THIS WEEK’S TOP TV PICKS
RURAL Countryfile Sunday, BBC1, 6pm
Millions in the he UK grew up watching John Craven (right), and many of them remember him fondly and best for Newsround. But since 1989 89 he has been a mainstay of Countryfile, bringing viewers rural news from across the nation. Now he is celebrating his 50th year as a broadcaster by revisiting some of his favourite places and memories from the show. He starts by unearthing something spectacular almost on the doorstep of his childhood home in Yorkshire, before indulging his passion for poetry in Cambridgeshire, visiting an ancient Scottish battlefield and dicing with danger in the Dark Hedges area of Northern Ireland.
TRAVEL Johnny Vegas: Carry On Glamping
Wednesday, Channel 4, 10pm
Even the biggest fan of Johnny Vegas (right) will admit the comic is hardly the first name you’d think of when en it comes to on-trend style and luxury. But now the star of Benidorm and Ideal is exploring the latest fashion in holidays – making over old vehicles into shiny, alluring accommodation for glamping getaways. The ambitious aim is to create a bright new holiday site by the end of this four-part series, while transforming a tired rustbucket of a bus along the way. But with Vegas and his pals involved it’s perhaps no surprise that hardly anything goes according to plan, at least to begin with, in this week’s thoroughly entertaining opening episode.
COMEDY Bloods
Wednesday, Sky One, 10pm
Famalam’s Samson Kayo o and Jane Horrocks (right) may look like an odd couple, but Sky thinks they’re a winning combo mbo – that’s why they’re entrusted with the lead roles in a promising new six-part sitcom. We’ve learnt a lot about the heroics of frontline workers in the past year, but we suspect that the world of toughacting loner Maleek (Kayo, who co-created the series) and chatty, friendly Wendy (Horrocks) is about as far removed from that as it can get. The pair are paramedics thrown together when they begin working for a South London ambulance service, and they form an unlikely friendship while navigating the pitfalls of their difficult job.
DOCUMENTARY Ian Wright: Home Truths Thursday, BBC1, 9pm
Football fans s have long cherished Wright (pictured) as a BBC sports pundit, and before that as an England striker. But though Ian Wright now presents a cheery personality to the world, he had to struggle through an abusive childhood. In this hardhitting documentary the former Arsenal star makes the difficult journey to explore that traumatic past as he also finds out about the reality for children nowadays who have to endure disturbed or even violent behaviour in the home. But there are also inspirational, uplifting moments as he meets charity workers who are doing all they can to rescue youngsters from families where abuse is rife.
HISTORY Revealed: Cleopatra’s Lost City Friday, Channel 5, 9pm
It was a thriving metropolis lost for centuries. But after a decadeslong search, the remains of the he city of Canopus pus were discovered off the coast of Egypt – and with it countless treasures from the time of Cleopatra and the Roman Empire. An exciting adventure in archaeology is reconstructed in a fascinating documentary in which diver Franck Goddio looms large as an aquatic, real-life Indiana Jones, while the past is brought to life through extraordinary longburied objects. But this is also the story of the events that preceded the city’s disappearance – and the abiding mysteries that remain. With Maria-Anna Kyriacou (above) as Cleopatra.