World War One Remember From The Battlefield (BBC2, 6.30pm)

HAVING been brought up hearing my grandfather’s First World War stories, it seems strangely eerie to think it is 100 years ago today that war was declared and he was destined to begin basic training with the Norfolk and East Kents Regiments, and would forever after use the latter's catchphrase of “Steady the buffs”.

My brother has discovered that granddad signed up on September 5, 1914. During training the man who never mentioned firing his rifle at the enemy was part of a training squad marching across a field when their sergeant-major screamed “Take cover, there’s an aeroplane overhead”. Of course, the men stopped and started looking upwards because none of them had seen an aircraft before. Seeing his charges failing to head for cover in nearby trees, the sergeant-major started swearing and lashing out with his swagger stick, snapping it in half. An early and amusing casualty of war.

Around that time at least 37 million people lived in the United Kingdom. By the end of World War the same total of people lay dead as a result of the conflict. In the first of two programmes, London-based Huw Edwards and Sophie Raworth in Belgium introduce live coverage of an event marking the centenary of the outbreak.

At the St Symphorien military cemetery near Mons, Belgium, where British, Commonwealth and German soldiers are buried side by side, Dan Snow reports on the day's events.

The always-tuneful Gareth Malone leads a children's choir singing their own specially-written song. Actor Eddie Redmayne reads poems and testimonies, along with serving British and German soldiers. A collaboration between the London Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Simon Rattle, will perform the last movement of Brahms's German Requiem and Butterworth's A Shropshire Lad.

This live report is followed by a special candlelit service from Westminster Abbey marking the moment the First World War began. Huw Edwards introduces coverage of the event, as the abbey gradually descends into darkness until the only light comes from a single candle at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior. It will be extinguished at 11pm – the exact time Great Britain declared war on Germany.

Cooks' Questions (More4, 9pm)

SUE Perkins is pretty much everywhere this week. Not only is she fronting Bake Off, which starts on Wednesday, but also, come Friday, she's presenting her own show at the Edinburgh Festival reviewing the best bits from the Fringe. Before all that, though, she's got this new series, where she’s joined by Jason Atherton, Richard Corrigan and Lisa Allen who provide expert advice and answers to the questions audience members are dying to ask. Other famous faces from the foodie world will be popping up throughout the series, proving you actually can't have too many cooks.

Robson Green: Extreme Fisherman (Quest, 9pm)

NORTH-EAST star Robson Green once again grabs his tackle, if you’ll pardon the expression, and heads out on another set of adventures. The first of eight destinations on his itinerary is Venezuela, where he tries to catch three different types of billfish. Can Green land the "grand slam" of blue marlin, white marlin and swordfish all in one day? As it that wasn't a big enough challenge, he rounds things off by coming face to face with a whopping 20-ton whale shark.

It’s not giving much away to reveal that he lands some seriously impressive catches with the series takes in some unexpected locations, including Okinawa, the Solomon Islands and Mongolia.