SUNDAY, OCT. 30

Hannibal vs. Rome

National Geographic

Channel, 9 p.m.

Dramatic re-creations, computer graphics and the words of historians ancient and modern tell the story of the expedition against Rome that Hannibal Barca (247-182 B.C.) of Carthage led across the Pyrenees and the Alps in the Second Punic War.

SUNDAY, OCT. 30

Masterpiece Theater:

Kidnapped

PBS, 9 p.m.

This 90-minute program is the first of a two-part BBC production of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Kidnapped, the story of Scottish lad Davie Balfour and his adventures while on the run with Alan Breck, a Scots rebel hunted by the English in 1751. Part II will air Sunday, Nov. 6, at 9 p.m. Advisory: A suicide try, a near-hanging, some bloodshed.

MONDAY, OCT. 31

A Grave in Perm:

The Father Walter

Ciszek Story

EWTN, 6:30 p.m.

Every Catholic child should be told of heroic U.S. Jesuit Father Walter Ciszek (1904-1984). After entering the atheist-ruled Soviet Union as an underground missionary in 1940, he was imprisoned in 1941 and sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor. He secretly said Mass and heard confessions even in an Arctic slave labor camp in Siberia.

MONDAY, OCT. 31

American Experience:

Race to the Moon

PBS, 9 p.m.

This documentary interviews astronauts Bill Anders, Frank Borman and James Lovell about their flight around the moon and back in Apollo 8, Dec. 21-27, 1968.

TUESDAY, NOV. 1

The Merciful Love of Jesus

EWTN, 6 p.m.

This half-hour show details St. Faustina's life and presents “ABCs” of Divine Mercy: Ask (pray) for mercy, be merciful yourself, and completely trust Jesus and His grace.

TUESDAY, NOV. 1

Nova: Volcano

Under the City

PBS, 8 p.m.

A year after the Nyiragongo volcano devastated the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic Congo in 2002, Jacques Durieux's scientists inspect the crater's lava.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 2

Science of the Bible:

The Last Supper

National Geographic

Channel, 10 p.m.

Catholics rely on the Gospels as the true account of the Last Supper, of course; in this show, archaeologists and historians speculate about its location and Passover fare.

FRIDAY, NOV. 4

Classroom: Yellowstone National Park

History Channel, 6 a.m.

Established in 1872, scenic Yellowstone, the world's first national park, comprises 2,221,766 acres, almost entirely in Wyoming but spilling a bit into Montana and Idaho.

Dan Engler writes from Santa Barbara, California.