THIS WEEK’S TOP TV PICKS
ENTERTAINMENT Dancing On Ice Sunday, ITV, 6pm
Billie Shepherd, erd, Colin Jackson, Denise Van Outen (right), Faye Brookes, Graham Bell, Jason Donovan, Joe-Warren Plant, Lady Leshurr, Myleene Klass, Rebekah Vardy, Rufus Hound and Sonny Jay are the latest celebrities venturing on to the ice. Several of them have already appeared on Strictly, so they should find the moves relatively straightforward, providing they can remain upright on the ice long enough to execute them – and as long as there’s no more of the pre-season bad luck that has seen five crew members test positive for Covid and contestant Yebin Mok injured by a blade. Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield are back to host the proceedings, of course.
DOCUMENTARY Long Lost Family Monday, ITV, 9pm
Brace yourself elf for more heartrending real-life drama from the returning Baftaawardwinning show in which ch family members bers who have been split apart by fate and tragedy are reunited, with a little help from a small army of expert investigators and the two presenters, Davina McCall (above) and Nicky Campbell. As the show comes back with a fivepart series, in this week’s opening episode there are two different stories. A couple who have been searching for more than 40 years for the child they had to hand over for adoption desperately hope for an end to their quest, while elsewhere one man has spent a lifetime looking for the mother who gave him up at birth.
NATURE Winterwatch Tuesday-Friday, BBC2, 8pm
Turn the radiators up and huddle under the blanket as you enjoy seeing the Winterwatch team bravely shivering out ut in the cold so o they can show us all the natural glory of Britain in live broadcasts from across the country over four nights. While Chris Packham (above) is in the depths of his native New Forest, Iolo Williams reports from the Centre For Alternative Technology in Wales, Gillian Burke is on site at the Cornwall Beaver Project, and Indy Green searches for the elusive goshawk in the skies above Sherwood Forest. Plus, north of the border we go below the surface of Loch Carron for a glimpse of the amazing crawling brittle stars.
COMEDY Back Thursday, Channel 4, 10pm
Fans have had ad to wait for more e than three years for the second series of the comedy that reharnessed the talents of f the Peep Show ow stars – with production delayed by the pandemic and heart surgery for Robert Webb. But now he’s back in fine comic form alongside David Mitchell (above). Stephen (Mitchell) has been driven to psychiatric treatment after finding no one else in his family shares his suspicions about returning foster brother Andrew (Webb) – so the battle for control of the family pub is rejoined, providing a platform for Simon Blackwell’s surreal, caustic script, as well as an answer to that burning question: should you say ‘Cup-A-Soups’? Or ‘Cups-A-Soup’?
DRAMA It’s A Sin Friday, Channel 4, 9pm
Welcome to the pleasure dome: London at the start of the 1980s is a place of new freedom for gay men enjoying the fevered social al scene in nightclubs that throb to the captivating disco beat. Only everything is soon set to change as a mysterious new disease claims victims who have nothing in common except their sexuality. Queer As Folk writer Russell T. Davies follows five friends through the first years of AIDS in a hotly anticipated drama, in which scenes of gleeful revelry give way to heart-rending tragedy. Years & Years singer Olly Alexander stars as perky acting student Ritchie, alongside Stephen Fry, Neil Patrick Harris and Shaun Dooley (above).