Imagine: Beware of Mr Baker (BBC1, 10.35pm)

GINGER Baker has been described as the most talented drummer there ever was, a legendary jazz percussionist and an occasional hell-raiser. Best-known as the drummer in Cream, he first took to the stage as London-born Peter Edward Baker in the London jazz clubs of the 1950s playing with some of the most renowned instrumentalists of the period. Since then his exceptional talent and influence on popular music has seen his career reach epic heights.

In its UK television premiere, Beware of Mr Baker (the sign which welcomes visitors to his home) finds the musician living out his twilight years in South Africa living on the proceeds from a Cream reunion tour which appears to have failed to finance a ranch for polo horses. From his gated compound, Baker recounts his time in bands like Blind Faith, to making music with Fela Kuti in Lagos and homelessness in rural Tuscany.

However with soaring highs came crushing lows. Baker’s 60 year career has witnessed ongoing battles with drink and drugs and a temper that has made him notorious, as the explosive encounter which kicks off Jay Bulger’s award winning film reveals.

imagine… presents a revealing exploration of Baker’s fascinating life as told through the people who know him, from his estranged son, to fellow Cream member Eric Clapton. Mining a rich archive of film and photographs, this is a unique story of life threatening excess and ferocious talent.

Jay Bulger's film was always going to present a pretty unflattering account of "music angriest man" and it opens with 75-year-old Baker lashing out with a metal cane at the filmmaker and cutting his nose.

Baker's short temper and erratic behaviour were always going to be the most fascinating part of this 2012 documentary that opens with the then 73-year-old breaking the nose of director Jay Bulger with his cane.

His only saving grace is being a brutally brilliant drummer alongside Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce, and in other bands like Blind Faith. He also has a genuine claim to be the first Western musician to investigate and popularise African music.

Soaring fame was often followed by crushing lows, alongside ongoing battles with drink and drugs, including a 19-year heroin addiction. He even heard news of his own death (from an alleged overdose) announced on the radio in the late 1960s.

His lifestyle of indulging in prostitutes and groupies on the road, left wives and children behind to deal with heartbreak and bankruptcy. Mining a rich archive of film, as well as Baker's treasure trove of black-and-white photographs, this is a unique story of how life-threatening excess often runs alongside ferocious talent.

It's an engrossing portrait of a supremely talented but troubled man who, seemingly, can't help but lash out at drum kits and contemporaries. Baker can barely conceal hisanger when discussing the perceived shortcomings of an "effeminate" Mick Jagger and John Bonham.

Virgin Atlantic: Up in the Air (ITV, 9pm)

FOUNDED back in June 1984, Virgin Atlantic has just celebrated it's 30th year as one of the world's leading airlines. This documentary series goes behind the scenes of the business, following staff at all levels, from founder Richard Branson, and the Chief Exec to new cabin crew recruits and the boys in the warehouse, as the company rolls out a new plane, new uniforms and new people – and tries to get back in the black. In episode one, we meet the team at the Virgin Atlantic base in Crawley, preparing for the airline's birthday event, as Branson, who founded the airline when he was just 34, makes a rare appearance. Cameras also follow 58-year-old grandmother Katrine, who is hoping to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a "trolley dolly".

We also follow designer Nik selecting interior trimmings for a new Boeing Dreamliner, which will have upper class seats costing £130,000 each.

Viv Hardwick