PICKS OF THE DAY
Entertainment: The Last Leg, C4, 10pm
We get two for the price of one this week in terms of special guests as the hosting trio of Alex Brooker, Josh Widdicombe and Adam Hills (left) are joined by brother-and-sister duo Daisy May and Charlie Cooper. As usual, the #isitok paves the way for the gang to round up, examine and explain the leading and most entertaining news stories of the week. Anyone who has been making the news this week needs to prepare for some pelters from the team here.
Cookery: MasterChef, BBC1, 9pm
You have to be a cook with some amount of confidence to happily serve up a plate of food to renowned critic Jay Rayner. Well, that’s what faces the six talented heat winners. Rayner asks them to produce an exceptional dish incorporating stuffing. Nothing like a nice vague remit! As ever, John Torode and Gregg Wallace (both above) are either side of the guest critic to offer their two penn’orth.
Transport: The Yorkshire Steam Railway: All Aboard, Channel 5, 8pm
With all the nonsense going on with the building of HS2 it is nice to switch off and enjoy an hour of steamy tranquillity in the North Yorkshire Moors every Friday night. Paul Middleton, aka Piglet, and the team attempt to finish the restoration of a 9F locomotive that has taken more than 50 years, and also bring the monster King Edward IV engine to the branch line for its gala. It cost a small fortune to transport there, and Piglet doesn’t know if it will fit on the small branch line. Plus, we meet Beth, the railway’s first female loco driver, and follow Gill and Sammie on the Pullman dining train for their last afternoon tea service of the season.
Travel: Celebrity Britain By Barge: Then & Now, Channel 5, 9pm
Pete Waterman and Jennie Bond (both above) are again joined by Anne Diamond and Bill Oddie as they cross Scotland from the west coast to the east on its oldest canal, the Forth and Clyde. On their way, they learn about the role Clydesdale horses played on the waterway and find out how pleasure boats began to use the canal in the late 1800s.
Film: Bridge Of Spies, Film4, 6.10pm
This Steven Spielberg espionage drama drips class and truly is a cinematic triumph. A lawyer in 1950s New York is hired to represent a Soviet spy in a showcase trial designed to demonstrate the fairness of the US justice system. In the face of public condemnation, he argues against the death penalty, a stance that years later leads to his involvement in an exchange of prisoners in East Germany. Fact-based Cold War drama, starring Tom Hanks (right).