TV PICK OF THE WEEK
MONDAY
Jamie’s Comfort Food (Channel 4, 8pm) For the past six weeks Jamie’s been demonstrating how to put new twists on old favourites - and those of us who have followed his methods to the very last grain or dribble will probably have put a few inches on their waists as well. He signs off with three classics, beginning with ham, egg and chips with a Jamaican jerk rub and caramelised pineapple. He then serves up a chicken kebab with hummus and mango amba sauce, and finishes off with a mouth-watering three-tiered chocolate sponge cake with nougat frosting. Glue (E4, 10pm) This offbeat mix of Skins and Broadchurch reaches the halfway point tonight, and we’re no closer to guessing who killed poor, unfortunate Cal. The police’s investigation into the tragedy continues, causing their relationship with the local traveller community to reach an all-time low. Ruth is caught in the crossfire, and her uneasy relationship with Dominic reaches crisis point.
TUESDAY
Cat Watch 2014: The New Horizon Experiment (BBC2, 8pm) They’re loveable and affectionate, but have you ever wondered what your moggy gets up to when you’re not around? Liz Bonnin is going to bring us all the answers in this new threepart series which studies the behaviour of cats. She’s joining forces with some of the world’s leading feline experts to bring us this groundbreaking study, which sees 100 cats hooked up to GPS trackers and mini cameras in three different environments to see exactly what it is they get up to when they leave the house. First up, the programme looks into how cats see, hear and smell their way around the world with senses developed by their wild ancestors The Driver (BBC1, 9pm) In tonight’s final episode, Vince’s life is set to go from bad to worse. With Ros now fully clued up about her hubby’s illegal activities, she wants him out of the house, and to make matters worse, he now seems to be in the police’s sights after they uncover new evidence. Forced into a corner, he decides to work with the authorities, but he’ll have to be careful not to put a foot wrong, or he could end up with a lengthy prison sentence, or a fate altogether more final courtesy of The Horse.
WEDNESDAY
Welcome to ITVBe (ITVBe, 7pm) Peter Andre and Jamelia: together at last. No, you haven’t stepped back into the 1990s - this is indeed 2014 and it’s a very important time of year for ITV. They are finally launching the much-anticipated entertainment and lifestyle channel, ITVBe, and from 7pm, Andre and Jamelia are our hosts with the most, getting the whole thing kick-started. LONG SHADOW (BBC2, 8pm) As the nation continues to commemorate the centenary of the First World War, David Reynolds concludes his explorations of its legacy. Here the historian looks at the explosion of nationalist fervour across Europe, and argues that the conflict made national identity a stark matter of ‘us versus them’. He journeys to the Sudetenland in the Czech Republic and to Versailles in France, where he investigates the drastically changed map of middle Europe in 1919, and reveals how the new states brought together from the ruins of the Habsburg Empire destabilised the whole European continent.
THURSDAY
Game of Arms (Dave, 8pm) If you thought of arm wrestling as essentially a sport for the playground or a drunken night in the pub, this new series from the award-winning team behind Deadliest Catch should make you think again. It turns out that in the US, competitive arm wrestling is a big deal. Cameras follow the members of five clubs in Pennsylvania, Kansas, New York, California and Louisiana as they go on the road to put their reputations, money and sometimes even their relationships on the line. Peaky Blinders (BBC2, 9pm) Peaky Blinders already boasts Cillian Murphy and Sam O’Neill, but in this second episode, another movie star drops by in the shape of Tom Hardy. Maybe he wanted to get involved because he knew he’d be among friends – he appeared alongside Murphy in The Dark Knight Rises and Inception, and previously collaborated with writer Steven Knight on the movie Locke. Or perhaps it was just the role he found irresistible as he’s been cast as charismatic gang leader Alfie Solomons.
FRIDAY
Big School (BBC1, 9.30pm) Miss Postern is not the sort of woman to tell tales out of school, so she winds up in a meeting with snooty Ms Baron, who still hasn’t learned her colleague’s name, and apparently has no plan to in the near future. The flame-haired teacher is concerned about the homeless Mr Barber, who has been sleeping in her classroom. He denies it, though the fact he’s left a box of his belongings with his name on the side gives the game away. The Graham Norton Show (BBC1, 10.35pm) John Cleese and Neil Diamond have a lot in common. Both are in their early 70s; they’ve both been married several times, and they both rose to fame in the early 1960s. Their careers have ebbed and flowed over the past 50 years, but in 2014 they are more popular than ever, as this week’s show should prove when they drop into the studio to plug their projects. Other guests are pop powerhouse Taylor Swift and cricketer Kevin Pietersen.