HD Highlights: August 17

SoHo Premiere: The Promise (Sky 10, 8.30, 5.1) In part one of four, an 18-year-old travels to Israel to discover first-hand the struggle her grandfather faced when he was a British peacekeeper in 1940s Palestine.  As The Guardian said: “It’s hard to think of a more politically sensitive subject for a primetime TV series, and Peter Kosminsky’s The Promise has gone boldly where those who have gone before bear the scars. The Israel-Palestine issue divides and polarises like little else. So it’s a real achievement that this four-parter is so well-grounded in the history of the world’s most intractable conflict.” The Daily Telegraph called it “an exciting, powerful and exquisitely crafted drama” in which “the political ideas are utterly gripping in themselves – and in a welcome new development, Kosminsky lets them jostle up against each other without telling us what to think. Instead, he allows every group to put their case convincingly, while also making it heartbreakingly clear how incompatible their aims are.” If you don’t subscribe to SoHo, the series has just been released on DVD (but not Blu-ray). ✭✭✭✭

❑ The Big Bang Theory (TV2, 7.30, 5.1, R) After he’s humiliated on public radio, Sheldon vows to destroy Kripke, while Wolowitz tries not to destroy his new relationship with Bernadette. ✭✭✭✭

❑ The Best of The Graham Norton Show (TV3, 8.30) With Johnny Depp,  Carey Mulligan, Ricky Gervais, comedian Ed Byrne and Snow Patrol. ✭✭✭✭

❑ Supernatural (TV2, 10.30, 5.1) When Sam teams up with a familiar face, Dean is forced to team up with a laid-back hunter, Garth, and ends up working at cross purposes to his brother. ✭✭✭✩

❑ An Idiot Abroad (TV3, 11.20) Karl Pilkington wanders the beaches of Rio de Janeiro and visits the towering statue of Christ The Redeemer. ✭✭✭✭