David Chater
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Big Ideas That Changed the World Five, 7.15pm
This intelligent series continues with Benazir Bhutto — the daughter of the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, and the first female prime minister of a majority Muslim state — talking about Islam. Based on her personal experience, she describes how extremists have subverted the teaching of a religion that embraces tolerance, learning, hospitality and peace. Conservative bigotry thwarted all her family’s attempts at democratic reform, resulting in the execution of her father and her own political exile. The triumph of extremism was once a local tragedy for Pakistan, but terrorism has since exported its teachings around the world. Its most prominent victim, she argues, is the authentic voice of Islam.
Sea of Souls BBC One, 9pm
“It’s always a worry when people try to contact malevolent spirits,” says a psychic researcher. “They might just succeed.” Sea of Souls returns for a two-part special, and it would be difficult to get a classier variety of bumps-in-the-night drama. Yes, it exploits all the silly old clichés of horror movies, with a young couple moving into a remote old house where evil spirits tell them — in a variety of alarming ways — to go away. But it is the high production values, the quality of the acting and the veneer of normality — of treating the supernatural with a straight face — that make it so watchable.
Horizon BBC Two, 9pm
How, precisely, do you gauge intelligence? A Wall Street trader, for example, may have an IQ of 167, but does he have an ounce of creativity? The critic Bonnie Greer may be effortlessly fluent, but is she any great shakes when it comes to inductive logic? There are other issues to be considered as well. Can you, for example, come up with 100 different uses for a sock? How would you cope with glasses that turn everything upside down? How do you rate your emotional intelligence? Horizon tests seven high fliers — a musical prodigy, a quantum physicist, an artist, a dramatist, a chess grandmaster, a fighter pilot and a Wall Street trader — in an attempt to find out who could truly be described as the most intelligent.
Mr Miss World Channel 4, 10pm
Andy Wells’s documentary, which is loosely centred on the annual transgender beauty pageant in Thailand, is worth watching. Lazy films would go for the freak-show fascination — finding the most flamboyant individuals and letting them perform in front of the cameras. This is far richer. It follows two men who make beautiful women — one is an Australian sex worker who wants to be accepted by his/her family, the other is a heterosexual from the North of England who lives a double life — as they fly to Thailand to take part. The competition itself ends up as little more than a side issue, a neurotic promotion for the Thai tourist board. What makes the film so valuable is the way it demonstrates the importance of acceptance and love.
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