TV PICKS OF THE WEEK
Can’t miss telly for the next 7 days
ANT & DEC’S SATURDAY NIGHT TAKEAWAY
Tonight, ITV, 7pm
The duo were like a little ray of sunshine when they reappeared on our screens last week with the first of a new run of their much-loved show.
Thankfully, the fun is all set to continue this Saturday because the Pandas are back – we’ll get to see them trying to escape from the famous Hamleys toy shop in London.
Andi Peters is also in action, while Gordon Ramsay is the latest celebrity to act as the star guest announcer.
Plus, there’s another chance to Win the Ads and the Takeaway Rainbow is hitting the road again.
MCDONALD & DODDS Tomorrow, ITV, 8pm
If you needed proof of how likeable or popular this odd-couple murder mystery is, then look no further than the calibre of guest stars appearing in the second season’s first episode.
Rupert Graves, Martin Kemp, Patsy Kensit and Cathy Tyson play Gordon, Mick, Barbara and Jackie – a quartet of friends who achieved notoriety in the 1980s.
They become the chief suspects after a hot-air balloon trip ends in murder. Rob Brydon plays jobsworth Roy Gilbert from the Air Incident Investigation Agency who helps the eponymous Bath detectives (Tala Gouveia and Jason Watkins) with their investigation.
MASTERCHEF Monday, BBC1, 9pm
John Torode and Gregg Wallace are back for a new series of the cookery competition. Thomas Frake won last year’s show, and he returns as a guest judge tonight, alongside 2014 champion Ping Coombes.
Five chefs compete for the four aprons that represent a chance of a quarter-final place. Two aprons will be granted after each chef has cooked their signature dishes, and the three who miss out then vie to avoid elimination in a new ‘favourite ingredient’ challenge.
WHY IS COVID KILLING PEOPLE OF COLOUR? Tuesday, BBC1, 9pm
Last year, it was reported that black,
Asian and ethnic minority patients were dying in disproportionate numbers from Covid-19.
In this documentary, actor David Harewood tries to find out why. He begins in Brent, north-west London, which is one of the most diverse areas in the UK and, during the first wave of the pandemic, had the highest Covid-19 mortality rate in the country. David explores whether this was mirrored elsewhere in the UK, and discovers your job can be a huge risk factor with coronavirus.
THE TERROR Wednesday, BBC2, 9pm
In 1845, two ships under the
command of Captain John Franklin set sail from Britain on a voyage to the Arctic to locate the Northwest Passage. Three years later, they had both disappeared, with all 129 crew members presumed dead.
This 10-part survival horror series tells a fictionalised account of what befell the men of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. In tonight’s opener Franklin’s (Ciaran Hinds) Royal Navy expedition runs into difficulty and both ships become stuck on the ice.
PIERS MORGAN’S LIFE STORIES Thursday, ITV, 9pm
Actor and director Rupert Everett is the latest celebrity to join Piers for an intimate chat about his life and career. They discuss the caustic comments Rupert has made about several co-stars, including Madonna and Julia Roberts. He also talks about the promiscuous life he led in the 1970s and 1980s, the impact of the HIV/Aids crisis, and his romantic relationships with women.
DEUTSCHLAND 89 Friday, More4, 9pm
The third and final series of the acclaimed drama begins.
When the Berlin Wall falls on November 9, 1989, super spy Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay) and his fellow agents at the East German Foreign Intelligence are left reeling.
Their government has collapsed, their organisation is in chaos and their futures are uncertain.
The full boxset will be on All 4 after this first episode airs.