Channel 4 confronts sewage dumping allegations, while BBC Two explores how large language models really work.
Monday night television turns sharply towards accountability. Environmental failure and technological uncertainty dominate the schedule, with two programmes that ask uncomfortable questions about systems many take for granted.
Dirty Business, 9pm, Channel 4
Dirty Business arrives with fury rather than subtlety. The three part drama draws on real investigations into English water companies accused of dumping raw sewage into rivers and coastal waters.
The case that anchors the series reaches back to 1999, when eight year old Heather Preen died after contracting E coli while playing on a beach. Two decades later, residents in Oxfordshire began asking their water provider why fish were dying in their local river. What followed was a prolonged and at times frustrating attempt to uncover what was happening behind the scenes.
Jason Watkins and David Thewlis lead a cast that treats the material with seriousness rather than melodrama. The drama format inevitably compresses timelines and motives, yet the underlying issue remains contemporary. Public trust in water infrastructure has eroded. Regulatory oversight, dividend payments and executive accountability have become political flashpoints.
This series is unlikely to resolve that debate, but it may sharpen it.
AI Confidential With Hannah Fry, 9pm, BBC Two
At the same time, Professor Hannah Fry attempts to inject clarity into the artificial intelligence conversation. Public understanding of AI tends to swing between apocalyptic fear and blind optimism. Fry’s approach is more measured.
She begins by explaining how large language models function, stripping away mystique without trivialising their capabilities. One of her central points is disarmingly simple. These systems predict plausible responses based on patterns in data. They do not understand truth in the way humans do. Their tendency to generate confident but inaccurate answers remains a structural weakness.
For viewers concerned about how AI is shaping education, employment and public discourse, this promises to be a useful grounding.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, 9pm, Sky Atlantic
The Game of Thrones prequel concludes its first series with a trial of combat and political intrigue. Its quieter tone has distinguished it from its predecessor, favouring character over spectacle.
Small Prophets, 10pm, BBC Two
Mackenzie Crook’s offbeat series continues to explore grief through magical realism. Its strangeness feels deliberate rather than whimsical.
Industry, 10.40pm, BBC One
The penultimate episode of the fourth season places political damage control centre stage, fiction brushing uncomfortably close to current affairs.
Live sport
Women’s FA Cup football sees London City Lionesses face Tottenham Hotspur at 7pm on TNT Sports 1. Whilst Manchester United travel to Everton in a hotly anticipated Premier League clash.
Watching from abroad
Programmes such as Dirty Business on Channel 4 or live football on TNT Sports are tied to UK broadcast rights. Viewers travelling outside the country often discover that access to services such as Channel 4 streaming platforms or subscription sports apps is restricted by region.
A secure UK VPN connection routes traffic through a domestic server, allowing access to subscriptions when abroad. Liberty Shield provides UK based servers designed for stable connections and offers a 48 hour free trial for those who wish to test performance across devices.
In an era where regulation, infrastructure and technology sit at the centre of public debate, even watching television has become bound up with geography.