TV PICKS OF THE WEEK
THE GREAT CELEBRITY BAKE OFF FOR STAND UP TO CANCER
Today, Channel 4, 7.40pm
Has the current run been the best spin-off version of the series yet? It’s certainly been hugely entertaining to see David ‘Ross from Friends’ Schwimmer show off his culinary skills while, at the opposite end of the scale, Lucy Beaumont demonstrated why she should never be allowed into a kitchen again.
Now it’s the turn of Deborah Meaden, Jay Blades, Judi Love and Mike Wozniak to enter the tent. They’ll be tasked with making cheesecakes and a vegan version of a barbecue classic before recreating their first celebrity crush in the showstopper.
STORYVILLE: DEBORAH JAMES – BOWELBABE IN HER OWN WORDS Tomorrow, BBC2, 9pm
From living with incurable bowel cancer, to Damehood, to her untimely death – this documentary features never-seen-before mobile footage, TikTok videos, Instagram posts, You Me and the Big C podcasts, family videos and voice notes to detail the last five years of Dame Deborah James’ life on film.
Filmed with Deborah – known by many as her online persona Bowelbabe – in the last months of her life, she talks frankly about her diagnosis and treatment. She shares personal moments while documenting what the reality of living with bowel cancer was really like.
SPRINGTIME ON THE FARM
Tuesday, Channel 5, 8pm
Helen Skelton, Adam Henson and Jules Hudson are at Cannon Hall Farm in South Yorkshire, providing updates from family farms across the UK. The Nicholson brothers pull out all the stops to save a rare type of Swiss Valais sheep and cameras visit a remote farm in the Pennines, where spring arrives a little later than elsewhere in northern England.
RACE ACROSS
THE WORLD Wednesday, BBC1, 9pm
It’s the halfway stage, and the teams begin the race to the fifth checkpoint, more than 3,000km away on Manitoulin Island. Sadly there is only one way out of Churchill: an overnight train south, followed by two bus journeys from hell.
Following their decision to splash out on a taxi during the previous leg, the current leaders struggle on with only a quarter of their budget remaining.
LONG LOST FAMILY: WHAT HAPPENED NEXT Thursday, ITV, 9pm
It’s been more than 20 years since this emotional roller coaster of a show was first broadcast.
In that time, viewers have watched,
hands on hearts and tissues tightly clutched, as more than 100 people have been reunited with their longlost loved ones. Here, presenters Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell look back at some of the most extraordinary searches, revisiting nine previous cases and catching up with the people involved.
PILGRIMAGE: THE ROAD THROUGH PORTUGAL Friday, BBC2, 9pm
The final leg of the journey sees the celebrity pilgrims on course to reach their ultimate destination, the famous Sanctuary of Fatima.
In the medieval city of Coimbra, Millie Knight, Su Pollard, Vicky Pattison, Shane Lynch and Bobby Seagull visit the St Theresa convent and meet a Carmelite nun, while Nabil Abdulrashid invites Rita Simons to join him at a local mosque for Friday prayers. Afterwards, in a bid to connect with her own Jewish culture, Rita heads to an old synagogue in Tamar.
MAGPIE MURDERS Saturday, BBC1, 9.15pm
Anthony Horowitz’s fantastical mystery drama continues.
As Susan (Lesley Manville) and Charles (Michael Maloney) attend the funeral of Alan Conway, his creation Atticus Pünd (Tim McMullan) and his secretary Fraser (Matthew Beard) are attending the funeral of Sir Magnus Pye.
And much to Susan’s horror, she realises that her world and Conway’s fiction have more in common than mere coincidence.