Sport Relief

BBC One, from 7pm/10.45pm

Anyone who saw last week's sombre documentary Surviving Suicide will not need any persuading that Sport Relief's support for mental health charities is more than just a worthy cause - it can literally be a matter of life and death. In an attempt to beat the record £18 million raised in the past, Michael Parkinson challenges Jonathan Ross to an interviewing showdown; Adrian Chiles and Alan Shearer cycle from Newcastle to London; Mark Ramprakash, Elaine Paige and David Ginola do Strictly Come Dancing; James Cracknell competes in a triathlon from England to Africa; and comedian Jimmy Carr “takes on” (best not to ask) the Arsenal ladies football team. You can donate by calling 08457 910910 or going to www.sportrelief.com.

Unreported World

Channel 4, 7.30pm

In a scoop for this valuable strand, Nima Elbagir gains access to the Janjaweed, the Arab militia blamed for the atrocities in Darfur. Together with the director Andrew Carr, she found a pilot willing to land his plane on a makeshift airstrip in southern Darfur, before travelling for three days along back routes and donkey-cart tracks to reach Commander Muhammad Hamdan and his garrison of heavily armed militia. Contrary to denials by the Sudanese Government, Hamdan tells her that his men were a regiment of the Sudanese Army, receiving orders from President Omar al-Bashir. They say they were blamed for the atrocities after they defected, and now they will continue to fight the Government “until Judgment Day”.

Storyville: All White in Barking

BBC Two, 9pm

After Wonderland on Wednesday, this is the second film by Marc Isaacs in a week. On this occasion, he takes his camera to the London borough of Barking, where 10,000 residents voted for the BNP in the last election, making it the second-largest political party in the area. He gives the white indigenous population an opportunity to air their prejudices, which - however understandable - still sound ugly and sad and self-defeating. But part of Isaacs's huge talent as a film- maker is to capture the remarkable qualities of ordinary people. Here, for example, he introduces us to a Polish widower who survived Auschwitz and is now living with an African friend. Their tolerance and warmth helps to sweeten the sourness elsewhere in the film.

The World's Greatest Comedy Characters

Channel 4, 9pm

Channel 4 still makes list programmes better than anyone else. It has produced countdowns of the most popular sitcoms, the best comic sketches, the funniest comic moments and the slipperiest banana skins, but this one had been staring it in the face all along - television's greatest comedy characters. So here is another chance to while away a few hours of your life. The list includes Daisy and Tim from Spaced, Wallace and Gromit, Alan Partridge, David Brent, Edmund Blackadder, Victor Meldrew and Borat. And the winner is... Well, it's obvious, isn't it? It couldn't possibly be anyone else.

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