10 SWITCH-ONS
OUR PICKS OF THE WEEK’S BEST TV
Nigella: At My Table
BBC2, 8.30pm, Monday The chef celebrates the food she loves to cook for friends and family at home, demonstrating a wide range of recipes that are warming, comforting and inspirational.
In the first edition, Nigella shares new discoveries like her Turkish-inspired eggs and old-fashioned favourites including the aptly named Queen of Puddings. She also rustles up a simple chicken and pea tray-bake for a relaxed get-together around the table.
Man Down
Channel 4, 10pm, Wednesday Great sitcoms are few and far between these days.
Thankfully, series four of Greg Davies’s sublime series continues to ease those midweek blues, and the latest offering is no exception as Dan ponders impending fatherhood.
As ever he’s joined by uptight financial adviser Brian (Mike Wozniak) and lovably barking ‘entrepreneur” Jo (Roisin Conaty).
Davies and Ed Gamble’s terrific scripts are capable of brightening the dullest autumn night.
The Great British Bake Off: The Final
Channel 4, 8pm, Tuesday One of the nicest surprises of 2017 has been the success of Channel 4’s updated twist on the familiar Bake Off recipe.
Happily, this year’s series has gone down a treat.
Now – rather too soon, we feel – it’s time for the final, with the remaining three tasked with creating a vast and impressive spread in order to clinch the crown. But whose flavours will the judges favour?
Doc Martin
ITV, 9pm, Wednesday It is the annual Portwenn versus Port Carran gig race and school gig festival, and this time Penhale is the umpire and Morwenna is the Portwenn team captain.
However, Morwenna is forced to find a replacement rower when Eric dislocates his finger.
Meanwhile, Mel Hendy goes to see Martin at the surgery worried about a rash that could be infectious, but she ends up opening up to him about her concerns over her husband’s drinking.
Later Live With Jools Holland
BBC2, Tuesday, 10pm Former Oasis songwriter and guitarist Noel Gallagher and his band High Flying Birds showcase new album Who Built the Moon?, and American singer-songwriter Aimee Mann performs tracks from her latest LP Mental Illness.
Plus, appearances by British-Albanian singer Dua Lipa, Albanian folk collective Saz’iso, East London-based eight-piece band Superorganism and Mali duo Amadou & Mariam.
Ross Kemp Behind Bars: Inside Barlinnie
ITV, 9pm, Thursday The former EastEnders star is back with this new one-off in which he profiles the staff and inmates at HMP Barlinnie in Glasgow.
Ross gets a taste of what it is like to be one of the 1250 prisoners and examines how officers handle the homemade weapons, drugs and violence.
He also meets an inmate preparing for freedom, and enters the wing housing sex offenders,
Exodus: Our Journey Continues
BBC2, 9pm, Thursday A follow-up to a 2016 documentary, following the lives of migrants and refugees.
They include Dame, who describes life as a refugee in London as like being ‘a ghost in a prison’.
Meanwhile, newlyweds Ali and Sharin from Afghanistan have spent a month camping on the streets of Thessaloniki, waiting to be smuggled across the borders into Macedonia and Serbia.
A Very Royal Wedding
ITV, 9pm, Monday A lot of pundits are claiming to hear wedding bells for Prince Harry, but the royal romance we should definitely be celebrating is that between the Queen and Prince Philip, who celebrate their 70th anniversary next month.
To mark this auspicious occasion, Pointless host Alexander Armstrong presents a feature-length documentary looking back at their big day.
The wedding took place in a time of post-war austerity, but Armstrong finds out how a battered Britain still managed to make this a royal wedding to remember.
Joan Collins and Sheila Hancock are among the celebs sharing their memories. But this was the ‘people’s wedding’ and Armstrong hears from the ordinary people who helped make it happen.
Porridge
BBC1, 8.30pm, Friday Forty years after one Fletcher left prison, Norman Stanley’s grandson Nigel (Kevin Bishop) finds himself doing an extended spell inside.
In this week’s offering, depressed rock star Rob Strange (Phil Cornwell) arrives at the prison, and Fletch (2.0) is assigned to keep an eye on him. However, events take an unexpected turn.
Good support comes from Dave Hill and Mark Bonnar, while director Dominic Brigstocke wrings every last gag from the script.
Gogglebox: Celebrity Special
Channel 4, 9pm, Friday A review of recent shows to hit the small screen, featuring the appearance of celebrity guests in support of Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer initiative.
From Saturday night entertainment juggernauts to the week’s biggest news stories and from hard-hitting documentary series to gritty drama, the participants offer sharp, insightful, funny and sometimes emotional critiques of popular and topical shows.