WHAT TO WATCH MICHAEL MCINTYRE’S THE WHEEL

BBC One, 8.30pm

The BBC has long puzzled about how best to deploy Michael McIntyre away from stand-up. After a disastrous stint as chat-show host and a rather better one as a variety-show ringmaster, tonight he takes his bow anchoring a new Saturday night quiz show. The Wheel – not to be confused with The Wall – is an entertaining if slightly overextended new entry in a crowded marketplace, with a fairly simple set-up indebted, as all quizzes involving famous people aiding normal people are, to Celebrity Squares: one of three contestants, randomly selected by a spinning wheel, answers trivia questions with the help of a celebrity who

may or may not be an expert on the subject. A wrong answer means one of three is chosen anew; a right one means a new category and a boost to the prize fund.

The celebrities – Mel B, Susie Dent, Dermot O’Leary and Jason Donovan among them – are game, although the increased interaction that would have helped was presumably scuppered by social distancing. McIntyre keeps the hour jogging along, even when it just involves him repeating what the previous person said while chortling, and the tension builds effectively enough. A solid debut, if not an instant smash. Gabriel Tate

Canny connections are made between assertions of sovereignty past and present and there are some fresh insights into the Spanish Armada.

The amiable comedian tries his hand at hosting a quiz show