James R | On 03, Jul 2016

What’s available on-demand on Freeview? Keep up-to-date with our weekly catch-up TV column, including reviews of shows on ITV Hub, new releases on All 4 and a guide to My5.
(For BBC TV reviews and round-ups, see our weekly Best of BBC iPlayer column. Or for reviews of the shows on All 4’s Walter Presents, click here.)

Life Inside Jail: Hell on Earth (ITV Hub)

Sean Bean narrates this documentary about Albany, one of New York’s toughest jails. Shot over several months, the programme arrives a matter of weeks after Orange Is the New Black’s fourth season on Netflix. While you might expect something more stereotyped than the streaming series – not just because of Bean’s gruff voice-over talking of convicts and how they sometimes leave then come back a few days later – what emerges is an engaging, often rounded portrait of a strikingly diverse group of inmates. Compared to the recent Oscar Pistorius interview and “Killer Women with Piers Morgan”, this is an excellent, balanced piece of television that doesn’t sensationalise to grab our attention – the human lives on display are more than enough to do that.

Available until: 28th July (Episode 1)

The Women Who Kill Lions (All 4)

Read our review

Photo: Renowned Films Ltd

Sacrifice (My5)

Rupert Graves may be pleased to see his latest film, Sacrifice, get a straight-to-TV premiere this week on Channel 5, meaning that it’s free for every to watch on-demand. That pleasure, though, will be short-lived: he plays the husband of a New York surgeon (Radha Mitchell) who relocates with him to the Shetland Isles, where their decision to adopt a child unearths some spooky goings-on. Writer/director Peter A. Dowling tries his best to channel The Wicker Man with his rural location and sinister community, but laughable dialogue, bad accents, excited displays of ancient runes and a boringly predictable twist soon sap any tension or interest. Straight to VOD releases have managed to shake off any stigma in recent years. Channel 5, though, still has a long way to go. Not even Rupert Graves fans will enjoy this one.

Available until: 26th July

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