What to watch
Masterchef: The Final BBC ONE, 8.30PM
It has taken 25 episodes over seven weeks to whittle down the 56 amateur contestants to three finalists, and in the process, Masterchef 2018 has produced some of the best cooking – and some of the toughest competition – in the series’ long history. (It has been running in one form or another since 1990; and since 2005 in, roughly, its current format with judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode presenting.)
This last week has been no exception, with the finalists having to dig deeper than ever to produce the best dishes of their lives and some great moments – notably during the spectacular trip to South America when they met Peruvian superchef Gaston Acurio and took on a service at the fifth best restaurant in the world, the Central in Lima, under Michelinstarred maestro Virgilio Martínez Véliz.
In the finale, it’s all about who cooks the best food, though, as the final three return to the studio kitchen to undergo a test of culinary skills and nerve as they set about creating the most important three-course meal of their lives – in the hope of being judged worthy of a title that has launched many a great career: Masterchef champion. Gerard O’donovan about a family marooned in space when their ship runs into difficulty on their way to a new colony and crashes on an unknown and surprisingly hostile planet. There are plenty of thrills and impressive visual effects, and Toby Stephens and Molly Parker are excellent as the pioneering Robinson parents John and Judy, while Parker Posey is an enigmatic (and now female) Dr Smith. GO
The City & the City BBC TWO, 9.00PM; WALES, 9.30PM
Cop thrillers don’t come much more weirdly dystopian than China Miéville’s award-winning 2009 novel about a conjoined pair of cities and this ultra-stylish adaptation serves its source material very well. In episode two, Inspector Tyador Borlú (David Morrissey) ventures back across the border to the sleek and affluent Ul Qoma while investigating the murder of a foreign student. But Detective Dhatt (Maria Schrader) stands firmly in his way. GO