Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Carnivore meets prey … Liz Bonnin presents Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
Carnivore meets prey … Liz Bonnin presents Meat: A Threat to Our Planet? Photograph: Ben McGeorge-Henderson/BBC/Raw Factual
Carnivore meets prey … Liz Bonnin presents Meat: A Threat to Our Planet? Photograph: Ben McGeorge-Henderson/BBC/Raw Factual

TV tonight: from ranch to plate, the stomach-churning story of human carnivores

This article is more than 4 years old

Liz Bonnin takes a hard look at meat eating. Plus: Chris Tarrant takes a train to the Somme and Storyville probes a mystery plane crash. Here’s what to watch this evening

Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
9pm, BBC One

With an estimated 70bn animals eaten every year and veganism on the rise, meat-eater Liz Bonnin investigates the ethical and environmental concerns associated with our continuing hunger for flesh. Bonnin travels through the steak-heartland of Texas, visiting a gargantuan, cattle-filled feed farm before witnessing how corporate ownership of livestock leads to massive waste production, and the pioneering farmers turning cowpats into biogas. A stomach-churning watch. Ammar Kalia

The Mallorca Files
2.15pm, BBC One

Shot in a perpetual golden haze, the BBC’s new daytime drama recalls the halcyon days of Hustle and Hotel Babylon in its pre-watershed charm. DC Miranda Blake is in Mallorca to escort informant Niall Taylor back to the UK, but things do not go according to plan. Let the games begin. AK

Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas
5pm, Channel 4

Crafting to the extreme ... Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas. Photograph: Channel 4 images

Sound the festive klaxon because Kirstie is here with her homemade delights, starting with those all-important tree decorations. A woman is making edible stained glass. There’s a felt fanatic. And someone is creating a winter solstice tree. It’s crafting to the furthest extremes. Hannah Verdier

Chris Tarrant: Railways of the Somme
9pm, Channel 5

Tarrant is a fine documentary presenter, conversational without being flippant and, here, evidently not feigning his interest. Combining war and trains provides a neat overview of the 1914-18 war: railways were part of a new, mechanised slaughter. Jack Seale

Storyville: Murder in the Bush – Cold Case Hammarskjöld
9pm, BBC Four

Part documentary, part drama, part arthouse experiment, this involved and deeply unusual film from Danish director Mads Brügger aims to uncover the truth behind the unsolved case of the 1961 death of the United Nations secretary general Dag Hammarskjöld in a plane crash in what is now Zambia. AK

Home Free
10pm, Channel 4

The cheerful two-parter following young people with learning disabilities as they move into a supported apartment block together concludes. It is frequently poignant as the group deal with homesickness while their parents struggle with empty-nest syndrome. But it is funny and uplifting, too. Phil Harrison

Film choice

Tied to the mast … Robert Redford in All Is Lost. Photograph: Allstar/Lionsgate/Sportsphoto

All Is Lost, 12.50am, Film4
Or The Old Man and the Sea. JC Chandor’s relentlessly taut and gripping 2013 drama stars Robert Redford as an unnamed, veteran sailor, alone on a sinking boat out in the ocean. We don’t know why he is there; it’s as minimalist as can be. Redford, although near-silent, is superb as the embattled wanderer. Paul Howlett

Live sport

Premier League Football: Aston Villa v Newcastle United 7pm, Sky Sports Main Event. Coverage of the top-flight game from Villa Park.

German Football: Hannover 96 v Darmstadt 98 7.30pm, BT Sport 1. A German second-tier encounter.

American Football: Los Angeles Rams v Baltimore Ravens 1am, Sky Sports Main Event. A week 12 NFL match from LA.

Most viewed

Most viewed