The very best of the week ahead
Today Race Across the World
BBC TWO, 8.00PM; WALES, 8.50PM
This winning mix of reality TV and travelogue returns with five new pairs of contestants primed for adventure. The frills-free premise sees teams tasked with crossing the globe without using a plane, and stripped of a phone, internet and credit cards. This series sees our travellers take a circuitous 25,000km trip from Mexico City to remote Ushuaia at the bottom of Argentina, with five stop-off points along the way. The show’s success depends on its cast and each team has a purpose for undertaking the challenge that gently compels. Brother and sister Dom and Lizzie want to mend their relationship; couple Michael and Shuntelle are putting their compatibility to the test; mother Jo is hoping ADHD-suffering son Sam can build his confidence; Rob has lost his hearing and wants to improve communication with wife Jen, and uncle and nephew Emon and Jamiul are getting reacquainted. There’s no sensationalism, just people overcoming tough but realistic obstacles and learning about themselves in the process. Toby Dantzic
Last Tango in Halifax
BBC ONE, 9.00PM
The return of Sally Wainwright’s sweet but sharp drama continues with the usual affecting wrangles. Alan (Derek Jacobi) and Celia (Anne Reid) struggle with their kitchen renovation, and a misunderstanding at work leaves Caroline (Sarah Lancashire) in the lurch. TD
Monday y Inside No 9
BBC TWO, 10.00PM; NOT NI
Few series have as perfect a hit rate as Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s Inside ide No 9. Tonight’s finale is another cracker. On the surface it’s a simple tale of two cops on a stakeout in a graveyard (the No 9 in this case being the cop car). Pemberton’s PC Thompson lost his partner Dobson in a vicious attack, for which the evidence has gone missing, and we know from the opening scene that new partner PCSO Varney (Shearsmith) is destined to go the same way. But how and why? As with all episodes, most of the fun comes from simply watching Pemberton and Shearsmith’s characters shoot the breeze, and there are some neat jokes about veganism as well as a smart dissection of police procedural tropes. There are, however, hints of darker things going on. Thompson has PTSD and Varney is asking difficult questions. The twist, when it comes, is wonderfully wicked, marking a fantastic conclusion to what has been another great g series. Sarah Hughes
Miriam’s Big Fat Adventure
BBC TWO, 9.00PM
Miriam Margoly Margolyes, 14 stone at 78 years year old, is touchingly honest hone in this fifirst first episode of o a two- two-part part fil film about obesity. “I fully understa understand most people w would say get ove over yourself and sto stop eating – it’s not no that simple simple.” A heartfe heartfelt journey that concludes tomorrow. SH
Tuesday
The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand up to Cancer
CHANNEL 4, 8.00PM
Bake Off does its bit for Stand Up to Cancer by hosting a five-part series in which well-known faces undertake the nation’s favourite TV baking competition. This opening episode has a strong mix of ingredients – documentary-maker Louis Theroux, comedians Russell Howard and Jenny Eclair, and Love Island’s
Ovie Soko – to produce a rich and entertaining confection. Ahead of them are the traditional challenges of Signature (here a giant decorative biscuit), Technical (four perfect millefeuille) and Showstopper (a suitably self-regarding choux-bun sculpture). All the celebrities claim that they have never baked so much as an oven chip before, but it is painfully evident – as regular judges Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood are keen to point out – that some have been swotting up. Except for Howard, that is, whose frustration and incompetence will be more relatable to viewers than some of the more polished efforts. In their last series together, Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding inject an extra layer of silliness. Gerard O’Donovan
Joanna Lumley’s Hidden Caribbean: Havana to Haiti
ITV, 9.00PM
Joanna Lumley embarks on a 1,500mile tour of these “intoxicating” yet contrasting Caribbean neighbours, starting in the capital of postrevolutionary Cuba she visits the tomb of Che Guevara before charming her way into a tobacco factory, a boxing gym and even the island’s newest, and decidedly non-communist, $5,000-a-night hotel. GO
Wednesday
Child of Our Time: Turning 20
BBC TWO, 9.00PM
This stand-alone hour represents a rather muted send-off for a project launched with great fanfare two decades ago. It’s now shorn of its great champion Robert Winston in favour of a simple voice-over and stripped of much of the scientific rigour. And though it remains compelling – and boasts a wider societal cross section than Michael Apted’s wonderful project – it’s a little rudderless. Fewer than half of the original 25 children followed from birth to adulthood contribute here (one, the artist Alison Lapper’s son Parys, died last year after years of mental health struggles), but those who do show up – Eve, child of evangelical Christians, Jamie, who survived a diabetic coma, and Rhianna, defiantly non-conformist – prove articulate and level-headed, as well as sanguine about the project. While Child of Our Time hasn’t provided answers in the nature/ nurture debate, the lives of its participants have demonstrated changing attitudes towards marriage, mental health and sexuality, almost entirely for the better. Gabriel Tate
The Great Pottery Throw Down: the Final
MORE4, 9.00PM
Melanie Sykes presents the climax to the amiable contest where the wheels move faster than the pulses. The final three potters make tea sets inspired by the Mad Hatter’s tea party, then take on a testing throwing challenge, before a champion is crowned. GT
Thursday Noughts + Crosses
BBC ONE, 9.00PM
The adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s critically acclaimed young adult novel continues with a second episode that builds on the promise of the first while offering a deeper understanding of the world in which the story is set. The relationship between Sephy (Masali Baduza) and Callum (Jack Rowan), is believably handled, but where Noughts + Crosses really excels is in the worldbuilding. The more we see of Blackman’s alternative society the more fascinating it becomes, observed here through a Nought funeral and Callum’s military school passing out ceremony. The supporting characters are coming into their own too, and
Lydia Adetunji’s smart script does a neat job of keeping the story flowing while allowing personalities to develop. This is true of Jonathan Ajayi, who delivers a charismatic turn as Sephy’s boyfriend Lekan, inducing both sympathy and repulsion. Elsewhere, Sephy’s father Kamal (the wonderfully sinister Paterson Joseph) makes a dangerous new alliance. SH
How to Beat: Ageing
CHANNEL 4, 8.00PM
Kate Quilton and Dr Javid Abdelmoneim kick off this new series with a focus on ageing. Eight willing participants undergo tests to find out their biological age. The results are eye-opening, and, once the fitness challenges begin, educational. SH
Friday Sport Relief 2020
BBC ONE, FROM 7.00PM/BBC TWO, 10.00PM
Another night of fundraising, with some special treats for fans of BBC drama. Those awaiting the return of Jodie Comer’s assassin Villanelle ( Killing Eve) or the AC-12 gang ( Line of Duty) will be delighted at the prospect of one-off spoof Killing Steves (in which a slew of unfortunate Steves, including Redgrave and Davis, are bumped off), plus appearances from Lee Mack and Jason Isaacs in the sort of line up that makes one wonder if someone’s been sucking on a little too much diesel. The evening also features Andy Murray v Romesh Ranganathan in a crazy golf challenge, while teams from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky battle it out in The Celebrity Boat Race. Hosts include Gary Lineker, Paddy McGuinness and Rylan Clark-Neal. GT
Wild Cuba: A Caribbean journey
BBC TWO, 8.30PM
Colin Stafford-Johnson concludes his survey of Cuba’s flora and fauna with further gobsmacking encounters, including with miniature frogs smaller than his fingernail. GT