The Scandals That Shocked Scotland, (BBC Scotland, 8.30pm)
IN a new six-part series, a raft of high-profile public scandals are re-examined by the journalists and key players involved at the time. Each episode looks at two cases, ranging from miscarriages of justice to high-court dramas, banking bailouts to public health disasters. Episode one opens with the saga of the building the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood in Edinburgh. The story begins in 1997 with Scotland’s first First Minister Donald Dewar launching the Scotland Bill with the declaration: “There shall be a Scottish Parliament. I like that.” By the time the parliament opened in 2004 – three years late – it was 10 times over budget. Tragedy also stalked the building of the parliament at Holyrood. Its architect, Barcelona-based Enric Miralles, and Dewar died within a year of each other without ever seeing the building – which in the end cost £414 million to build.
Chris Packham: Plant A Tree To Save The World (C5, 8pm)
MANY of us want to do our bit for the environment but aren’t sure where to start. Luckily, Chris Packham has an idea. The naturalist aims to raise enough money to plant 100,000 trees across Britain, by asking viewers to contribute to The Woodland Trust. Martin Hughes-Games, JB Gill and Clare Nasir also take a closer look at the science of trees, exploring how they can lower carbon emissions, fight flooding and reduce pollution.
Elton John: Uncensored (BBC1, 9pm)
IT’S 50 years since the release of Your Song, Elton John’s first successful single. To mark the anniversary, he agreed to chat to Graham Norton about his extraordinary life and career in an interview conducted at his south of France home. It’s a candid discussion in which he describes some incredible events, sharing personal and laugh-out-loud stories from his childhood, which was spent in post-war Pinner, to the present day. There’s also a chance to see classic archive performances of some of his biggest hits.
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