How to Win the Grand National

Any lingering doubts that C4’s superb test cricket coverage was a one-off were banished by its equally excellent work during the Paralympics. This was in no small part down to the obvious care taken over the programming surrounding the events themselves – hence tonight’s shows building up to the richest race of the year.

At 9pm, the inevitable Alan Carr trots up with several stables worth of celebrities (Russell Brand, Miranda Hart, Louis Walsh…) for his customary tomfoolery. But first comes Mark Evans’s scientific analysis of what it takes to excel over the jumps and in the sprints: equine anatomy and human psychology both promise to get a good going-over. But whether a right-on broadcaster like C4 will also examine how to avoid so many deaths during the race (two in each of the past two years) remains to be seen.