The top TV to watch this week chosen by our experts – from BBC’s Return to Paradise to GBBO final
OUR experts have chosen some of the best programmes to watch on TV this week, and it’s proving to be full of must watch TV!
It’s a busy week for TV with BBC bringing Return To Paradise to screens, a reboot of 80s law drama Matlock coming back to screen with Sky and and comic sitcom Smoggie Queens on BBC3.
Sunday
Fletchers’ Family Farm, 11.30am, ITV1
It’s all go at Kelvin and Liz Fletcher’s farm in the Peak District. Spring has sprung and lambing season is in full swing. And to add to their vast array of livestock they’re about to welcome some new arrivals in the shape of two Lincoln Red cows, one of which has the cutest little calf in tow.
Kelvin’s smitten, but there are more urgent things to deal with when one of the sheep goes into a difficult labour. Kelvin comes to rescue and he and Liz save the ewe’s lamb.
It’s all in a day’s work for the pair, who are now celebrating their third year on the farm. It’s the gentlest show on TV, a cross between Countryfile and All Creatures Great And Small, and what could be more soothing than that?
Monday
24 Hours in Police Custody: The Murder Messages, 9pm, Channel 4
Now billed as a true crime show, this long-running series returns, with a story of a couple who receive online abuse which turns into death threats that then accuses them of murder.
It escalates that police are then called to various ‘crime scenes’, only to find nothing – and the couple have no idea who’s behind it all.
But could the culprit lie close to home? DC Emily Richardson investigates a case where nothing is as it appears.
Irresistible: Why We Can’t Stop Eating, 9pm, BBC Two
By the time you’ve finished watching Dr Chris Van Tulleken’s documentary you might think twice before reaching for that biscuit or bag of crisps.
He’s been examining the dangers of Ultra-Processed Foods for a few years, writing a bestseller on the subject.
Yet in making this new programme, exploring subjects like the chemical ingredients that lure us into buying processed food, he learned scary facts about products most of us buy weekly that are pretty hard to stomach.
And while cost might make them appealing, the fact is poor diet is Britain’s biggest killer. A fascinating lesson for us all.
Tuesday
The Great British Bake Off final, 8pm, Channel 4
t’s time to toast the new champion, as this year’s battle of brioches and battenbergs ends. As ever we’ve enjoyed heartwarming camaraderie between contestants, some of whom will go down in Bake Off history.
2024 will be remembered for wacky Slovak Nelly, who surely deserves her own show. And who’ll forget the bantz between joker Andy and Paul Hollywood? But tonight’s all about finalists Christiaan, Dylan and Georgie.
First up they’re making sweet and savoury scones. Will daring flavour combos give anyone the edge?
Next Paul and Prue want afternoon tea and soggy cucumber sandwiches won’t cut it!
And they’ll need steady hands for the Showstopper, which calls for a hanging, tiered celebration cake if you please. There’s no time to be flaky with a challenge like that!
Matlock, Sky Witness
“It’s not your grandad’s Matlock, that’s for sure,” says Kathy Bates, star of this gender-flipping reboot of the original 1980s US series that coaxed her out of retirement.
She plays Madeline ‘Matty’ Matlock, a former hotshot lawyer who, in her seventies, rejoins the workforce in a prestigious law firm.
She is assigned to senior attorney Olympia (Skye P Marshall) and impresses Julian (Jason Ritter), the son of the head of the firm, by using her kindly charm, humanity and wisdom to win cases perhaps beyond her younger colleagues’ capabilities. But why does Matty want to work into her twilight years?
Thursday
Smoggie Queens, BBC Three
Welcome to Middlesbrough, where life has a habit of kicking the flamboyant, if volatile, Dickie (Phil Dunning) when he’s down.
And he’s definitely down when we first meet him, having been dumped by his handsome boyfriend.
Thankfully, his close knit gang of friends – kindly drag queen Mam (Mark Benton), glamorous Lucinda (Alexandra Mardell), unimpressed Sal (Patsy Lowe) and the newly out Stewart (Elijah Young) – are on hand to help him get over it.
Trouble is, Dickie doesn’t want to get over it, he wants to show his ex what he’s missing – cue a desperate dash to Whitby to crash a date.
Filled with quotable one-liners and loveable characters, Smoggie Queens is a sitcom that celebrates friendship and pride in one’s hometown, making it a wonderfully heart-warming watch.
Friday
Return to Paradise, BBC One
Death in Paradise’s Aussie based spin-off continues in style, as DI Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson) is given no rest when yet another death rocks the residents of Dolphin Cove.
The town’s fitness lovers are busy running in a 10k fun run, including wellness influencers, Jade and boyfriend Curtis.
But when the pair cross the finishing line, Curtis clutches his chest – and collapses.
People suspect he’s had a heart attack, but then Mackenzie reveals she received a mysterious phone call from Curtis begging for her help, just an hour before he died.
“What are the reasons a fit guy like Curtis would just drop dead after a race?” asks Mackenzie, as she attempts to get to the bottom of the foul play – with plenty of the franchise’s trademark twists, turns and humour…