Thursday television & radio
Bridgerton
Netflix
After a two-year wait, fans of this fanciful Regency saga can now gorge on the first half of the third season, the opening four episodes being based on Julia Quinn’s 2002 novel Romancing Mister Bridgerton. Nicola Coughlan (so good as bipolar Maggie in Channel 4’s recent Big Mood) and Luke Newton return as Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton – a heartbroken Penelope promising to give up her long-held crush on Colin after that overheard rebuff at the Featherington Ball. She has a potential new suitor, however, in the shape of dashing newcomer Lord Debling (The Crown’s Sam Phillips).
Coca-Cola’s Dirty Secret: Dispatches
8pm, Channel 4
Coca-Cola is the biggest softdrinks producer in the world – and stands accused of being its biggest polluter. Reporter Ellie Flynn – herself a big Coca-Cola lover – looks at what Coke says it is doing and investigates the reality: from uncovering what happens to used bottles to Coke’s claims about recycled plastic and water sustainability.
MasterChef
9pm, BBC One
The semi-finalists need to impress John Torode and Gregg Wallace with a dish that “really turns on the theatrics”. For one, the show ends here, but the remaining five are then whisked off to Buckinghamshire, home to an ancient forest which provides the backdrop for Nomadic – a “wilderness dining experience”. Here, Swedish Michelin-starred chef Niklas Ekstedt sets them the task of rustling up a five-course menu for a conservationists’ dinner hosted by bushcraft expert Ray Mears.
Taskmaster
9pm, Channel 4
The best episode yet in a slightly underwhelming series of the otherwise dependable comedy game show – starting with contestants asked to bring in “things that Greg would like to squeeze”. Joanne McNally was born without cartilage in her nose, although Greg Davies isn’t sure he wants to squeeze her snout when proffered. Elsewhere, Sophie Willan makes a charming wolf beatbox, Steve Pemberton skins a mannequin and Nick Mohammed keeps winking at Alex Horne.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
9pm, Sky Atlantic
Inevitably perhaps, given the relative amount of screen time they share, it is the relationship between the titular Auschwitz inmate Lali (Jonah Hauer-King) and his SS guard and benefactor Stefan Baretzki (Jonas Nay) that has so far been the most compelling part of this adaptation of Heather Morris’s
novel, and not Lali’s romance with Gita (Anna Próchniak). However, in this latest episode, Lali tries to get medicine for Gita as her condition deteriorates, asking Dr Schumann for help when he is sent to the hospital to tattoo prisoners there.
Joe & Katherine’s Bargain Holidays
10pm, Channel 4
Joe Wilkinson and Katherine Ryan go on an adventure holiday in South Wales, where Wilkinson introduces his companion to his DIY version of glamping. The duo also take part in a beach clean, enter a sandcastle competition and visit a museum celebrating the baked bean.
Gerard Gilbert
Sahara
6.40pm, Film4
(Breck Eisner, 2005)
Matthew McConaughey plays an adventurer-hero named Dirk Pitt, who wants to salvage a Civil War battleship which he thinks is buried in the Sahara. Penélope Cruz stars as a doctor and love interest. A slick, big-budget adventure film.
Elvis
8pm, Sky Cinema Drama
(Baz Luhrmann, 2022)
Austin Butler has the moves and the voice down in this Elvis biopic; Tom Hanks lays on the accent and panto villainy as Colonel Parker, the sideshow huckster who discovered and managed him and exploited him for all he was worth.
It takes liberties with the usual rules of boring realist biopic filmmaking, and the result is thrillingly energised; an absolute whirling carnival ride of a movie.
Quartet
9pm, BBC Four
(Dustin Hoffman, 2012)
Hoffman’s directorial debut is a comforting dramedy with Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins as four famous opera singers, all living in a retirement home in the English countryside. With the home’s financial security in question, will they reunite to perform the quartet from Verdi’s Rigoletto at a charity gala?
Laurence Phelan