Here are the picks of tonight's TV...
The Trick
(BBC1, 8.30pm)
THIS one-off drama, written by Bafta-nominated Owen Sheers, looks back at 2009, when Professor Philip Jones, director of climate research at the University of East Anglia, ended up at the centre of a media maelstrom. Dubbed “Climategate”, it blew up after thousands of documents were stolen from the University’s Climatic Research Unit and leaked online. The data was pounced on by climate change deniers, who used it to question climate science and to sabotage a UN summit in Copenhagen. The story charts how public confidence in science was undermined.
Statues Redressed
(Sky Arts, 9pm)
WE’VE all walked past statues in our home town or city and not given them a second glance, but artists including Bob and Roberta Smith, Chila Kumari Burman and Taya Hughes aim to make the residents of Liverpool pay more attention. Cameras follow them as they give statues of The Beatles, Peter Pan and Queen Victoria, among many others, a new lease of life by “redressing” them in hats or creating art around them.
Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution
(BBC2, 9pm)
IN this edition of the documentary series, New Labour’s first term in power becomes increasingly rocky as Tony Blair moves further away from old policies, pushing for radical reform, while Gordon Brown’s focus is on poverty and inequality. Despite the conflicts between 10 and 11 Downing Street, the party was re-elected in a landslide 2001 victory. However, not long after, the question of leadership and succession begins to swirl.
Yorkshire Cop: Police, Racism And Me
(C4, 10pm)
THIS First Cut documentary tells the story of Bill Thomas, South Yorkshire’s first Black police officer, offering an insight into the endemic racism in Britain and particularly the police force at that time. His filmmaker son Alex helps him revisit key historical events, from the miners’ strike to riots, as well as find some of the people who made his life so difficult, including the cadets who tarred and feathered his notebook at college, and those who “lost” his exam results to block promotion. Bill also wants to reconnect with his allies: the officers who helped him form Yorkshire’s first Black police union.
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