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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Phil Harrison, Graeme Virtue, Hollie Richardson, Hannah Verdier, Danielle De Wolfe and Simon Wardell

TV tonight: Stacey Dooley’s bleak but extremely moving visit to Ukraine

Stacey Dooley with volunteers in camouflage gear in Ready for War?
Risking their lives … Stacey Dooley with volunteers in Ready for War? Photograph: Blanca Munoz/BBC/True Vision East

Stacey Dooley: Ready for War?

9pm, BBC Three

A bleak, affecting documentary in which Dooley meets Ukrainian volunteers as they complete a six-month military training course (in five weeks) before heading to the frontline. These recruits aren’t (yet) soldiers: they are florists, jewellers and other civilians who, by the time this programme airs, will be risking their lives. It’s extremely moving and Dooley does a good job of locating their shared truth: they really have no other option. Phil Harrison

The Repair Shop

8pm, BBC One

Jay Blades and his expert team welcome more hopeful visitors with family keepsakes requiring some specialised TLC. This week’s items include a skewed 19th-century microscope in the care of an ambitious young scientist, a battered pair of boots that survived five years in a prisoner-of-war camp and a rickety swinging bench from Gujarat. Graeme Virtue

Designing the Hebrides

8pm, BBC Two

Banjo Beale in Designing the Hebrides.
Beautifying … Banjo Beale in Designing the Hebrides. Photograph: Alex Baxter/BBC/DSP

Banjo Beale, who won last year’s Interior Design Masters series, has decided to launch his own fabulous interiors business on the Isle of Mull – and he insists there is local demand for it. This new series follows Beale as he makes over homes around the Scottish islands, starting with beautifying his mate Sally’s fish store in Tobermory. Hollie Richardson

Race Across the World

9pm, BBC One

As ever, RATW is reality TV done right: no manufactured conflict, just likable, flawed people trying their hardest and being rewarded with the holiday of a lifetime. After last week’s elimination, the teams are heading to Churchill, where polar bears can outnumber people. There is a catch, though: no roads connect this outpost to the rest of Canada. Good luck, guys! PH

The Bay

9pm, ITV

It has been a tough season for DS Jenn Townsend (Marsha Thomason) – dealing with her partner’s pushy ex-wife, an arson investigation and a brick through a window of the family home. “You ever want to kill somebody?” she asks. “Actually kill somebody?” There’s no time for that, what with tying up loose ends and dealing with Maddie’s bully. Hannah Verdier

Love, Faith and Me: Married, Sikh and Wanting a Baby

10.40pm, BBC One

This week’s episode of the series exploring faith focuses on Sarina and Vik as they draw on the support of the Sikh community. The couple face daunting odds as they turn to IVF in a bid to conceive after two miscarriages. Their online community, the Himmat Collective, is where Sikhs can have open conversations around fertility. Danielle De Wolfe

Film choice

Forest Whitaker holds a gun to the head of John Tormey in Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai.
A meditative presence … Forest Whitaker and John Tormey in Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai. Photograph: Channel Four Films/Sportsphoto/Allstar

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (Jim Jarmusch, 1999), 1am, AMC
The stresses of adopting one culture’s values while living in another is the recurring theme of Jim Jarmusch’s laid-back crime drama. Forest Whitaker plays Ghost Dog, the solitary, pigeon-fancying hitman for John Tormey’s mafia functionary, Louie. He follows a samurai code of honour, while Louie has his own criminal rules to follow – which ultimately leads to conflict. Whitaker gives Ghost Dog a meditative presence amid the violence, while his only friend, French-speaking ice-cream seller Raymond (Isaach De Bankolé), plays the role of chorus, despite the language barrier between them. Simon Wardell

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