Tuesday

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

BBC Two, 9pm

In a new series that could easily boost our existing obsession with genealogy, celebrities delve into their family trees. Bill Oddie was an only child, brought up by his father and grandfather. Following two bouts of severe clinical depression, he wanted to discover if there was anything in his family background that could have contributed to his illness. "This isn’t curiosity, this journey," he says, "it’s self-help." He scours official records and cuttings from the local newspaper, and meets people who knew his mother — including two nurses who looked after her in a mental hospital. He finds what he discovers about his mother profoundly disturbing. DC

GELDOF ON FATHERS

Channel 4, 9pm

Following on from last night’s polemic on marriage, Bob Geldof rails against what he calls "state- sponsored child abuse". His experience of family courts after his divorce left him feeling criminalised and irrelevant. The Children’s Act of 1989 states that the best interests of the child are to be considered paramount, but he believes family courts treat men as unfeeling brutes. Geldof wants divorced parents to have an equal amount of time with their children whenever possible, but the Government seems content to tinker merely with the law as it stands. "F***ing foxes," he says, "get more consideration than fathers from this lot." See feature.

ONE LIFE

BBC One, 10.35pm

Dying to Live is an intensely moving and positive film about a family coping with dreadful misfortune. Sandy Jackson was told she had terminal cancer three months before her 19-year-old son Andrew was found to be suffering from leukaemia. Both confront their illness with astonishing courage. "In a way," says Andrew, "I think this cancer could be one of the best things that ever happened to me. If I get through this . . . I’ll be able to get past anything." You would never think that a film on such a subject could be both reassuring and life-enhancing.

BAN THIS FILTH

Channel 4, 11.05pm

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