Innholdsfortegnelse for 19-Apr-25 i TV Times

BLANKETY BLANK NEW SATURDAY, 8PM, BBC1 ENTERTAINMENT Bradley Walsh is a busy bee. As well as co-hosting the recent second series of BBC1’s sporting epic Gladiators alongside son Barney Walsh, embarking on an adventure across Asia with his lad in ITV1’s current run of travelogue Breaking Dad and fronting ITV1’s quiz The Chase, the presenter is also back at the helm of a new outing of BBC1’s ever-popular game show Blankety Blank! Following its successful revival in 2020, Bradley follows in the footsteps of Terry Wogan, Les Dawson and Paul O’Grady’s famous alter ego Lily Savage to oversee proceedings, as contestants try to match answers given by a celebrity panel to fill-in-the-blank-style questions. TV Times caught up with Bradley, 64, to find out what high jinks to expect from this…

OUR CHANGING PLANET: RESTORING OUR RIVERS NEW EASTER SUNDAY, 7PM, BBC1 FACTUAL Charting efforts to save Earth’s most-endangered ecosystems, BBC1’s ambitious seven-year diary Our Changing Planet returns for its fourth chapter this week with the spotlight turned on rivers. The one-off special, Restoring Our Rivers, finds Ade Adepitan in France’s capital city Paris to follow how a groundbreaking new waste-water system has brought life back to the Seine, while Liz Bonnin visits northern California to see the Klamath River’s four hydroelectric dams removed, which will help its vital salmon population to be restored. TV Times caught up with Ade, 52, and Liz, 48, to find out more… What are the main issues affecting our rivers today? LIZ River ecosystems support us and make this planet habitable, yet they’re suffering at…

Asteroid City NETFLIX ON DEMAND ★★★★ PREMIERE COMEDY Writer-director Wes Anderson’s playful sky-watching romp offers a wry exploration of life’s many mysteries. Set in a sun-kissed town in the US southwest where Junior Stargazers (and their parents) visit a meteor-crater site to display their inventions, Anderson touches on themes of mortality, modern dread and nuclear fears, interrogating how our beliefs and identities help us navigate unknown territory. If emotional focus splinters a little across Anderson’s typically starry ensemble cast (which is topped by Jason Schwarztman, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Hanks), there’s no doubting the quality of Anderson’s signature invention and drollery. Dir: Wes Anderson 2023, 12 FROM FRIDAY SATURDAY Lightyear BBC1 5.40PM - 7.15PM ★★★★ PREMIERE ANIMATION The idea behind this Pixar animation is that we’re watching Andy’s favourite movie…

SOAP EastEnder SOAP 6.50PM, BBC1 We’re soaking up every second of Paul Bradley’s exquisite performance as dementia-stricken Nigel, and the character’s unlikely friendship with Phil (Steve McFadden, another actor at the top of his game) has brought a joyful tenderness to the soap. Heartstrings will be firmly pulled tonight as Nigel, lapping up his role as Walford’s Easter bunny, is let down by his failing memory and mistakes young Hope for his now grown-up stepdaughter Claire. There’s turmoil for Phil as he’s forced to betray his pal’s confidence and reveal his diagnosis, but worse is to come when he returns home and discovers Nigel’s tragic plan… ★★★★★ AS See Soaps, page 26 The Feud DRAMA 9PM, 5 The warring residents of Shelbury Drive are teetering on the brink this week,…

You NEW DRAMA NETFLIX This fifth and final 10-part season finds charming serial stalker-killer Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) living the high life in New York, three years after leaving London with his now-wife Kate Lockwood (Charlotte Ritchie), who’s the billionaire CEO of her family’s company. Joe has his son Henry back, too, but his longed-for fresh start is soon threatened by his dark past. How far will the power couple go to secure their status? New cast members include Baby Reindeer’s Nava Mau as Detective Marquez and The Handmaid’s Tale’s Madeline Brewer as Joe’s bookstore employee Bronte, while Pitch Perfect’s Anna Camp plays Kate’s twin sisters, Reagan and Maddie. RM Étoile NEW COMEDY DRAMA PRIME VIDEO The high-stakes world of professional dance takes centre stage in this eight-part comedy drama…

MISHAL HUSAIN In India, the journalist discovers an ancestor who was a personal physician to a maharaja, while an unexpected twist takes her to America’s East Coast. ROSS KEMP In Casablanca, the EastEnders actor tries to solve a family mystery, while discovering his ancestor was a drummer boy during the Napoleonic Wars. LAYTON WILLIAMS The theatreland favourite investigates a musical connection in London, and later travels to Jamaica, where he discovers a distressing family story. AISLING BEA The actor and comedian learns how her family’s been shaped by dramatic moments in Irish history, with tales of female resilience and a desire for Irish independence. FRED SIRIEIX Setting sail for France, the First Dates frontman discovers a story of wartime romance while being delighted by an unexpected connection to winemaking. WILL…

SECRETS OF THE PENGUINS NEW FROM EASTER MONDAY, DISNEY+; & TUE, 7PM, 8PM & 9PM, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC WILD (SKY 165, VIRGIN 182) NATURE From the warming huddle to their winning waddle, penguins hold a special place in our hearts. But besides being cute, these lovable flightless birds are resilient and resourceful, as explorer Bertie Gregory reveals in his globe-trotting new docuseries Secrets of the Penguins for Disney+ and National Geographic WILD. Narrated by American film star Blake Lively with Oscar-winning director James Cameron serving as executive producer, the three-parter takes viewers to the rocky beaches of Cape Town, the chilly shores of South Georgia Island, subtropical Galapagos Islands, the desert caves of Namibia and icy Antarctica to show how different species in contrasting habitats negotiate life’s challenges, such as finding…

Doctor Who SCI-FI 7.15PM, BBC1 All credit to new companion Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) for deciding, in the wake of last week’s adventure in which she narrowly escaped death multiple times, that this is not a sensible lifestyle and she’d much rather resume her very normal life, thanks. Unfortunately, cosmic forces seem to be preventing the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) from getting her home right now, so this week the two of them land in 1950s Miami – where they find themselves in great danger once again when classic cartoon Mr Ring-a-Ding (voiced with delicious malevolence by Alan Cumming) breaks out of the cinema to wreak havoc in the real world. ★★★★ SP See feature, page 10 Blankety Blank NEW ENTERTAINMENT 8PM, BBC1 The main thing we love about this revamp…

Joe Lycett’s United States of Birmingham NEW FACTUAL 9PM, SKY MAX & SKY SHOWCASE Brummie comedian Joe is on the mission of a lifetime to visit all of the Birminghams across North America in this three-part series. Armed with gift boxes containing the finest produce from Birmingham, UK (including Cadbury chocolate and pictures of Jack Grealish’s calves), Joe’s hoping to encourage each one to sign a friendship agreement that will form an international alliance ‘capable, should the need arise, of offering some kind of alternative to NATO’. It’s every bit as daft as it sounds, but there’s lots of heart here, too, and in this era of uneasy international relations, maybe Joe’s approach is exactly what we need. ★★★★ SP SOAP Emmerdale SOAP 7PM, ITV1 Has someone told the Emmerdale…

Flintoff NEW DOCUMENTARY DISNEY+ Since retiring from cricket in 2010, Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff has been a regular on our TV screens, including A League of Their Own, the documentary Living with Bulimia, which charted his own eating disorder, and two series of Field of Dreams, in which he coached a team of young cricketers from his home town of Preston. Now, he’s the subject of this feature-length documentary looking back at a cricketing career that saw him win two Ashes series with England and become a national sporting hero. It also charts his life following his serious car crash while shooting an episode of Top Gear in 2022, with cameras filming his recovery and his return to cricket as a coach to England Lions and Northern Superchargers. RMC Celebrity Big…

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When it came to finding an actor to voice menacing cartoon character Mr Ring-a-Ding, showrunner Russell T. Davies knew The Good Wife’s Alan Cumming would be perfect. And Alan couldn’t wait to get started… ‘Villains always get the best lines, and are much more juicy to play,’ enthuses the Scottish star, 60. ‘My favourite kind of villains are the ones that are misunderstood, and while Mr Ring-a-Ding does not have any redeeming qualities, he does start out quite fun, so there is an arc to him I enjoyed.’ This isn’t Alan’s first foray in the Whoniverse, as he previously played King James I opposite Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor in 2018 episode The Witchfinders. However, returning to the show this time was a very different kind of thrill. ‘I grew up with…

MESSIAH: THE CONCERT EASTER SUNDAY, 6.10PM, BBC2 FACTUAL After leading a group of untrained singers in a concert performance of composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s masterpiece St John Passion last year, Gareth Malone is now hoping to create music magic with George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah this Easter. In the two-part BBC1 docuseries Gareth Malone’s Messiah, which begins on Good Friday and concludes on Easter Sunday (11.15am, BBC1), the choirmaster is helping eight new amateur vocalists prepare to take to the stage alongside the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales at Cardiff’s Llandaff Cathedral, with the event airing on BBC2 this Easter Sunday evening. Gareth, 49, joined TV Times for an exclusive chat… You do like a challenge at Easter time, Gareth! I do! For me, Handel’s Messiah is where it’s…

Todd’s romance with Theo has gotten very messy, very quickly, and the undertaker has roped in Sarah in a bid to hide their affair from the scaffolder’s wife Danielle. But as Danielle hangs around on the cobbles, liaising with Shuttleworth’s about her mother’s funeral, Todd and Theo’s web of lies starts to unravel. Under the illusion that Sarah and Todd are a couple, Danielle is stunned to see Sarah flirting with Kit, and tells George that his colleague is being taken for a fool. Amused, George quickly retorts that Sarah and Todd definitely aren’t together, as the latter bats for the other side. ‘Danielle is really shocked because she and Theo were brought up in the Church, and homosexuality is something she’s very much opposed to,’ says former Emmerdale star…

Our Changing Planet NEW FACTUAL 7PM, BBC1 …Restoring Our Rivers. There are some uplifting stories of hope for the world’s rivers, as Ade Adepitan and Liz Bonnin follow two restoration projects that aim to bring back life to the Klamath in California and the ‘biologically dead’ Seine in Paris. While Ade explores a feat of engineering that has stopped human waste from polluting the Seine, meaning fish have returned for the first time in 100 years, Liz witnesses the removal of the dams that were killing off life in the Klamath, plus a wider project to reintroduce salmon, ospreys and monarch butterflies. ★★★★ HD See feature, page 21 The Piano ENTERTAINMENT 9PM, C4 This search for the UK’s best amateur pianists has proven that playing the piano to commuters can…

I, Jack Wright NEW DRAMA 9PM, U&ALIBI (BOX SET, SKY BOX SETS, VIRGIN TV BOX SETS & NOW) Writer Chris Lang (Unforgotten) says the inspiration for this black comedy drama was hearing friends’ shock stories of will readings. Sure enough, this six-parter follows the toxic fallout when a deceased millionaire, the titular Jack Wright (Trevor Eve), cuts his third wife and two grown-up sons out of inheriting his estate. Featuring an all-star ensemble, including Grace’s John Simm as eldest son Gray and Zoë Tapper as ambitious daughter-in-law Georgia, this is a great romp that will keep you wanting more. ★★★★★ VW See feature, page 6 Carlos Alcaraz: My Way NEW FACTUAL NETFLIX After decades of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic dominating men’s tennis, a new star announced himself…

£25 WINNER IT’S GOOD TO TALK I was happy to see the return of Kate Garraway’s Life Stories on ITV1. The presenter is a brilliant interviewer and gets so much out of her guests. It was interesting to see her talking to Jeremy Kyle about his cancer battle and the drama surrounding the axing of his long-running daytime talk show. Kevin Milner, Stoke-on-Trent COME BACK, SELWYN! What a relief to hear Selwyn and Catherine saying au revoir rather than farewell in the Series 14 finale of BBC1 drama Death in Paradise! Does this mean that the much-loved Commissioner Patterson, played by Don Warrington, will return to the Caribbean island of Saint Marie? I certainly hope so. Maggie Cobbett, Ripon A DIFFICULT WATCH The ITV1 documentary Brianna: A Mother’s Story was…