Our guide to the best telly on air next week!
Monday 8th March
C4, 8pm – The Dirty Truth About Your Rubbish: Dispatches
Environmental journalist and campaigner Lucy Seigle investigates the rise of waste incineration in the UK, examining how millions of tonnes of waste that we leave out for recycling actually end up being burned. For Dispatches, Seigle reveals which areas of the country incinerate the most, and questions whether the massive rise in the practice is holding back our recycling rates. And as the government promises to cut pollution from greenhouse gasses, the rise in carbon emissions from incineration is put under the spotlight, with exclusive research revealing it's on course to become the UK's dirtiest form of energy production. The programme also looks at how councils are locked into expensive contracts with incinerator operators forcing them to burn waste for decades to come.
M4, 9pm – Great Canal Journeys
Sheila Hancock and Gyles Brandreth return for more glorious canal and river journeys. In the first of a two-part special exploring the waterways of Staffordshire, Sheila and Gyles journey along the tricky-to-navigate Caldon Canal and the Trent and Mersey Canal, as they go on a pilgrimage in the Potteries and the city of Stoke-on-Trent. They begin their journey at Cheddleton Flint Mill, built in 1253, to hear why flint was such an essential pottery ingredient. Gyles pays tribute to one of his great heroes, the Potteries-born writer Arnold Bennett, and Sheila visits the former home of one of her heroes, the ceramic artist Clarice Cliff. They try their hand at making their own vases at Middleport Pottery, before boating through the one-and-a-half-mile darkness of Harecastle Tunnel... if they can make it that far, that is! After all, Sheila and Gyles are still very much narrowboat novices, and steering a 72ft vessel along such a narrow and winding canal is no easy thing.
Tuesday 9th March
C4, 8pm – The Great Celebrity Bake Off For Stand Up To Cancer
The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer returns for a new series, as more celebrities enter Britain's most famous tent to put their baking skills to the test and inspire viewers to do the same and raise awareness for Stand Up To Cancer. First up are Star Wars actor Daisy Ridley, comedian Rob Beckett, pop star Alexandra Burke and comedian Tom Allen. With Noel Fielding on paternity leave, Matt Lucas takes the reins on his own, as the celeb bakers take on three challenges set by judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith. They tackle millionaire shortbread in the Signature and a fruity tart in the Technical, and create their pet hates in cake form in an ambitious Showstopper.
C4, 9.15pm – The Celebrity Circle For Stand Up To Cancer
For the first time ever, a group of celebrities move into the most famous apartment block in the UK, in aid of Stand Up To Cancer. Expect twists and turns as these VIPs compete to be crowned The Circle's most popular celebrity player. The games begin with Denise van Outen, Duncan James, Lady Leshurr, Saffron Barker, Baga Chipz, Kaye Adams and Nadia Sawalha, Rickie Haywood-Williams and Melvin Odoom, and Sam Thompson and Pete Wicks. The players make their first impressions and rate for the first time, but has a celebrity catfish been caught out already? And Emma Willis delivers some big news to the players.
Wednesday 10th March
C4, 8pm – Kirstie And Phil’s Love It Or List It: Brilliant Builds
It's been a strange 12 months, with many of us stuck indoors and the way we see and use our homes changing forever. In this new series, Kirstie and Phil look back at their most brilliant builds and deliver countless tips and tricks to help you maximise the spend on your precious bricks and mortar. As well as catching up with favourite families, Kirstie and Phil reveal some of the famous Love It or List It methodology when it comes to tackling that life-changing build: focusing on the layout issues and dilemmas that many of us now face in a very different world. This episode is all about single-storey living as Kirstie and Phil chat bungalows and look back at two very unique homes that required very different solutions. In Purley, Croydon, Christine Attwood and Tony Congdon have been battling over the future of their unusual bungalow for the best part of a decade. Behind the curtain from the sitting room into the lounge lurks something quite extraordinary, leaving Kirstie feeling like she's been chucked in at the deep end. Tony is staunchly Team Love It and having lived here for the best part of 30 years, he's settled and likes being near his mates. He thinks that with a little bit of Kirstie's renovation magic, Christine can be convinced to stay. But can Kirstie conjure up something special to reunite this warring couple? In Larne in Northern Ireland, Catherine and Nigel Finch are also at loggerheads over their dated, 70s-style bungalow. Following the passing of Catherine's mother, they made the bold decision to downsize, reduce the mortgage and free up funds to enjoy life. Nigel quickly fell in love with their new home thanks to the rural location and incredible views. But despite pushing for the move, Catherine has never loved it. They have £35k to spend. Could the garage be a love-it game changer? Or will Phil nick it at the final hurdle?
M4, 9pm – The Great British Dig: History In Your Back Garden
In this new series, actor and comedian Hugh Dennis is joined by a team of expert archaeologists to excavate back gardens around Britain, in an attempt to uncover the lost history buried beneath our lawns and flower beds, while recruiting local people to get digging too. In this series, the team go in search of a Roman fort connected to Hadrian's Wall to shed new light on the Roman military, as well as a lost Viking burial ground to uncover further information about the lives of the Anglo-Saxons laid to rest there. They also dig deep to try and discover more about William the Conquerors' lost priory and the mysteries of the monks that walked its hallowed halls, and the secrets of a World War military base before it is lost to coastal erosion forever. In this concluding episode, Hugh and the team of expert archaeologists attempt to uncover a secret World War military base on the clifftops of South Shields. Armed with their shovels, mattocks and the hope to discover evidence of this potential war-time training ground, the team set out to become the first people to ever put these important pieces of British military history on the map. With the help of the local army regiment and some keen volunteers, they discover what lies beneath the weather-beaten shores all before it's too late and the site is lost to coastal erosion forever.
Thursday 11th March
C4, 8pm – The Dog House
Channel 4's smash-hit series returns and is back at Wood Green, the Animals Charity. With the demand for dogs in the UK sharply rising by 650% over the last year, the team are match-making abandoned pooches with hopeful new owners. For some, it's love at first sight. For others, attachment can take a little longer to bloom. In the first episode of the new run, the smallest and largest of Wood Green's residents are looking to impress new owners. An eight-stone Newfoundland makes a favourable first impression on the Coxon family, but staff are worried that his habit of showering everyone with a spray of slobber may take some of the gloss off. And nine-week-old French bulldog Kevin competes with a nervous terrier to win the hearts of loved-up couple Ryan and Katie. Meanwhile, a recently widowed grandmother is looking for another 'beating heart' to help fill a home that is feeling very empty.
E4, 10pm – Wife Swap Australia
The reality TV show heads to Australia, seeing couples from different backgrounds temporarily switch spouses as they navigate emotive issues such as politics, class, gender and race. The end result is eye-opening and emotionally charged and - ultimately - where life lessons from both wives, families and children, are shared and learned. Alise Andrew is mum to a quadruplet of 9-year-old boys. They are unruly and wreckless, eat whatever they fancy and are constantly playing Fortnite. She swaps lives with Cassie Lister - a militant mum who keeps her two kids' tech-time rationed, only allows healthy foods into the house and has put up a 'motivation wall' covered in diet, fitness, finance and educational articles.
Friday 12th March
E4, 7.30pm – Below Deck Mediterranean
Hannah continues to struggle working under Captain Sandy. After a mishap with the anchor, Sandy realises her new deck crew has a lot to learn if they are going to have a successful season. Bobby develops a crush on Malia and rushes to her aid when she suffers a freak accident. As the guests enjoy a uniquely themed dinner, a slip of the tongue by Adam threatens to ruin a carefully planned surprise. And a wild night of partying leads to a major argument as Bobby clashes with Hannah over interfering with his past relationships.
C4, 8pm – Grayson’s Art Club
It's food week on Art Club, and Grayson and Philippa Perry are joined by presenter Sue Perkins, who crafts an unusual work of art on the subject. Grayson talks to Rose Wylie, who became an art world star in her seventies. There's a peak inside the studio of Lucy Sparrow, who uses felt to create colourful replicas of everyday food items. Comedian Mawaan Rizwan makes his own piece of food-related art. And special guest Nigella Lawson helps to choose the favourite public art submissions of the week.
Saturday 13th March
C4, 6.50pm – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Martin Freeman returns as Bilbo Baggins, now in possession of a magical ring of great power, in the second instalment of Peter Jackson's epic action adventure trilogy based on JRR Tolkien's novel. With Ian McKellen as wizard Gandalf.
C4, 10pm – Peterloo
Maxine Peake and Rory Kinnear star in the network premiere of Mike Leigh's dramatic take on the events at St Peter's Field in Manchester in 1819, when the British cavalry killed 18 people who were protesting peacefully about workers' rights and wounded almost 1000 more.
Sunday 14th March
C4, 8pm – The Great Pottery Throw Down: The Final
The battle of the clay concludes, as Britain's best home potters compete one last time to become champion. Hosted by Siobhán McSweeney. It's the grand final and our three potters go head-to-head. The pressure's on as they face two of their toughest challenges, as we turn back the clock 100 years to the 1920s for an art deco-inspired final. And it's party time as the finalists make a punch bowl and decanters, before facing the tiniest throwing challenge we've ever set. Only one potter can be crowned the champion by judges Rich Miller and Keith Brymer Jones... who will be the winner of The Great Pottery Throw Down 2021?
M4, 10pm – Surviving A Serial Killer
Surviving a Serial Killer delves into the personal stories of the people who have survived their encounter with evil. Be they a stranger, a friend, or a lover, these brave individuals have decided to speak out. Flipping the traditional narrative of a crime documentary on its head - the focus is not on the perpetrator, but instead on the people whose lives they so affected. In this episode, Cindy Brown was married to Bobby Joe Long for five years. During that time she was physically and emotionally battered by her husband who would go on to kill 10 women in Tampa Bay, Florida.
