Pick of the day: Isaac Newton: The Last Magician
9pm, BBC2
Isaac Newton is considered by many to be the greatest genius of all time, a monumental rationalist who laid the foundations for many of the scientific and mathematical breakthroughs that shape the modern world.
Yet this documentary-drama reveals a much more complex figure by interviewing experts and examining Newton’s writings and those of his contemporaries.
Newton emerges as an often divisive figure who lived a largely solitary life. In the secrecy of his study and laboratory, he also delved into heretical religion, alchemy and the occult, all to brilliant effect. With Jonathan Hyde as Newton.