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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Ben Arnold, Mark Gibbings-Jones, Phil Harrison, Paul Howlett, Jack Seale, David Stubbs, Hannah Verdier, Jonathan Wright

Thursday’s best TV: Without Limits – Vietnam; Educating Greater Manchester

Mary Without Limits: Vietnam
Cooking on gas … Mary meets the locals in Without Limits: Vietnam. Photograph: BBC/John Livesey

Without Limits: Vietnam
8pm, BBC1

The concluding half of an agreeable doc following six Brits with disabilities as they travel through Vietnam. The location doesn’t add much since the film’s value is in hearing the participants talk about the everyday pains, sadnesses and triumphs of their lives, which they could almost as easily have done at home. Tonight they do, however, meet Vietnamese people who live with both disability and vastly inferior medical resources. Jack Seale

Educating Greater Manchester
9pm, Channel 4

Each version of this franchise brings irresistible uplift. Already, EGM has tickled the nation’s tear ducts with a delightful friendship between year-seven charmer Jack and Syrian refugee Rani. But enough nice things: this week, the wastrels get their moment in the spotlight as 15-year-old Kim becomes almost unteachable and Mr Povey gets counter-intuitive with 14-year-old miscreant Vincent and puts him on the student council. Phil Harrison

Tribes, Predators & Me
9pm, BBC2

Gordon Buchanan concludes his quest to get closer to some of the creatures he has filmed over the years with a trip across Ethiopia, a country boasting the world’s largest hyena population. Buchanan visits the Bodi – a cattle-herding community constantly under threat from the predators – who employ improvised means to protect their livelihood. Then, to a city where urban hyenas are common, and many feel their fierce reputation is merely a facade. Mark Gibbings-Jones

Tim Roth in Tin Sta
Tim Roth in Tin Star. Photograph: Allen Fraser/Tin Star Alberta Productions Inc

Tin Star
9pm, Sky Atlantic

This week’s events are presented in an elaborate series of flashes back and forward, as Tim Roth’s still-grieving Rocky Mountains expat sheriff slopes off for a bender. He returns to find his daughter missing, despite a police guard. She has hitched a nighttime lift in which she is picked up by a mystery Englishman, but the opening credits suggest he is very much not to be trusted, despite the potential for romance. Stylish and intense stuff. David Stubbs

Safe House
9pm, ITV

Series two of Safe House trundles on, with the dialogue still the clunkiest in town, and the scenery that’s not being chewed still looking lovely. Tom makes a breakthrough, but following revelations that he roughed up Griffin to get information, Vedder persuades Jane he needs to be frozen out. Following his lead to an estate agent connected to many of the crime scenes (the none-more-villain-faced Andrew Tiernan), it looks like he might have been on to something. Ben Arnold

Eamonn & Ruth’s 7 Year Itch
10pm, Channel 5

If the thought of the mum and dad of daytime TV Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford visiting a sex dungeon disturbs you, look away now. And if it doesn’t, take a long, hard look at yourself. The pair are exploring ways of restoring spark to lacklustre relationships after reading research that proves lack of intimacy is one of the main reasons for marriage failure. Lucky Ruth also gets a crash-course from a dominatrix and the pair dance a tango. Phew. Hannah Verdier

The Russell Howard Hour
10pm, Sky1

Russell Howard’s first series since he took the Sky shilling finds the comedian offering his take on the week’s major stories. This doesn’t sound a million miles from Howard’s Good News show for the Beeb, but at the very least it will be intriguing to see if he can sustain laughs through a longer running time. Over 14 episodes, we’re promised celebrity guests, expert comment and “fledgling global correspondents”, whoever they may be. Jonathan Wright

Click here to see the trailer for Northern Soul.

Film choice

Northern Soul (Elaine Constantine, 2014) 1.15am, Film4

It’s set in a fictional town called Burnsworth, but this is a loving recreation of a very real time and place: 1970s Lancashire, and the dancehall revolution that was northern soul. Elliot James Langridge is a winning presence as John, who rejects teacher Steve Coogan’s sneery values to bond with new mate Matt (Josh Whitehouse) over dreams of a vinyl-buying trip to the US. It’s all a bit flimsy, but the frenetic dancing and marvellous music are pure joy. Paul Howlett

Live sport

ODI Cricket: England v West Indies The second match in the five-game series from Trent Bridge. 12noon, Sky Sports Cricket

Golf: The Tour Championship The opening day of the final event in the FedEx Cup, held at the East Lake Club in Atlanta. 6.30pm, Sky Sports Golf

Scottish League Cup Football: Motherwell v Aberdeen A quarter-final cup clash from Fir Park. 7.15pm, BT Sport 1

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