As one the most revered British swimmers of all time, with a clutch of Paralympic gold medals and a habit for smashing world records, Ellie Simmonds has changed the cultural image of people with dwarfism from cartoonish stereotype to one of elite accomplishment. It’s no surprise, then, that she finds the possibility of a new drug, Vosoritide, aimed at countering dwarfism, hard to bear. In this earnest documentary, she meets the parents who chose the treatment for their children, many of whom are from “average height” families.Simmonds suggests that dwarfism is not a problem to be cured: “If I had children and saw this drug I would just totally ignore it and raise them how I was raised.” She meets Jesse, who has Russell-Silver syndrome and worries that people will think he’s six or seven even though he’s eight. It’s an adorable distillation of Simmonds’s concern, that some children are encouraged towards treatment not through medical necessity but due to superficial notions of a “normal” physique. It’s also uplifting to see how content Simmonds is in her body – she makes a strong case for changing how dwarfism is viewed in the medical field. Jack Taylor
Football: Manchester City v Atlético Madrid
BT Sport 2, 7pm
The Champions League quarter-final first legs begin, with a tantalising clash between Pep Guardiola’s City and Diego Simeone’s Atlético (kick-off 8pm). Also on Tuesday, Liverpool visit Benfica (BT Sport 3, 7.15pm), while on Wednesday, reigning champions Chelsea host Real Madrid (BT Sport 2, 7pm) and Villarreal take on Bayern Munich (BT Sport 3, 7.15pm). In Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first legs, West Ham United host Lyon (BT Sport 1, 7.15pm) and Rangers visit Portuguese side Braga (BT Sport 2, 7.15pm), while in the Europa Conference League, Leicester City take on PSV Eindhoven (Thu, BT Sport 3, 7.15pm).
The Art of the Album Cover
Sky Arts, 7pm
This documentary invites artists, producers and designers to take a thoughtful look at some of the most recognisable images in music – from Nirvana’s underwater baby on Nevermind, to the prismatic ribbon of colour on Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon.
Manchester’s Whitworth: Inside Museums
BBC Four, 7.30pm
This excellent series began yesterday with Huw Stephens pottering around the National Slate Museum in Wales and continues with artist Diana Ali musing at Manchester’s Whitworth art gallery. Inside is a curious mix of material from across the world.
BANNED! The Mary Whitehouse Story
BBC Two, 9pm
This second episode of the two-part series follows Mary Whitehouse in the 1970s and 1980s as she redoubles her efforts to protect the nation from sex, violence and bad language. As she takes her campaign to the courts, this champion of cancel culture finds a kindred spirit in the buttoned-up occupant of No 10, Margaret Thatcher.
DNA Journey
ITV, 9pm
A mildly chirpier version of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are?, this series lumps two celebrities together to investigate their respective family histories using the latest DNA tracing technology and genealogy techniques. First up are Anne Hegerty and Shaun Wallace, combative quizzers from ITV’s The Chase, who uncover secrets from their past and come face to face with relatives that they didn’t know they had.
Deadline
Channel 5, 9pm
Drawing on the intrigue of his 2016 film The Ghoul, Gareth Tunley delivers a stylish, twisty thriller that plays smartly with tabloid fetishism. Charlie Murphy is delightfully arch as the femme fatale, accused of murdering her husband, who offers former investigative journalist James Alden (James D’Arcy) a tell-all interview if he can track down the killer. But untangling the web puts him squarely in the line of fire.
Wellington Paranormal
Sky Comedy, 9pm
The What We Do in the Shadows spin-off returns for a fourth series of mockumentary hijinks with the ghouls, beasts and vampires of New Zealand’s wider Wellington area. In this first episode, an investigation into the disappearance of shiny objects leads to a confrontation with a magpie-human hybrid. JT
Summer of Sam (1999) ★★★
Great! Movies, 9pm
Spike Lee powerfully evokes a vivid picture of New York in the summer of 1977, when the city was being terrorised by the brutal serial killer David Berkowitz (Michael Badalucco), whom the tabloids dubbed “Son of Sam”. Overlong, sometimes clichéd, it nonetheless reveals the tensions and paranoia of a city under threat. John Leguizamo and Adrien Brody star as friends in an Italian-American neighborhood of the Bronx.
True Lies (1994) ★★★★
Channel 5, 10pm
It may not be James Cameron’s best blockbuster but this action-comedy certainly entertains. Secret agent Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) discovers that his wife (Jamie Lee Curtis on great form) is having an affair because she craves adventure. Before long he’s shuttling her across borders, past henchmen and through explosions – all to save his rocky marriage (and to avert nuclear war, of course).
The Beach Bum (2019) ★★★
Film4, 11.20pm
This hyperactive comedy from Harmony Korine, the divisive director of 2014’s Spring Breakers, introduces us to the beach-crawling wannabe writer Moondog (Matthew McConaughey in the most explosive turn of his accomplished career) as he crashes around the Florida Keys. While its beer-soaked, drug-dazed vision of hedonism won’t be for everyone, there’s something quietly enthralling under this heady mix of neon, sweat and sand.
Television previewers
Jack Taylor (JT), Veronica Lee (VL), Gerard O’Donovan (GO), Vicki Power (VP) and Gabriel Tate (GT)
