Benidorm

ITV1, 9pm

This hour-long special of the colourfully chaotic comedy series picks up the action in the aftermath of the wedding between Madge and Mel on the beach. Mel is taken to hospital after being knocked unconscious by a paragliding Geoff (Johnny Vegas) — “East Lancashire’s indoor paragliding champion” — and Madge and Janice, in their desperation to get to the hospital, get into a car with a man who is the spitting image of Javier Bardem’s character in No Country for Old Men, right down to the haircut and limp. So begins an inspired homage to the Coen brothers’ movie, as the Bardem character turns out to be violent drug smuggler Enrique “The Rat” Lopez, who kidnaps Madge and Janice at gunpoint. (He does have an air canister and hose but not as a weapon — his car has a slow puncture.) The trio then return to the hotel where all the familiar grotesques become embroiled in the action. Roll on series three.

South Pacific/The Incredible Human Journey

BBC Two, 8.30pm/9.30pm

Here are two riveting hours of natural history programming that vindicates the recent decision by MPs not to freeze the TV licence fee. In South Pacific (8.30pm), millions of years are condensed into an hour as we witness the birth, growth and death of an island. There are incredible images of an erupting underwater volcano, with rivers of molten lava exploding below the waves. From these violent origins, coral reefs of stunning beauty emerge, home to giant manta rays and groups of grey reef sharks. Then, Dr Alice Roberts is in Australia as she continues to trace The Incredible Human Journey (9.30pm). Miraculously preserved footprints and human fossils suggest that our ancestors reached Australia thousands of years before Europe, and Dr Roberts sets out to unravel the mystery of how they got there.

Empire of Cricket

BBC Two, 10.30pm

This fascinating four-part series provides a detailed social history of the four featured countries, whose very different cricketing cultures created the modern game. As inventors of the sport the English are first up, and the origins of the game and its subsequent export around the Empire are explored. At first, the sport, like the country, was divided by class, with the upper- class amateurs (they could afford not to be paid to play) battling with the working-class professionals for control of the sport. The entertaining exploits of W. G. Grace — poster boy for the amateurs — are recounted here; his thirst for shameless expenses fiddling makes today’s MPs look like models of virtue. With rare and archive footage, as well as contributions from leading players past and present, there is plenty here for cricket-lovers.

Big Brother: A Decade in the Headlines

Channel 4, 10.10pm

Like the warning shot fired across the bow of an enemy ship, this documentary is the first sign that the tenth series of the reality show is imminent (it starts on Thursday). A motley crew of yapping heads — among them Oona King and Peter Tatchell, and former housemates including the inaugural winner Craig Phillips — explore the impact the show has had on popular culture and how it has affected celebrity, diversity and television since its inception in 2000 when “Nasty Nick-gate” catapulted BB into the headlines.

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