Zoe Ball’s Hardest Road Home
BBC ONE, 9.00PM; WALES, 10.40PM
As anyone who spends time listening to BBC radio will be aware, Zoe Ball spent five days this month cycling over 300 miles from her birthplace of Blackpool to her home back in Brighton to raise awareness for mental health as part of Sport Relief. This documentary covers that epic journey – and Ball, who does her absolute best to keep her spirits high even when the rolling Cotswolds hills threaten to be her undoing, comes across as an absolute trooper. There are the standard visits from celebrity pals along the way, including Fearne Cotton and McFly’s Harry Judd, but really this programme is about far more than Ball giving it her best shot. “As some of you might be aware, I lost my boyfriend Billy [Yates, who committed suicide last year during a period of depression] and after he died I really wanted to do something to try and help people who living with mental illness,” Ball explains. And it’s the moving conversations she has with others who have lost loved ones to suicide that resonate. It all adds up to a surprisingly emotional journey and one that will hopefully do a great deal to challenge the stigmas around suicide and depression. Sarah Hughes