BEST OF THE REST
MASTERCHEF
BBC1, 9pm/ Wales BBC2, 9pm
There’s so much serious drama about pasta tonight, anyone would think that lives were on the line.
It’s the quarter-final and six heat winners have just one job to do to get through – make a fresh pasta dish as per a brief by food critic Jay Rayner. Cut to Jay striding along with a sneer on his face. He says: “There are very few cooking challenges like pasta, where the gap between mediocre and terrific is so, so large. I’m hoping they will thrill me.”
They have 90 minutes to make the fresh pasta dish, which can be sweet or savoury but must be exceptional.
Afterwards they have to await the verdict as Jay and judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode decide whether or not they will make it through to Knockout Week.
QI
BBC2, 10pm
THE most recent series of the mindboggling quiz has been its 16th, meaning Sandi Toksvig and her guests switched their attention to the letter ‘P’.
In this compilation of the season’s best bits, there are questions on panimals, peril, piecemeal, parts, public and private, pictures, picnics, plants, pubs, pain and punishment, pot pourri, procrastination, phenomena, pathology, pastimes of past times and post. Phew!
Permanent participant Alan Davies is joined by prominent panellists including Stephen K Amos, Danny Baker, Ed Balls, Jimmy Carr, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Noel Fielding, Rhod Gilbert and Teri Hatcher as they ponder pre-prepared pearls of wisdom and a few porky pies.