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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Jonathan Wright, Jack Seale, John Robinson, Ben Arnold, Graeme Virtue and David Stubbs

Thursday’s best TV

No nonsense … Sister Jayne in Superhospital. Photograph: ITV
No nonsense … Sister Jayne in Superhospital. Photograph: ITV

Superhospital
9pm, ITV

How to portray life at the Royal Derby Hospital, so vast that it treats 1 million patients a year? The answer adopted in this new series is to follow the lives of everyone from Paul in catering, trying to create a sandwich that gets good reviews, to no-nonsense Sister Jayne, chivvying along alcoholics on the liver ward, and Dan, a consultant whom we watch dealing with a cardiac arrest. Inspiring stuff, though the moody closeups are probably not necessary. Jonathan Wright

Celebrity MasterChef
9pm, BBC1

What does Syd Little do if you force him to make dinner out of cod, chorizo and rhubarb? Prepare to find out as the second week of heats gets under way. Also soldiering on without his sidekick is Sam Nixon, better known as one half of CBBC duo Sam & Mark. After the invention test, Little and Nixon go to work with Aldo Zilli at Cicchetti, while the other contestants – Mica Paris, Amanda Donohoe and former 800m Paralympic world record holder Danny Crates – head for Asian restaurant Tîng. Jack Seale

Protecting Our Foster Kids
9pm, BBC2

This documentary series follows children in Dorset’s fostering service, and those working to ensure their childhood takes a turn for the better. This week we meet 14-year-old Tyler, a vape-smoking kid transplanted from his home with his grandparents to the countryside. How will he adjust to the peaceful life offered by his new guardians Kate and Mike? Further down the line with foster care are Sonny, Trinity and Marc; their home is with Nita and David, and may become so on a permanent basis. John Robinson

The Tribe
9pm, Channel 4

This week on The Tribe, Hamar tribesman Magi is being initiated into manhood. There is to be a ceremony and a huge celebration with hundreds of guests from nearby villages invited. So it falls to the women to cook the food, brew the beer, prepare the village; in fact, the women do pretty much everything, shining a rather shameful light on the deep-seated inequality that still pervades tribal life. But the widowed Rebo won’t stand for it, her admirable vocal dissent causing friction. Ben Arnold

Catching History’s Criminals: The Forensic Story
9pm, BBC4

Second part of Gabriel Weston’s series examining the development of key forensic techniques. After relating how chemist Georg Popp solved a nasty beheading by analysing the soil on a suspect’s boots in 1908, Weston poses her own shoe-dunnit: can a modern crime lab pinpoint where she filmed her outdoor links by profiling the dirt on her footwear? It’s not all hi-tech: Weston also learns that one of the best ways to test spatter theories is to thwack some bloody horse meat with a baseball bat. Graeme Virtue

The Good Wife
9pm, More4

The finale of The Good Wife’s sixth season, which couldn’t quite do the impossible and thrill fans as much as the fifth season did, though there’s plenty going on. When Alicia (Julianna Margulies) investigates a police “black site” interrogation centre as part of the case of the week, her new professional relationship with Finn (Matthew Goode) starts purring. Before the end titles, however, there’s been a goodbye, a surprise reunion, another even more seismic split and a gasp-inducing final reveal to set up more shenanigans next year. JS

The Marriage Of Reason And Squalor
9pm, Sky Arts

Jake Chapman’s series takes nightmarish turns as Lydia’s promise of a tropical island granted by her surgeon fiance unravels strangely. There are shades of Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel’s collaborations as the surrealistic imagery tumbles thick and fast, with Lydia contemplating flight with a boat’s captain already well-acquainted with her husband to be, then an episode involving a swarm of insects and the theme from Rainbow. Above the melee floats weird-headed author Helmut’s naturalistic prose. David Stubbs

Today’s best live sport

International Men’s Hockey: Great Britain v China Live coverage of the Pool B encounter, held in Antwerp, Belgium. 3pm, Sky Sports 1

Golf: US Senior Open Del Paso Country Club hosts the major, open to those aged 50 or over. 7pm, Sky Sports 4

Challenge Cup Rugby League: Hull Kingston Rovers v Catalan Dragons Two Super League sides in quarter-final action. 7.55pm, Sky Sports 1

Basketball: NBA Draft 2015 NBA franchises vie for the best college prospects. 12.30am, BT Sport 2

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