PICK OF THE DAY

The Hairy Bikers’ Chicken And Egg

8PM, BBC2 According to the Hairy Bikers, 95 per cent of us eat chicken, and chickens produce eggs – so, for this unhurried new series, they’re off on a fourcontinent adventure to cook recipes that involve both. Chicken hasn’t always been so popular, though; it was during the reign of Queen Victoria that its consumption really took off, thanks to the arrival of exotic breeds that were plumper than the scraggy British variety, and improvements to ovens that allowed for proper cooking. Dave and Si are in the UK to start, and show us how to cook a good old-fashioned roast.

Fishing Impossible

7.30PM, ITV The men of this rock ’n’ roll new fishing show start the series as they mean to go on, by trying to catch salmon from ‘under the noses’ of grizzly bears in the wilds of British Columbia, Canada. It’s utterly ridiculous – one of them dresses as a bear for the hunt – and a bit shouty, but they’re all having a good time, and that’s fun to watch.

New York: America’s Busiest City

9PM, BBC2 Part two digs into the logistics of feeding a city that produces almost none of its own food. We learn of clever solutions – apples can be kept fresh for almost a year in climatecontrolled rooms – and nuggets from the colourful history of the fish markets, which seem worthy of deeper study.

Motherland

10PM, BBC2 This spot-on new comedy pilot about middle-class mums (and one dad) features some very intense and recognisable characters. Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin) is a working mother who drinks through the pain when she’s suddenly saddled with a lot of children. Can she impress ‘alpha mum’ Amanda (a perfect Lucy Punch)?

Si King and Dave Myers