Death In Paradise

Season 9 BBC First (*119) 20:00 Action

Episode 8 A murder investigation takes an unexpected turn when a blind woman is the only witness.

NB! There will be a season 10.

Season 1 History Channel (*186) 20:15 Reality

Fun reality show Eating History (2020) sees presenters Josh Macuga (reality show Movie Trivia Schmoedown 20142019) and newcomer Old Smokey seek out and actually eat vintage food – like stuff found in abandoned bunkers and old fridges. Doesn’t matter how old it is, if it’s there, they’ll have a taste. “A lot of these foods have long and colourful histories,” says Josh. “If they’re still on shelves today, why not try them?”

Why eat something that’s been sitting around for decades? “It’s the best way to understand history,” says Josh, adding that “we’re not eating giant handfuls of the food. In most cases, we’re just tasting it, and you get a lot of taste from just a single bite of some of these older foods. I’m a storyteller. And being able to taste the history just adds that extra bit to an already rich past.”

But isn’t it dangerous? The two presenters have a medic on set at all times and a toxicologist gives the thumbs up or thumbs down first. “If it’s too risky, it’s an immediate no,” explains Josh. “What we’re guarding against is not dying because of botulism (caused by a toxin produced by bacteria Clostridium botulinum), because botulism is real. It can paralyse you, it can kill you easily. We have to be very, very safe.”

How bad does old food taste? According to Josh, it depends and sometimes you just can’t predict. Josh was pleasantly surprised at how good first-generation Pringles chips tasted. On the other hand, in episode 1 “something that we thought was going to be totally fine was the 1970s Frito chips,” says the host. “That really knocked our pants off as far as tasting bad.”