Programme Information

Hidden Ep 1/4

Thursday 6 October

9.00-10.00pm BBC ONE and BBC ONE HD

Ronan Bennett's new drama, Hidden, marks a highly anticipated return to BBC One for Philip Glenister, who stars in this taut and compelling four-part conspiracy thriller directed by Niall MacCormick.

Harry Venn (Glenister) is a small-time solicitor who is forced to revisit his murky past and quickly finds himself caught up in a much more complex and deeper conspiracy.

Harry is approached by Gina Hawkes, a lawyer looking for a missing alibi witness for her client – the witness being an old acquaintance of his, the long-term criminal Joe Collins.

The case reminds Harry of his own brief criminal past as a getaway driver for his older brother; a venture that ended with the death of his brother and their associate Hillman in a robbery that went horribly wrong.

The guilt Harry feels from this incident drives him to uncover what went awry in a seemingly simple operation. His only lead is that he knows the killings were commissioned by a man named Styles.

Tom Russell, the policeman who led the investigation all those years ago, is back on Harry's case, and with the past swiftly unravelling at every turn, Harry begins to question exactly who Gina is and why she chose him.

A visit to Gina's physician, Dr Sturgess, with a view to stealing Gina's personal details, ends with Harry making a quick exit after the hostile doctor comes at him with a needle, adding yet more uncertainty and intrigue to the situation Harry has found himself in.

Circumstances become even more puzzling when, on arriving back at the office, Harry receives an anonymous phone call telling him to immediately vacate the building...

Harry Venn is played by Philip Glenister, Gina Hawkes by Thekla Reuten, Elspeth Verney by Anna Chancellor, Mark Venn by Mark Powley, Paul Hillman by Mark Flitton, Fenton Russell by Thomas Craig, Dr Sturgess by Richard Durden, Frank Hanna by Richard Dormer, Jason Styles by Peter Guinness, Steve Quirke by Paul Ritter and Lauren by Lisa Kay.

Hidden is simulcast on the BBC One HD channel available through Freesat channel 108, Freeview channel 50, Sky channel 143 and Virgin Media channel 108.

RN

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Merlin

Saturday 1 October

7.50-8.35pm BBC ONE

Merlin (Colin Morgan, centre) faces his toughest challenge yet as the drama returns for a new series

BBC One's Merlin returns, with a thrilling two-part opener to the new series.

Merlin faces his toughest challenge yet when Morgana's blinkered determination threatens not only Arthur's future, but also the very balance of the world. With her magic stronger than ever, the sorceress summons the mighty Callieach to tear open the veil between the worlds.

Hellish creatures pour forth, killing all who succumb to their touch. With Uther a shadow of his former self, it falls to Arthur and his loyal knights, including Lancelot, to protect the kingdom.

But it will take more than just swords to vanquish their enemy and Merlin is shocked to the core when he discovers the only way to restore the equilibrium requires a sacrifice of unimaginable proportions...

Colin Morgan plays Merlin, Katie McGrath plays Morgana, Bradley James plays Arthur, Gemma Jones plays Callieach, Anthony Head plays Uther and Santiago Cabrera plays Lancelot.

Merlin also stars Richard Wilson as Gaius, Angel Coulby as Gwen, Nathaniel Parker as Agravaine, John Hurt as the voice of The Dragon, Tom Hopper as Sir Percival, Eoin Macken as Sir Gwaine, Adetomiwa Edun as Sir Elyan and Rupert Young as Sir Leon. Emilia Fox guest stars as Morgause.

CM4

MIXED RACE SEASON
Mixed Britannia Ep 1/3

Thursday 6 October

9.00-10.00pm BBC TWO

• Press pack

George Alagiah explores the remarkable and untold story of Britain's mixed-race communities

In this three-part series, part of BBC Two's Mixed Race Season, George Alagiah explores the remarkable and untold story of Britain's mixed-race communities.

With previously unseen archive material and charting events from the turn of the 20th century, Mixed Britannia examines the social factors that have influenced the shape of today's mixed-race Britain, and how mixed race has become one of the country's fastest-growing ethnic groups. Most of all, the films tell a tale of love and of couples coming together to fight prejudice and create a new society.

The first film (1910-1939) discovers the love between merchant seamen and liberated female workers and how mixed-race communities started to grow up in places like Cardiff, Liverpool and South Shields.

George learns how mass rioting erupted across port cities as returning soldiers found local girls in relationships with non-white men. He also hears from a grandchild of one of the mixed-race couples who were chased out of their family home by an angry crowd.

The film also covers the period when eugenicists turned their attention to race and George hears from an elderly English-Chinese woman, Connie Hoe, who recalls how, as a young girl, she and her friends were examined and measured in tests carried out by the British Eugenics Society.

The film also examines how Britain avoided the race laws and largely escaped the race hatred of fascism that scarred other countries in Europe.

LZ

Nel Hedayat (right) meets a child bride

Nel Hedayat goes on a compelling and revealing journey to find out what life is really like for a child bride. Across the world, 10 million girls a year marry under the age of 18; that's one every three seconds.

Nel travels to India and Bangladesh, countries with two of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. Nel is no stranger to the idea of child marriage – her aunties and grandmothers were child brides – but what she sees challenges everything she thought.

She attends the eye-opening wedding of two sisters in Rajasthan – one barely in her teens and her even younger sibling. In Bangladesh, the programme meets a 14-year-old girl who was married last year to a 19-year-old man and is now four months pregnant.

Nel meets women who regret missing out on carefree childhoods and a chance to study. She learns that early marriage frequently leads to early pregnancy and painful, life-threatening labours. The film features child brides in Bangladesh who give birth before their bodies are fully developed and end up with a horrific medical condition that leaves them social outcasts.

But Nel also sees real signs of optimism. She meets girls who have defied their families' attempts to marry them off, including one in India who is part of a growing movement of rural girls who insist on staying in school, and a girl in Bangladesh who relishes the independence that working in Dhaka's garment industry has given her.

MH