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Terror in Paradise: Kieran Arasaratnam, who survived the attack.
Terror in Paradise: Kieran Arasaratnam, who survived the attack. Photograph: Nik Millard/BBC
Terror in Paradise: Kieran Arasaratnam, who survived the attack. Photograph: Nik Millard/BBC

TV tonight: a chilling account of Sri Lanka's terror attack

This article is more than 3 years old

A comprehensive look at the stories of the survivors of the Islamist bombings in 2019, along with how the attackers were radicalised. Plus: China’s greatest poet

Terror in Paradise
9pm, BBC Two

Easter Sunday 2019 saw one of the worst Islamist terror attacks since 9/11 when more than 270 people were killed by a series of eight bombs triggered across churches and hotels in Sri Lanka. Reporter Jane Corbin tells the harrowing story of the attack’s survivors, as well as piecing together comprehensive CCTV footage to detail how the suicide bombers were radicalised – one even from his time spent in the UK. A chilling account, with the survivors’ testimony nonetheless providing hope through their resilience. Ammar Kalia

HealthCheck UK Live
10am, BBC One

Week two of the daily morning show intended to reassure the nation, with Michelle Ackerley – who outed herself as a huge Columbo nerd on Celebrity Mastermind – joined by Dr Xand van Tulleken in the studio and Angela Rippon via video link. Advice, updates and a workout with Mr Motivator are on the menu. Graeme Virtue

Du Fu: China’s Greatest Poet
9pm, BBC Four

Boasting the oldest living poetry tradition in the world, China has an often overlooked literary history. This one-off analyses the legacy of Tang dynasty poet Du Fu, a civil servant whose works documented his era’s cultural expansion and ultimate collapse into devastating violence. Ammar Kalia

Malory Towers. Photograph: John Medland/BBC/WildBrain/Queen Bert Limited


Malory Towers
5.30pm, CBBC

Based on the beloved Enid Blyton novels following the adventures of Darrell Rivers as she attends an all-girls’ boarding school, this 13-part adaptation is bound to keep the kids transfixed. We open with new girl Darrell trying to make friends and keeping her exit from her old school a close secret. Ammar Kalia

Yellow Is Forbidden
10pm, BBC Four

Chinese designer Guo Pei was introduced to the wider world when Rihanna wore one of her dresses – a 55lb confection of gold thread and yellow fox fur – to the 2015 Met Gala. This portrait investigates the stresses and surprises of being the first success in a previously forbidden profession. Ellen E Jones

Film choice

Queen of the Desert. Photograph: Everett/REX/Shutterstock

Queen of the Desert, 3.20am, Sony Movies
Gertrude Bell, the “female Lawrence of Arabia”, is the subject of Werner Herzog’s curiously conventional and respectful biopic. Nicole Kidman bestrides the desert heroically, irritating and/or enchanting British army officers, and earning the admiration of the Bedouin tribes. Paul Howlett



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