The BBC has given diving star Tom Da- ley his biggest challenge yet. The Olym- pic bronze medallist is to present a four part documentary, In the Line of Fire, on the civil war in Syria. Episodes see Da- ley charting the country’s decline into vi- olence over the past four years. Drawing on the history of Syria’s complex sectar- ian divisions, historic Arab nationalism and the current international power play at work, Daley paints a delicate picture of the underlying tensions that resulted in the current conflict.
During the first episode, Daley meets refugees in Aleppo and testament to his enduring sense of humanity, says to the camera, “and I thought I was in at the deep end!” The show has had difficulty drawing a Saturday night audience, but has been lauded by critics. John Pilger writes in the Independent, “not since the days of Robert Fisk’s exposé of the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut have we seen such incisive reportage”, adding, “Daley looks great in his trunks”.
John Simpson injects his usual musty sex appeal into ITV’s new celebrity com- petition show, Splash. The renowned war correspondent is tasked with train- ing celebrities how to jump into water from a height.