost him credibility.

The series also unpicks the life of Nicholas Rossi, the man who, it is alleged, now goes by the name of Arthur Knight, and creates a vivid portrait of a sexually aggressive narcissist through the eyes of his victims. Under a slew of aliases he defrauds, defames and assaults a string of victims across North America and the UK. And also, the police believe, fakes his own death in order to try to throw them off his trail.

In episode one, recovering Covid patient Arthur Knight is accused of being Nicholas Rossi, one of America’s most wanted men. But he and his wife Miranda insist it’s all a terrible mistake and that they’re an entirely innocent couple. British and American victims of Rossi’s victims describe how he infiltrated their lives and exploited them financially and sexually.

Channel 4, Monday, May 20th at 9pm