What To Watch Next Week

Our definitive guide to the best telly on air next week!

Next week we've got more light hearted fun in the tent with biscuit week in the second episode of The Great British Bake Off, the return of brand new Made in Chelsea on E4, an in depth look at the staggering low adult literacy rates in The Write Offs and as part of our programming for Black History Month the unforgettable 12 Years A Slave.  Oh and don't forget to check in with Britain's sharpest armchair critics in brand new Gogglebox on Friday at 9pm.

Monday 28th September

Made In Chelsea - 9pm on E4

Brand new: The Made in Chelsea crew are back, and some of our favourites are off to the country for a summer of luxury, laughter and mayhem. But the close proximity could breed conflict as Verity and Tristan come face to face for the first time since abruptly ending their relationship over the phone. Meanwhile, is Liv in with a chance of a steamy summer fling as some new faces join the group on their country getaway? Back in Chelsea, the tension between Sam and Zara is reaching high levels after the dramatic revelation that Sam told his ex, Tiff, that their relationship was the best thing that had ever happened to him. But how will Zara react when a new - and even more startling - revelation comes to light? Elsewhere, Ollie Locke and his fiancé Gareth are panicking about what to do for their winter wedding, with their plans having been thrown up in the air by the pandemic. Will they meet their winter deadline?

MIC

 

Inside The Spitfire Factory - 9pm on More 4

Brand new: Hidden away in a little-known workshop at one of Britain's most important wartime airbases, a team of dedicated engineers and enthusiasts work round the clock to bring a national icon back to life. This is Inside the Spitfire Factory, a place dedicated entirely to resurrecting Britain's most famous aeroplane and returning it to the skies. Over the course of a year, we follow the restoration of a particularly special aircraft, as factory owner Peter Monk and his crew try to turn the 1943 Mark IX Spitfire from rusty remains into a flying legend. And with two million pounds at stake, there's no room for error and the pressure is on to deliver on time. As Peter hunts down parts and oversees construction, a large cast of characters - from pilots and engineers to historians and WWII veterans - explore the Spitfire's rich history and uncover its surprising stories. In this episode, the Spitfire factory's engineers get to work on the Spitfire's fuselage. As they rivet, bolt and hammer the 60-year-old parts back into shape, Peter hits the road to track down key components he needs for the restoration. Pilot Anna Walker travels to Southampton to discover how the Spitfire can trace its roots from racing seaplanes in the 1920s, and the Spitfire factory receives a visit from a veteran who may have a very special connection to Peter's prize project...

Inside the spitfire factory

 

Tuesday 29th September

The Great British Bake Off - 8pm on Channel 4

The Great British Bake Off is back but this time, under exceptional circumstances and with some changes. Brand new host Matt Lucas joins Noel Fielding, and as we all adapt to the challenges 2020 has brought us, 12 new bakers form a bubble and enter the iconic white tent to tackle new challenges set by judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith. For our remaining bakers it's crunch time with Biscuit Week, kicking off with a sophisticated combination of fruit, nut and chocolate in the Signature challenge. They then must produce two takes on a tropical Technical and finally, their sculpting is put to the test in the Showstopper, as they create an elaborate table setting made entirely from biscuit. Who will be crowned star baker and who will be leaving the competition? 

GBBO

 

The Write Offs - 9.30pm on Channel 4

Imagine not being able to read a text message or the destination of a train, or use the internet. Over eight million people in Britain wake up to that reality every day. Sandi Toksvig hosts this new, uplifting two-part series that explores Britain's staggeringly low adult literacy rates, offering a diverse group of eight adults - aged from 22 to 66 years old - a life-changing opportunity to overcome the one thing that has always held them back. Each week for four months the group receive intensive individual one-to-one tuition to learn the basic skills necessary for many everyday situations. Along the way, Sandi gathers the group every four weeks to face a new, entertaining challenge in the real world that puts their new-found literacy skills to the test, before all their hard work culminates in an emotional final test held in front of their family, friends and teachers. With different personal motivations for wanting to improve their literacy, the group are united in their quest to shed the shame and lift the stigma around illiteracy. After 12 weeks of intensive learning, Sandi gathers the group in London for their next challenge: acting in a new pantomime - 'CinderSpeller'. Tasked with learning scripts and reading aloud, it's something that makes 43-year-old new dad Paul particularly emotional. Paul has a reading age of a seven-year-old, but it wasn't always that way - he used to be an English and Drama teacher with a penchant for Shakespeare before he had a stroke three years ago that left him unable to read and write. Sandi invites her friend Martin Kemp, who was diagnosed with dyslexia in 1995 after two brain tumours, to offer some acting tips before the group perform in front of a live audience at the Globe Theatre. The prospect of reading aloud fills 50-something Viv, a former school kitchen assistant, with dread. Brought up in Jamaica where her family struggled financially, school wasn't a priority and she left with no qualifications. Now a single mum of three children who frequently misses important medical appointments due to getting lost, she would love to be able to read and write. Craig has struggled to keep up with his fellow learners and frequently used shortcuts and cheats in the challenges set by Sandi. Could learning to read to his daughter be the key to unlocking his confidence and potential? After 16 weeks of intensive learning, the group come together for one last time to retake tests that will show how much they have learnt, before competing in an intimidating live spelling bee in front of an audience of their friends and family. Will the group have made substantial improvements to their literacy levels and who will be the most improved learner?

The write offs

 

Wednesday 30th September

Antiques Road Trip - 8pm on Really 

Antique experts travel the country with a budget of £200 in a competition to find and buy antiques or rare items and sell them for a profit.

Antigues Road Trip

 

QI XL - 9pm on Dave

Stephen Fry messes with the minds of Sarah Millican, Tommy Tiernan, Josh Widdicombe and Alan Davies, pooh-poohing everything they thought they knew.

 

Thursday 1st October

How To Beat… Fat - 8pm on Channel 4

Kate Quilton and Dr Javid Abdelmoneim enlist 10 volunteers with a history of failed dieting to take part in an experiment. Can adopting simple techniques help them to lose weight and eat more healthily in just six weeks? And can a ground-breaking new biological test help the scientists keep them on track? With a recent study suggesting that the average Briton starts and fails 189 diets in their lifetime, might simple tweaks to our lifestyles rather than 'dieting' help us all keep the weight off and live healthier? Javid and Kate also explore why increasingly plant-based diets are being used in sports and how they help with weight loss and improved health. Javid finds out that when it comes to men, the weight loss dream works best in a team. Also, do people snack less when they know how much exercise it would take to burn off those calories? Plus, have scientists found a way to mimic gastric surgery in a capsule? This episode was filmed before social distancing guidelines were introduced. 

how to beat fat

 

A Year In The New Forest - 9pm on More 4

A Year in the New Forest charts a year in the life of the animals and people who call this ancient forest their home. Telling the story of each season as it passes in this rich ecosystem, this documentary series explores a remarkable, precious and traditional way of life. It's winter. The trees are bare and many creatures are in hibernation, while those that are still awake must do all they can to survive. But as disease threatens to wipe out Ann's fragile young cattle and the forest keepers begin the annual deer cull, death stalks the land. To ward off the cold and dark, the locals take part in an ancient tradition: a dangerous horse race across the forest.

A year in the new forest

 

 

Friday 2nd October

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice - 8pm on Channel 4  

As The Great British Bake Off triumphantly returns to our screens, An Extra Slice is back to bring us more treats from the tent. Each week Jo Brand welcomes a panel of celebrity Bake Off fans to unpack the best bits from the show, as well as unseen footage and an exclusive interview with the baker who's leaving the competition. Jo is joined by judge Prue Leith, comedian Phil Wang and Bake Off fan Stephen Mangan to snap up the best bits of Biscuit Week and exciting extra footage. Our home bakers keep a safe distance from Tom Allen's prying eyes and Jo looks at what delights and frights viewers have been baking in their kitchens. What does Jo's panel make of the nutty signature? Will they be tantalised by the technical? And which biscuit table setting impressed in the intricate showstopper?

Bake off extra slice

 

Gogglebox - 9pm on Channel 4

Britain's sharpest armchair critics return for a 16th series, to share more of their insightful, passionate and sometimes emotional critiques of the week's biggest and best shows.

Gogglebox

 

Saturday 3rd October

12 Years A Slave - 9pm on Channel 4

Part of Channel 4's programming for Black History Month, which offers an important platform for different aspects of the Black experience in modern Britain.

Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Benedict Cumberbatch star in Steve McQueen's triple-Oscar-winning historical drama that explores the horrific daily realities of slavery in pre-Civil War America. The narrative is based on freeborn African American Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir. In 1841, Northup (Ejiofor, in a BAFTA Film Award-winning performance) left upstate New York for a brief job as a violinist in Washington DC. But the contract is a ruse and he wakes from a drugged sleep to find himself the property of first a slave dealer (Paul Giamatti) and then plantation owners in the southern states. The first of these, William Ford (Cumberbatch), is relatively humane, but Ford sells Northup to a vicious tyrant, Edwin Epps (Fassbender). As time passes and injustice is heaped upon appalling injustice, Northup must find the strength to cope with his predicament - and the hope that he can escape his terrible fate... Also starring Lupita Nyong'o as Patsey, the defiant slave who befriends Northup on Epps's plantation; Brad Pitt as Samuel Bass, the Canadian labourer whom Northup asks for help; and Alfre Woodard as Mistress Harriet Shaw. The film won its Oscars for best film, best adapted screenplay (John Ridley) and best supporting actress (Nyong'o). A Film4 co-production.

12 years a slave

Sunday 4th October

Murder On The Orient Express - 8pm on Channel 4  

Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz lead an all-star cast in this remake of the Agatha Christie murder-mystery classic. Not long after the prestigious train sets off on its snow-covered voyage, foul play occurs onboard and a passenger meets his maker in grisly fashion. Thankfully, one of the passengers is the legendary Belgian supersleuth Hercule Poirot (played by Branagh, who's also on directing duties), armed with a brain matched in size only by his moustache (which is big enough to do chin-ups on).This twisting whodunnit will have you guessing until the end, and has almost as many stars as the Milky Way, with Willem Dafoe, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley, Lucy Boynton, Sergei Polunin, Marwan Kenzari, Olivia Colman, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Tom Bateman and Miranda Raison all onboard for the ride. Network Premiere.

Murder on the orient express

 

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