Sky-high standards at world’s top hotels

AmAzing Hotels: life Beyond tHe loBBy, BBC2

IF you’re looking for somewhere spectacular and swanky to stay, this is the programme for you.

The documentary looked behind the scenes at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, a hotel that’s, quite frankly, out of this world.

Its splendour is clear even on first view…the hotel looks like a giant surfboard perched on top of three huge skyscrapers.

But when you step inside, it’s something else entirely.

The 57-storey building has 60 restaurants, 9,500 members of staff, a street of designer boutiques, two cinemas, a museum and one of the largest casinos in south east Asia on site. It’s more like a small city. And the pièce de résistance is the swimming pool in the sky – a stunning infinity pool perched on the roof with views over the Singapore skyline.

Top chef Monica Galetti and restaurant critic Giles Coren shadowed the staff, from the valet parking team who spend their days revving Ferraris, to the maintenance man who changes hundreds of lightbulbs in the wee small hours while the guests are asleep.

All in all, it looked amazing and one that’s definitely on my list of places to visit.

The only problem is there are six parts in this series, featuring a different amazing hotel every time.

Better start saving!

Rio feRdinAnd: Being mum And dAd, BBC1

Former footballer Rio Ferdinand lost his 34-year-old wife Rebecca in May, 2015, to breast cancer.

Almost two years on, he is still trying to come to terms with the loss and its effects on him and his three children.

This was a real heartbreaking tear-jerker.