TV documentary rec

Lost Kingdoms of Africa is presented by art historian Gus Casely-Hayford, not by the usual white celebrity. That'll be why it's on BBC4, not BBC2. It's also why I thought it would be worth recording, and I wasn't disappointed.

The first programme is about Nubia, the black African kingdom south of ancient Egypt (we don't know their name for themselves; "Nubia" may have been an insult). The Egyptian and Greek scholars of the time dismissed them as barbarians; colonial historians found the ruined cities and pyramids, and assumed they were copied from Egypt. A Sudanese archaeologist shows us where they actually came from, and where they went; Gus C-H talks to the people who live there now, and traces their cultural influences in present-day Africa. Bonus critique of colonial history ftw.

It's repeated at 8pm on Sunday, still on BBC4, and the next episode is on Tuesday.

Also looking forward to: series 2 of Being Human, Sunday on BBC3; series 2 of Survivors (yes, it's rubbish, but I expect it to be more fun than Heroes), next Tuesday on BBC1.