TV Times top picks for today
What’s on telly tonight? Here the TV Times team of expert reviewers highlight the best shows on Monday 2nd July
The NHS: A People’s History, 9pm, BBC4
Alex Brooker presents this fascinating look at the history of the NHS as it turns 70 this week. In 1945 the then Health Minister Aneurin Bevan laid out his vision for a health service that would be free to all. Surprisingly, 84 per cent of doctors voted against the idea and Bevan had to compromise with the British Medical Association in order to deliver his NHS. The film includes amusing accounts from workers, including John, who qualified as a doctor and started work on 5 July 1948, the day the NHS started. And Mary describes leaving Ireland before her 17th birthday to become a student nurse. ‘It was stricter than being in the convent!’ she tells us. Rating: ****
Versailles, 9.30pm, BBC2
Madame de Maintenon is back at Versailles and after promising King Louis she will help fulfill his destiny as a divinely appointed absolute monarch, he is putty in her hands. The tyrant within Louis begins to emerge and the persecution of Protestants is just the start. Meanwhile, Philippe’s search for the man in the iron mask gathers pace, despite warnings from Bontemps. But his probing has not gone unnoticed by the Vatican… Rating: ****
Jamie’s Quick & Easy, 8pm, C4
Jamie rustles up more mouth-watering dishes this week, with spicy lamb koftas and flatbreads and peanut chicken with a zingy satay for the meat-eaters, while a broad bean and manchego salad ticks the vegetarian box. And how about a dessert of a peach and almond Alaska, which brilliantly brings the tinned peach back from culinary oblivion. Tasty. Rating: ****
More previews tomorrow.
