The host embarks on a mission to discover the truth about history’s most famous explorers. Plus: the finale of cracking comedy Far North. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, Channel 5
James May’s new series is about the explorations of Christopher Columbus, Walter Raleigh and James Cook and their contentious legacies. May starts by taking the helm of his own sailboat in south-west Spain, where he discovers the origins of the stubborn young sailor Columbus, who dreamed of sailing to Asia but ended up on two continents previously unknown to Europeans. James’s visits to the Alcázar palace in Seville and St Barts back in London fill in details of a man driven by daring and greed. Hollie Richardson