Spitting Image: US Election Special (STV, 10pm)
FOR those who don’t subscribe to the streaming service BritBox, this will probably be their first view of the famous satirical latex puppets for some time. Spitting Image was, of course, hugely popular in the 1980s and didn’t hold back when it came to poking fun at celebrities and members of the establishment. In this week’s US election, President Trump goes head-to-head with challenger Joe Biden. It’s not the first Spitting Image election special – back in 1987, versions of the likes of Alastair Burnet, Peter Sissons, Neil Kinnock and Margaret Thatcher featured in a near-the-knuckle edition.
Strictly Come Dancing (BBC1, 7.15pm)
WE know what you’re thinking – tonight should be Strictly’s Halloween special, one of the most spectacular editions of the series. However, it’s been scaled back somewhat this year as producers think it’s a bit early to have a themed week. We are sure the routines will be entertaining regardless, even if they are missing a spooky element. But one element that remains scary is the famously forthright judge Craig Revel Horwood – no doubt his comments will send shivers down the spine of the celebs who fail to impress.
DNA (BBC4, 9pm & 9.40pm)
IN tonight’s third and fourth episodes of the Danish crime drama, Vestegnens Police Department police superintendent Rolf Larsen (Anders W Berthelsen) and young independent investigator Neel Skibsted (Olivia Joof Lewerissa) discover more serious errors in the DNA register and the Minna case is re-opened. Then, Larsen, clearly still haunted by personal tragedy, teams up with French police captain Claire Bobain to travel to Poland and meet a witness who is in possession of what might be a crucial video recording.
Long Hot Summers: The Story of the Style Council (Sky Arts, 9pm)
THE Style Council was emblematic of its creator Paul Weller – smart, fearless, audacious, with a social conscience totally unafraid to push the possibilities. With their slew of chart hits, they were one of the defining pop bands of the 1980s. This documentary looks at the band Weller formed with Dexys Midnight Runners keyboardist Mick Talbot to take his music in a more soulful direction after The Jam split up in 1982.
A Big History of America (C5, 9pm)
THE US is rarely out of the headlines, but it’s going to be dominating the news over the next week thanks to the election. That’s perhaps why Channel 5 has chosen this moment to broadcast a documentary about the country, although it presents a very different view of the place than we usually see. Here we learn about America’s early history, from the Vikings who pillaged it a millennium ago to the Pilgrim Fathers, War of Independence and abolition of slavery.
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