Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press

BBC Two, 9pm

Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press brought about the very first information revolution, in 1405, and gave the Renaissance a mighty boost. In a programme lifted from BBC Four’s Medieval Season, Stephen Fry is at his avuncular best taking a personal tour of Gutenberg’s German haunts – his birthplace of Meinz and adopted city of Strasbourg – to learn about the great man’s life and try his hand at making paper and type. Meanwhile, back in England, Alan May, a carpenter and printing enthusiast, builds what he believes to be an original press (no records remain of what Gutenberg’s looked like). Their enthusiasm is infectious – the press’s first run is a giggly, exciting affair.

Benidorm

ITV1, 9pm

Wendy Richard makes a guest appearance tonight, playing a rival for the affections of Mel (Geoffrey Hutchings). Like a lot of comedy, it is based on a misunderstanding. Mel has been going to bed early without his Malibu, which Madge (Sheila Reid) interprets as a sign that his ardour is cooling. “I think I’m losing him,” she complains. Next thing, her lover is caught in flagrante, fiddling with Richard in her motorised wheelchair. “You’ll have to excuse me,” he says, leaning over her. “It’s a very tricky nipple switch. Don’t worry. I’ll have you going in no time.” Benidorm was nominated for a Bafta as the Best Sitcom – deservedly so, in a diabolical sort of a way.

Dirty Sexy Money

Channel 4, 9pm

Week after week, I keep returning to this series in the hope of seeing something in it that has a bit of bounce. A sharp exchange of dialogue . . . a funny line . . . a sudden and unexpected moment of truth . . . I’m not fussy. But once again, there is nothing in this episode that is in any way memorable. By now Donald Sutherland has settled into his undemanding role as the wealthy patriarch of the super-rich Darling family. Although his ambiguous performance is the best thing in the series, there is only so much mileage to be gleaned from a sardonic drawl. But who knows? One episode may yet contain a sudden flash that makes it all worthwhile. But not tonight.

My Family

BBC One, 9.30pm

The prospect of imminent death is a handy comic device. It was used to brilliant effect at the start of the recent series of Shameless, when Frank Gallagher thought that his days were numbered and mortality weighed heavily on his soul. In this episode of My Family, a psychic (Anna Chancellor) predicts that the father (Robert Lindsay) will drop dead at 9.04pm on Thursday. The two treatments of the subject are very different. While Frank worries about his contribution to the sum total of human happiness, My Family merely makes wisecracks about whether or not there is sufficient time to order a curry. Together, they demonstrate the chasm between a character-based comedy rooted in truth and an artificial sitcom churning out predictable one-liners.

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