Monday, 13/2/2017

Winter Road Rescue (C5, 8pm)

Keeping Britain moving in harsh weather conditions is far from easy, but it does make for good documentary material, as this series proves. Here cameras follow RAC patrols, heavy vehicle recovery specialists, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and other teams who make sure the UK does not grind to a halt when winter strikes. Here we see what happens when Storm Angus unleashes his wrath. Gale force winds and heavy rains cause floods on Britain's roads, while disaster strikes at sea. Off the coast of Dover, Maritime and Coastguard helicopters are called to an emergency-a cargo ship has crashed into another vessel and is taking on water. At the other end of the UK in Glasgow, breakdown patrolman Mark rushes to help three lads who have careened off a dangerous slip road and are stuck in mud caused by torrential rain.

The Railways That Built Britain with Chris Tarrant (C5, 9pm)

There's undoubtedly a desire to watch middle-aged men on trains. From the 2004 Channel 4 series Trains with Pete Waterman, to the now-ubiquitous Great British Railway Journeys, with Michael Portillo, it seems to be a winning formula. Chris Tarrant first hopped aboard in 2012 with Extreme Railways, which saw him get his tickets punched in some of the most remote areas of the world - but this is a more sedate, historically minded series, charting the history of British railways. It's no less fascinating, however: he begins in the cab of 'Puffing Billy', the world's oldest surviving steam locomotive, before moving on to tell the tale of Henry Booth's involvement in George Stephenson's 'Rocket'.

SAS: Rogue Warriors (BBC2, 9pm)

Ben Macintyre examines how continued success for the unit could only be achieved with ever more dangerous and ambitious missions, while David Stirling's new second-in-command Captain Paddy Mayne was an officer as unpredictable and dangerous as the phase of war that was about to begin. The historian also reveals discovers how many SAS members were captured by the Germans - and hears the extraordinary story of two of them who outran their pursuers by surviving for three days in the desert without food or fresh water.