The Sadhus of India are an elaborately decorated bunch. They may not wear clothes, but with their long hair and beards, ash-covered bodies, heavy strings of beads and turbans, they pass for a tribal Jack Sparrow, complete with a crazed look in the eye. For this reason, it's easy to think you're watching a satire as they demonstrate some of their more hair-raising habits to Todd Sampson, but this is their actual, everyday life. In order to bypass reincarnation and reach enlightenment, the Sadhus follow a lifestyle of spiritual discipline, devoid of excess comforts. They perform yoga and meditation each morning and also smoke enormous quantities of cannabis, required to help shut down the pain receptors in their brains as they perform physically gruelling feats. One bloke has been standing up for seven years. Others have had their arms raised for so long, they are permanently fixed above their heads. And you'll have to watch to find out exactly what penis yoga is, but rest assured it's not as fun as you might think. Look out, too, for the Sadhu renowned for his rolling (think Pat Mullins from We Can Be Heroes, only this is no joke). Sampson admirably attempts to keep up as he rolls his way through the Indian traffic, but he's no match for this 70-year-old. It's a Body Hack full of jaw-dropping moments, and one wonders just how these ascetics ever agreed to being filmed for a TV show. Still, if you're anything like me, you'll be glad that they did. AR

PAY
Love and Hate Crime
BBC Knowledge, 9.30pm

This three-part BBC series profiles American hate crimes, showing how dangerous it is to be "different" in the US. Tonight's instalment looks at the murder of 17-year-old transgender girl Mercedes Williamson by her 28-year-old boyfriend, Joshua Vallum, in Mississippi in 2015. Vallum pleaded guilty to murder, but claimed to have acted in panic upon learning, months into their sexual relationship, that Williamson had male genitals. It's a story he keeps up here in what are ultimately less-than-illuminating prison interviews with the documentary makers. Others, including Williamson's best friend, contend that Vallum was under no illusions about Williamson's anatomy, and that he killed her in fear of retribution from the homophobic street gang of which he was a member. The documentary makers handle the story respectfully, but it's a sad, squalid one that serves mainly to underline the threat of violence under which so many transgender people live. Brad Newsome