TV Weekly: Pompeii, a fear clinic & rescue dogs

Telly picks for the coming week…

This series follows Strictly and TOWIE star Pete Wicks as he immerses himself in the heart-warming and emotional world of dog care at Basildon’s Dogs Trust rehoming centre. The show captures the highs and lows of animal welfare, including rehabilitating pregnant dogs seized at the border, nursing a never-ending stream of puppies abandoned in carrier bags and cardboard boxes and saving stray dogs found on the streets.

“I’ve wanted to do a show like this for about ten years now. It’s taken a while to get it off the ground, but I am so happy it’s filmed, edited and ready to put out to the world. It’s hard for me to even call it a job because it hasn’t been a job at all, it’s just something that I really love and I’m passionate about. If I had to do this every day and nothing else, then I’d be over the moon!” – Pete Wicks

In this third episode of the four-part series viewers meet Dave and Olive. Pete is back helping at the Essex Dogs Trust centre when an injured terrier puppy called Dave is rushed in. He was dumped by his owners with what appears to be a badly broken front leg. After assessing Dave, the team rush him to a specialist vet surgeon who will try to fix the break, but if they can’t, it may involve amputation for poor Dave.

A young Doberman named Olive arrives in the intake area after she was smuggled into the country from Serbia. She was seized at the port and has since spent three quarters of her short life in quarantine kennels. After such a difficult start, Olive is now very afraid, especially of thresholds and doorways. Pete and the behavioural team will need to pull out all the stops to try to build Olive’s confidence up before she can even hope to find a home.

“I had a book out years ago called For The Love of Frenchies–it explained the issue and problem surrounding ‘designer dog’ breeds and the ‘epidemic’ we had around people breeding dogs for money and often greed. The reality is though, there were and are so many dogs who are looking for a second chance, and who need that forever loving home –that’s what got me into the rescue side of it. I now spend so much time at rehoming centres hearing different dogs’ stories and their fight for a second chance. Every dog deserves to be loved and live out their life as a happy dog, but unfortunately there are so many who don’t get that opportunity.” – Pete Wicks

As well as helping with Dave and Olive, Pete’s on hand for even more puppies keep coming in as a litter of four huge Irish Doodles have come into the centre with unusual medical symptoms, that could be deadly. Isn’t it nice to see a real lover of dogs hosting a series about our four-legged friends? Something we’ve not seen on TV since sadly Paul O’Grady passed away.

U&W. Tuesday, January 21st at 9 pm – Box Set – Stream all episodes on U

Millionaire Rick and Lorraine Gannon, daughter Charlotte, and wheelchair user son Ben, swap homes and lives with Michelle, her autistic son Toby, daughter Nellie and mother-in-law Sue to discover the cost of living with disability on either side of the wealth divide and how disability can lead to personal fulfilment and success.

Nearly 15 years ago Rick Gannon handed in his police sergeant’s badge to spend more time with son Ben, who has cerebral palsy. His idea was to gain control over their working lives but he and wife Lorraine also managed to make a heap of money along the way out of property. They live in a beautiful six-bedroom, six-bathroom house in Worcester worth £1.5million. The specially adapted house includes a gym, snooker room and an office for Rick and Lorraine.

Single mum Michelle and her two children live in mother in law Sue’s 3-bed rented property. Michelle relies on benefits but she is a grafter with hardly a moment spare in the day. Alongside looking after Toby, who has severe autism, and Nellie, she volunteers as a fundraiser at Toby’s special-needs nursery. In a match up that shows you can succeed whatever the challenges, the Gannons are so inspired by Michelle’s quest to support Toby’s special needs nursery that they help raise thousands of pounds over the week.

As Michelle steps into Rick and Lorraine’s working lives, she learns invaluable lessons about how to super-size her fundraising. In an emotionally charged final meet, the Gannons make Michelle a life-changing offer.

Channel 5, Sunday, January 19th at 9 pm

This one-hour episode reveals the latest findings at Pompeii as the biggest archaeological dig for a generation reaches its climax. Told through the drama of the dig and stylised fresco-inspired animations, House of Treasures continues to paint a vivid picture of what life was like in Pompeii, as well as the horror faced by the residents as the volcano erupted in AD 79.

In this new episode the focus of the excavation moves from a cluster of commercial buildings, which include a lucrative bakery and stylish laundry, to an adjacent luxurious residence, possibly owned by Pompeiian big-wig and local politician Aulus Rustius Verus. Set away from the noisy streets, his peaceful and opulent dwelling is one of the most glamorous in Pompeii. With the cameras exclusively capturing the archaeologists at work as extraordinary new finds come to, this episode builds a picture of the upper-class life enjoyed by the owners – in stark contrast to the living conditions of the enslaved workers next door, highlighted in the previous episodes.

The first finds from this wealthy residence have already made headlines – including some astonishing frescoes in the banqueting room known as the ‘Black Room’. The archaeologists now reveal the full extent of its elaborate mosaic floor, imagining the lavish banquets the owners would have hosted in their house and illustrated with rare examples of fine tableware preserved in the site’s store rooms.

In a nearby small room, the team make another extraordinary discovery: the body of a woman, crouched on the floor, clutching a pouch containing pearl earrings and gold coins, possessions worth thousands of pounds in today’s money. To learn more about the room, the team use plaster casts of the cavities in the ash to reproduce the shapes of the furniture that filled the room: a chest, a bed and a small table. On top of the table, a marble slab on which we stood objects from everyday life – bottles, pots and plates.

As the archaeologists continue to expose the extent of Aulus’ affluent residence, in the small room where the woman with the pearl earrings was found, another dramatic discovery is made: a second victim, this time a man, who died under a collapsing wall.

Who were these people and why did they stay behind when so many fled? The team in Pompeii hope to piece together their identities as they continue to build a picture of one of the wealthiest houses in town and those living there.

BBC Two, Monday, 20 January at 9 pm

Patients with extreme phobias check in for treatment at a unique clinic in Amsterdam.

Over the course of 48 hours they confront their worst nightmares, using a cutting-edge therapy developed by Dr Merel Kindt at the University of Amsterdam. The treatment is based on the latest developments in neuroscience, and Kindt Clinics is the only place in the world offering the therapy. By the end of the two-day treatment, patients hope to be freed of their phobias for ever.

Approximately 10 million people in the UK suffer from phobias.

In each episode the most common phobias are treated, including spiders, birds and rats, as well as lesser-known phobias, such as balloons, sheep and even sausage dogs. These phobias have debilitating impacts on people’s lives and over the series patients speak about the difficulties they’ve suffered because of their phobia. Ollie has had a phobia of balloons since he was a young child, after he was surrounded by them at a party.

In this first episode warehouse manager Nick has a severe phobia of mice and encounters them on most days in his job. Nina has suffered with a rare phobia called amaxophobia – the fear of being a passenger in a car – since she was nine. For the treatment to be successful, each patient needs to confront their fear in a scenario specific to their phobia. But for some patients the treatment might prove too overwhelming.

Channel 4, Tuesday, January 21st at 8 pm

Nathan Williams is worried about his teenage son Johnny, (Louis Ashbourne Serkis) following the death of his wife Sabine. Johnny is more interested in video games than helping his dad on the farm. Nathan is right to be concerned:  Johnny has reconnected with an old friend, Rhys (Gerran Howell), now a local drug dealer, through Rhys’s sister, Sadie (Carly-Sophia Davies), who is in Johnny’s year at school.

Rhys manages to trick Johnny into running drugs for him to pay off a perceived debt he owes, but things go from bad to worse when Johnny’s spotted by PC Jane Crowther (Eiry Thomas).

Meanwhile Nathan is suspicious when an unexpected visitor arrives at the farm. Scott Foley (Michael Obiora) says he’s looking to rent their barn, but Nathan hasn’t rented the barn for two years. He has also spotted a drone flying over his farm, and his neighbour has been approached by a company looking to buy his farm which add to Nathan’s suspicions, and he is determined to find out more about Scott Foley’s intentions.

Nathan’s neighbour Owen Thomas (Michael Elwyn) can no longer face the mounting pressures of working the farm, and commits suicide. Nathan tells his widow Gwen (Sharon Morgan) that he will look after their farm while she recovers in hospital. With mounting suspicions about third-party purchases of farmland in the area, Nathan wants to make sure he has control.

ITV1 and STV, Sunday, January 19th at 9 pm