The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England (BBC2, 9pm)
Otis Redding: Soul Ambassador (BBC4, 9pm)

UNDERSTANDABLY, perhaps, historical documentaries usually focus on the big stars of the era – kings, warriors, knights and reformers.

They are the ones who hog the limelight. When it comes to the ordinary folk at an extraordinary time, they tend to get overlooked, unless it is to illustrate the effects of some terrible disease.

So assuming they survived that, what was life like for the 90 per cent of the population who never got anywhere near a palace or a round table?

It’s down to bestselling author Ian Mortimer to present a guide to the Tudor era as it would have been experienced by the general population in The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England. He reveals how Tudor housewives turned plants into medicine; how the middle classes kept themselves clean using linen cloths; how the poor made pottage and the rich invented recipes for new ingredients.

BBC4 dedicates two hour-long specials to legendary soul singer Otis Redding – the first of which, Soul Ambassador, celebrates his life and work.

It includes previously unseen footage from home movies, which reveal how his 1967 tour of Britain dramatically changed his career.

As well as interviews featuring Redding’s widow, daughter and previous band members Steve Cropper and Booker T, there are rare archive performances.

It’s a fitting way to remember the man who brought us such hits as (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay, Respect and Try a Little Tenderness.