Telly Today: From motorways and dogs to Celebs in a house

TV picks for Friday, March 8th…

This fascinating documentary is a surprisingly bumpy ride through Britain’s love-hate relationship with Motorways. Since their fitful start in the 1950s, through the glamour of the swinging sixties, and the backlash against urban planning gone mad, we chart the progress of these epic engineering projects as they came to dominate our landscape.

After reluctantly following in the footsteps of Mussolini and Hitler, Britain puts the foot down into the “wild west” days of no speed limits and no drink driving laws. Unsurprisingly, it gets messy. Motorway newbies jostle for the fast lane, and accident rates spiral. But the godmother of the road sign – Margaret Calvert – shows us how she saved the day, sketching out the clever thinking behind those iconic signs.

Lorry driver Kevin Isidore invites us into his cab to sample life on the motorway. His day-to-day struggle to deliver our goods across the country’s extensive network rarely runs smoothly…

We all have our favourite – and most hated – service stations. We explore their eye-popping re-invention in the 1960s as space-age destinations in their own right, with lobster served by waitresses in the grill room. Of course, the Romans were there first, and we see how their 2000-year-old road-building techniques were not too dissimilar from our current widening of the A1M. Except perhaps for the eye-watering cost.

There’s surprising history in the mysterious remnants of “ghost motorways” that were never built. Nightmarish plans to cover our cities with six-lanes of tarmac met swift opposition, but not before a whole neighbourhood was demolished to make way for our first elevated inner-city highway. Finally, we see how the saviour of our congested motorways could be the vehicles themselves. We hitch a ride on an Ordnance Survey “drone car”, as it busily creates a digital 3D world for self-driving cars to navigate, while we kick back and enjoy the ride.

Channel 5 at 8 pm

It’s the first live eviction of the series. Tonight, either Gary or Lauren be evicted from the Celebrity Big Brother house. Voting for this week’s eviction is open exclusively via the Big Brother app, with viewers being asked to vote for the housemate they wish to save from eviction.

Other highlights in tonights episode include today’s task, the house has been transformed into a peaceful and calming zone, Big Brother’s Celestial Retreat. Big Brother says, “Housemates. To live harmoniously in the Celebrity Big Brother house and become the very best versions of yourselves, you will spend today at Big Brother’s exclusive celestial retreat.”

Housemates choose Levi as the ‘guiding eye’ of the group as they express emotions through dance. The next part of the task sees Housemates take a petal from the bowl which has a question inscribed on it. The housemates then choose one of their fellow celebrities to answer questions.  Will today’s task bring the Housemates closer together?

Also, Big Brother gathers Housemates on the sofa and says, “Housemates. There has been a rule break. It is against the rules for Housemates to discuss their nominations with each other and this includes speculating or guessing on who has nominated whom or who might nominate whom in the future. This morning, this rule was broken by Louis and Lauren.” If the earlier task had brought harmony, it may have just been undone for some.

ITV1, ITVX and STV at 9 pm, also Celebrity Big Brother: Late & Live continues tonight at 10:15pm on ITV2 and ITVX

Clare Balding presents all the latest action from the annual celebration of man’s best friend.

Tonight, the focus is on Gundogs, a category which has provided the last two Best in Show winners – including last year’s winner Orca, the first lagotto Romagnolo ever to win the coveted prize. Plus, all the best moments from the Flyball heats and Agility finals on Day Two of events in the main arena. And Sophie Morgan presents topical discussions from the heart of the NEC

Channel 4 at 7.30 pm