Published: Wednesday, 10th February, 2010 4:50pm

What's on the box this week?

Reporter Peter Taylor examines a network of young jihadists in 'Generation Jihad' which will be broadcast on BBC1 on Monday.
Pic by==: 97

'Generation Jihad' (BBC 1, Monday) - Peter Taylor examines a network of young jihadists that stretch across three continents. They were young, most had no direct contact with Al-Qaeda and, in some cases, they had not even met each other face-to-face but they were plotting together with murderous intent.

This documentary discovers how members of Generation Jihad were turned into terrorists through exposure to violent Al-Qaeda propaganda distributed over the internet. Aabid Khan lived in Bradford, West Yorkshire, but his influence spread right across the English-speaking world. This jihadi mastermind began his path to radicalisation aged just 12.

He set up a social networking site, password-protected message forums and instant messaging to find, groom and recruit potential young jihadis. But Haris Ahmed soon moved beyond the virtual world; he went with a friend to Washington DC to record videos which they believed would curry favour with terrorists overseas. Khan was also connected to a plot in Canada, where a 20-year-old college student had put in place plans to construct three enormous truck bombs.

Zakaria Amara had also radicalised a young school friend and recruited him into his plot - it was to become the most complex and serious threat ever faced by Canada's security services.

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Young, Angry & White (Ch4, Friday) - 'First Cut', showcasing original documentaries by up-and-coming filmmakers, continues with new director Peter Beard's 'Young, Angry and White', an attempt to understand what makes a young person think of wanting to join the ultra-right wing British National Party.

In July 2009, almost a million voters chose the BNP in the European elections. But it's not just traditional BNP voters swelling the ranks, with a recent survey finding one in 20 young people would vote BNP. Against this backdrop, Peter Beard follows 19-year-old Kieren, who is considering joining the party.

Kieren is looking for a home in the BNP but is unsure that it represents his views. Having been a fervent nationalist from the age of 15, he is concerned that the BNP is losing its radical edge and selling out its racial policies. His choice is made more difficult by the fact that he comes from a moderate family who find many of his far-right views shocking.

There is concern that the opinions and choices he is making at a young age could have serious consequences for his future. The documentary offers an insight into a young person's attraction to a party whose policies and image continue to cause extreme controversy throughout Britain.

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'Winter Olympics' 2010 (BBC 2, Saturday) - Vancouver 2010 is a 17-day festival of live international winter sports, from biathlon to bobsleigh, curling to cross-country, skiing to skeleton, snowboarding to ski-jumping, all taking place from 12th to 28th February.

The competition schedule involves 86 medal events in 15 Winter Olympic sports held at nine venues. The BBC will broadcast more than 160 hours, bringing audiences the global stories of ambition, determination and courage, while at the same time capturing the excitement, drama and magical moments that make the Winter Olympics such a unique sporting event.

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'Got To Dance' (Sky One, Sunday) - After weeks of action-packed auditions and breathtaking live shows, the series will culminate with a spectacular live final.

Host Davina McCall and judges Kimberly Wyatt, Adam Garcia and Ashley Banjo scoured the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland, casting their verdict on hundreds of hopefuls. Jukebox Juniors, a street dance troupe from Cardiff, and Emily Crow, a freestyle dancer from Scotland, will battle it out to the end with MJ Latin, Matthew Koon, Dance Dynamix, Fancy Feet, The Box, Unity Youth, Eclipse and Akai.

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Movie Of The Week: 'Robots' (Ch4, Wednesday) - From the people responsible for 'Ice Age' comes this animated coming-of-age-tale. Chris Wedge's film features Rodney Copperbottom (voiced by Ewan McGregor), an inventor who travels to Robot City to sell his ideas to the tycoon Big Weld (Mel Brooks). Befriended by Fender (Robin Williams), Rodney finds that even a society of robots doesn't need perfection when upgrading equals profits. Great family entertainment.

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