Pick of the week
The Last of Us (Monday, Sky Atlantic/Now, 9pm)
The Walking Dead and its arterial spray of spin-offs threatened to kill off all other zombie television shows, so it’s all the more impressive that the lavish first run of The Last of Us made such a deep impact. Based once more on the world of the 2013 video game of the same name and its 2020 sequel, this season opens five years after the events of the previous episode, with Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) now holed up in a snow-covered community in Jackson, Wyoming. Their relationship has become strained owing to Bella’s need for independence and Joel’s knowledge that he has not been entirely truthful with her; in a not unrelated development, the audience are introduced to Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), a soldier seeking vengeance for fallen comrades.
The production design is again stunning, from the winter scenery to the “infected”, while the story covers similarly sweeping emotional territory, effortlessly moving from jump-scares to romance to gore (not least a disembowelled bear) without a trace of ungainly zombie lurching. Victoria Segal
• Could The Last of Us bring zombies back from the dead?
Drama choice
The Feud (Mon, 5, 9pm)
5 (or Channel 5 in old money) has been investing in its original dramas lately. Hot on the heels of The Au Pair comes another tale of seemingly ordinary peoples’ lives spiralling quickly out of control. The catalyst for calamity in this show is the development of an extension by one family in a tight-knit community. Jill Halfpenny, Rupert Penry-Jones and Larry Lamb star. Tim Glanfield
On demand choice
The Diamond Heist (Wed, Netflix)
Co-produced by Guy Ritchie, this true-crime gangster documentary brings alive a gang’s attempt to steal £350 million of De Beer diamonds from the Millennium Dome in southeast London in 2000. Featuring testimony from the cops and robbers, it is a truly ripping yarn. TG
Documentary choice
The Secret Genius of Modern Life: Rollercoaster (Wed, BBC2, 8pm)
Hannah Fry tells the inside story of Thorpe Park’s Hyperia, the newest and tallest rollercoaster in the country. She then explains how 19th-century French physics, Walt Disney and Nasa rocket scientists all contributed to the rides we have today. TG
Sunday
Critics’ choice
The Piano (C4, 9pm)
While this talent show is to be sanctioned for creating a culture where anyone feels they have the right to sit down at a station piano and thump out their interpretation of Someone You Loved, it does have the ability to capture moments of beauty and raw emotion. To start the third series, Claudia Winkleman heads to Liverpool Street station in London, where she is joined by the judges, the pop star Mika and his new colleague, the Oscar-winning American bandleader and composer Jon Batiste. Among the amateur pianists playing for the commuters — and hoping to win a place in the final concert — are a 12-year-old girl who taught herself during lockdown, a 77-year-old music hall maestro and a thwarted Britpop star. If you don’t shed a tear for the dinner lady and carer who taught herself to play on her school’s pianos, your heart needs some tuning. VS
The Cancellation of Benny Hill (5, 9pm)
“This programme includes racist and offensive material, including blackface, from the start” says the opening warning on this documentary about the comedian Benny Hill. In 1969, more viewers watched his show than the moon landings; by 1989, he was culled by ITV, the channel that made more than £100 million from his global popularity. As this thoughtful film clearly shows, it was time for Hill’s final bow, his seaside-postcard humour having curdled too far into crass sexualisation. Yet the documentary’s smartest move is showing Hill’s sketches to members of Generation Z, who are incredulous at the racism and sexism (while recognising his slapstick skills). Nina Wadia, Julie Bindel and Shaparak Khorsandi are among those offering firm but fair judgment on Hill’s breast-heavy comedy. VS
• Busta Rhymes: My love for Benny Hill started in Morecambe
Holidaying in the 70s — Those Were the Days! (5, 7.30pm)
As part of its 1970s season, 5 reworks an earlier two-parter devoted to travel in the decade that saw the rise of the package holiday and hence of foreign hols for the masses. Contributors reminisce about the excitement of being able to quit rainy Britain and fly to the Med for guaranteed sun. There’s nostalgia about the TV travel shows of 50 years ago, and some of today’s holidaymakers board and explore a 1970s passenger plane. John Dugdale
The Great Celebrity Bake Off (C4, 7.40pm)
Has there ever been a bigger age-gap between competing bakers? Gloria Hunniford recently turned 85 and the model Ellie Goldstein is 23. Sitting between them, age-wise, in this Stand up to Cancer special are the Ghosts star Jim Howick and the panel show stalwart Jamali Maddix. On the menu? Brandy snaps, something cheesy and a “my best kept secret” showstopper. Caroline Waldegrave and Paul Hollywood are the judges. JD
Special Ops — To Catch a Criminal (U&Dave, 7pm)
Unlike C4’s 24 Hours in Police Custody, Dave’s series follows several teams around the UK. Series two opens with Dorset Police discovering a link to international organised crime when they investigate a scam extracting money from a pensioner. JD
Rivals on the road to Wembley final
MOTD: Women’s FA Cup Semi-Final (BBC2, 2.35pm, ko 3pm)
Manchester City eliminated United from the League Cup this season, and revenge may be on the Reds’ minds as this semi-final derby unfolds. United won the FA Cup last season, but such key players as Simi Awujo will have to keep their wits about them as they visit a City side boasting two of the best strikers in women’s football, Khadija Shaw and Vivianne Miedema. VS
Monday
Critics’ choice
The Golden Toilet Heist (BBC1, 8pm)
In 2019, a golden toilet created by the artist Maurizio Cattelan and estimated to be worth £4.8 million was stolen from Blenheim Palace. As well as pointing to security lapses, this report hears from experts about the toilet’s likely fate, and traces the criminal career of the gang’s leader, James Sheen, who masterminded attacks on shops, ATMs and farms in 2019-20, and pleaded guilty to the raid in 2024. Tracking court appearances, Stenson finds a pattern of limited retrieval of his personal gains — reflecting a wider UK problem, she suggests, as only £250 million of criminal assets (out of a possible total annual haul of £12 billion) were recovered last year. The only flaw is that the report is too brief. With more time, we might have learnt that Cattelan called his toilet America, and said: “I always liked heist movies and now I’m in one of them.” JD
• How was the Blenheim gold toilet stolen? Anatomy of a heist
The Feud (5, 9pm)
TV writers generally avoid giving their characters famous people’s names. So it’s a surprise that 5’s latest drama centres on Emma Barnett (Jill Halfpenny), a feisty lawyer. She’s the pants-wearer in her household, and during the opening street party bulldozes her jobless husband John (Rupert Penry-Jones) into accepting that, instead of moving away from Shelbury Drive as agreed, they’ll stay and get a kitchen extension built. An anti-Emma coalition among her neighbours swiftly assembles: Alan next door (Ray Fearon), elderly Barbara and Derek (Tessa Peake-Jones and James Fleet) who are worried about their tree, and the local curmudgeon Nick (Alex Macqueen). Also joining the opposition are her stroppy daughter Beth (Megan Trower) and PC Gallagher (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell). Continues tomorrow and Wednesday. JD
The Sky at Night (BBC4, 10pm)
Not now, space, we cannot cope with talk of an asteroid that can vaporise solid rock and create building-blasting shockwaves. George Dransfield is somewhat comforting, by his calculation we will have a near miss; but Maggie Aderin-Pocock is concerned that it’s only a matter of time before we have to decide whether to nuke or nudge future galactic debris. At least Pete Lawrence is confident enough of our survival to show us what’s in our stars this summer. Helen Stewart
Undercover — The Great Tagging Scandal (C4, 9pm)
The Ministry of Justice, enacting the government’s plan to release thousands of prisoners before the end of their sentence to ease overcrowding, has spoken of the fact that tagging is an essential part of its strategy to keep victims safe and to cut reoffending. However, as this undercover Dispatches film claims, Serco’s management of the system is in tatters, with equipment shortages leading to increased risk to the public. HS
Dragons’ Den US — Shark Tank (BBC3, 8pm)
Shares in a stress-reducing beverage might be just what the US Dragons would want to buy into right now. Other business ideas up for grabs are a vegan version of a classic grab-and-go snack and a product designed to make grilling eco-friendly. HS
How a Paris landmark was raised from ruin
Rebuilding Notre-Dame — The Last Chapter (BBC2, 9pm)
Lucy Worsley returns to Paris as the restoration of the cathedral enters its final stages. She talks to stonemasons, carpenters and lead workers as they replace the roof that was partially destroyed. The craftsmen are likeable and articulate and the graphics are excellent, but the film’s timing seems odd. Yes, it’s the eve of the sixth anniversary of the fire, but wouldn’t airing it when it reopened in December have made more sense? JD
• Inside Notre Dame cathedral — restored to all its splendour
Tuesday
Critics’ choice
Barristers — Fighting for Justice (C4, 10pm)
“To speak on someone’s behalf in the criminal justice system is not something I take lightly,” says defence barrister Leon-Nathan Lynch, the standout figure in this new legal documentary. “It’s a privilege. I’m a natural defender — and there are always two sides to every story.” His words cut to the core of what this series is all about. With unprecedented access, the documentary offers a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the lives and work of some of the country’s top defence barristers — those who stand between the accused and the possibility of life behind bars. In the first episode, criminal defence barrister Matthew Radstone represents a cab driver charged in a £1 million, multinational cocaine trafficking operation. Meanwhile, Lynch takes on the case of a man accused of a violent carjacking at knifepoint. Jake Helm
Titanic — The Digital Resurrection (National Geographic, 8pm)
Documentarians and film-makers would almost have had to invent the Titanic if it hadn’t existed, one horrific night that keeps on giving. Now the National Geographic channel returns to the scene of the disaster that took the lives of more than 1,500 people for what it claims is a “groundbreaking” feature-length film. The producers say that they have used 700,000 images of the wreck and CGI to produce a 3D digital twin of the wreck, one that can be walked rather than swum around. The 3D model reveals the relatively small amount of damage that condemned the ship — and confirms how its heroic crew, especially boiler room engineers, saved lives. HS
• Could Titanic have survived? Digital scans show how close it came
Stacey & Joe (BBC1, 8pm)
“It’s the same if you want to launch a product or grow a human,” explains Stacey Solomon in this charming reality show. “Work hard. Give it your all.” You don’t doubt her commitment for a moment in this endearing slice of life from Pickle Cottage. While she orchestrates a Halloween showcase for her homeware range, her husband Joe Swash dreams of creating a glamping site, visits his family in Islington and addresses his newly diagnosed ADHD. VS
Our Welsh Chapel Dream (C4, 8pm)
The parlour bathroom is the next room on the makeover list for The Great Pottery Throw Down’s Keith Brymer Jones and his partner Marj Hogarth as they convert the Victorian Capel Salem in Pwllheli into a functional home. Coventry Cathedral seems like a grand influence for a bathroom, but Brymer Jones’s skills come into play with the creation of a clay candlestick holder, while Hogarth works on the perfect lampshade. VS
The Art of Joy (Sky Atlantic/Now, 9pm/10.10pm)
The spirited Modesta (Tecla Insolia) reaches the house of Princess Brandiforti (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, sister of Carla). Based on Goliarda Sapienza’s novel, it’s an adaptation driven by Insolia’s portrayal of Modesta’s watchful intelligence and simmering sensuality. VS
Highs and lows of life on the family farm
Springtime On The Farm (5, 8pm)
The lambing shed of Cannon Hall Farm in South Yorkshire is already abuzz with activity as the Nicholson brothers welcome in the visiting cameras. This year they have allowed themselves a well-deserved early morning whisky to celebrate the birth of a Shire foal, born to Sapphire, the footage of the birth as near to miraculous as one sees on TV. Helen Skelton investigates the contribution of the Women’s Land Army during two world wars. HS
Wednesday
Critics’ choice
The Stolen Girl (Disney+)
The dramatic potential of maternal guilt has long been exploited by writers hunting for high-stakes material. Based on Alex Dahl’s 2020 novel Playdate, The Stolen Girl joins such recent psychological thrillers as The Cry, The Replacement and Too Close in blaming the parents. Here, Denise Gough plays Elisa Blix, a flight attendant on a private jet, who agrees to let her daughter stay with her new school friend for a sleepover. When she returns to collect her child the next day, she has vanished — along with her friend, and her friend’s charming mother (Holliday Grainger). It’s a nightmarish set-up and Gough viscerally catches Elisa’s rising panic as she realises what has happened. Fans of Big Little Lies and The Girl on the Train will appreciate both the gruelling suspense and the beautiful home interiors. Parents will never approve a sleepover again. VS
• The best hidden gem TV shows and series to watch
The Secret Genius of Modern Life: Rollercoaster (BBC2, 8pm)
Professor Hannah Fry has managed to make the story of cash cards and microwaves seem like a thrill-ride, so you can imagine how much fun she has explaining the physics behind the rollercoaster. She begins by heading to Thorpe Park, where she observes the construction of the Hyperia, designed to be the UK’s tallest and fastest ride, and climbs its frame — “a really special view for my last moments on earth,” Fry says wryly. As well analysing the physics — centripetal force, hydraulics — there’s also an overview of the rollercoaster’s history, a tale of miners’ trolleys and ice flumes that hints at the desire for excitement embedded in the human psyche. The rollercoaster is designed to generate happiness — this informative, witty programme triggers a similar reaction without the need for terrifying speed. VS
Pauline Black — A 2-Tone Story (Sky Arts/Now, 9pm)
The singer and actress — best known as the frontwoman of the late 1970s and early 1980s band the Selecter — tells her life story in a feature-length documentary based on her autobiography, Black by Design. As the Selecter was part of the anti-racist two-tone movement in music, the film argues, Black “helped shift Britain towards diversity” — as was reflected when she was awarded an OBE. JD
Just Act Normal (BBC3, 9pm/9.35pm)
A new comedy drama, set in a world not unlike that of Michaela Coel’s sitcom Chewing Gum. When their mother goes missing, three black teenage siblings in Birmingham pretend nothing has happened in order to stay together. Tiana (Chenée Taylor) takes charge, Tionne (Akins Subair) retreats into a fantasy world with his pet chicken, and young Tanika (Kaydrah Walker-Winkie) struggles to tell fibs. JD
Jimmy McGovern Remembers … The Lakes (BBC4, from 10pm)
The screenwriter also known for Cracker and Time introduces his partly autobiographical drama from 1997 about Danny (John Simm), a gambler and philanderer from Liverpool working in the Lake District. The first episode is at 10.15pm, part two at 11.45pm. JD
A sparkling heist
The Diamond Heist (Netflix)
The attempted robbery of the Millennium Dome’s diamond exhibition in 2000 was a failure. Yet, as told in this three-part documentary, it’s a thrilling tale of cops v robbers with a powerful emotional core. That’s partly down to the high production values (the mini-series was co-produced by Guy Ritchie) but also because there are first-class interviewees, particularly Lee Wenham, one of the convicted robbers, who retells his part of the story. Andrew Male
Thursday
Critics’ choice
The Apprentice (BBC1, from 9pm)
As usual, much of the final is a waste of time — a pair of phoney projects that largely function as prompts for banter in the boardroom. Asking Anisa and Dean, the finalists, to launch their brands might make sense if they work for other bosses; but they run the businesses for which they want Sugar’s £250,000 — selling Indian-style pizzas and air conditioning systems — and presumably have had to think up names, logos and marketing campaigns. Slightly more important are their pitches to “expert” diners, but, as Sugar says, it comes down to which business will “scale up” better. Will he be biased towards Dean, a fellow Essex geezer who even has a similar semi-beard? As if aware that viewers might suspect that, he seems to make a point of saying how good Anisa’s pizzas are. You’re Hired (BBC1, 10pm). JD
• Lord Sugar: I told my staff, ‘Get back to work. If you don’t like it, sod off!’
Love My Face (C4, 10pm/11.05pm)
Channel 4 has a strong record in relation to people with physical differences, as the channel that first told Katie Piper’s story and aired The Undateables. It continues that tradition with this series centred on a clinic in Yorkshire offering free treatment from “world-class surgeons” — and sessions with the “activist” Jono Lancaster — to clients who have been “made to feel different” (how it’s funded is unclear, as is whether it’s a permanent set-up, as in The Fear Clinic, or a pop-up for the telly). Exploring their treatment options in part one are Mia L, with alopecia, Terry, who suffered severe facial burns, and Mia R, who is interested in feminisation surgery after transitioning. In part two (11.05pm), the clients have facial paralysis, a scar left by an accident, and a nose that’s led to teasing ever since childhood. JD
Gangs of London (Sky Atlantic/Now, 9pm)
The cartoonishly violent gangster drama has been in competition with itself this series to stage blood-soaked gunfights in increasingly preposterous locations. We’ve had a fairground, the London sewers, a seedy pub and a church, so where can the production mess up in episode five? Let us first travel eight weeks back in time, then seven months before that, to a beautiful mansion in Lahore. HS
• Sope Dirisu on Gangs of London: The violence isn’t gratuitous. It’s balletic
Murdoch Mysteries (U&Alibi, 9pm)
We head for “Cotswolds, England” for the 300th episode, as the English sojourn provides work for Canadian Equity actors who claim a facility with accents. Romantic getaways can be tricky for fictional detectives, and Murdoch and Dr Ogden find the discovery of a dead body rather distracting. “A husband and wife detective team?” one character comments. “What a novel idea. Someone should write a serial about you.” HS
Bad Dog Academy (C4, 8pm)
Nick Grimshaw welcomes more troubled canines to the academy. Little Dougie has an “asbo” for attacking a member of the public. For two years he must be muzzled outdoors and any more biting will result in a one-way trip to the vets. Can animal behaviourist Jo Pay turn his mood around? HS
Romance is in the air in this western saga
Ransom Canyon (Netflix)
The elevator pitch would be “Virgin River meets Yellowstone”. Set in West Texas, this ranching soap opera stars model-turned-Transformers star Josh Duhamel as the ludicrously monikered Staten Kirkland, haunted by his past, battling rustlers and falling into the arms of local bar owner Quinn O’Grady (Friday Night Lights’ Minka Kelly). Kelly lends it all a touch of class, and there is even a land-annexing Trumpian villain (Jack Schumacher) to add contemporary relevance. AM
Friday
Critics’ choice
Rolling Stones Night (BBC4, from 9.25pm)
The BBC celebrates the oldest rockers in town, starting us off with a repeat of Live at the Fonda (9.25pm), their relatively intimate 2015 Hollywood show where the band performed the whole Sticky Fingers album for the first (and so far the only) time in their career. Later, a double bill of My Life as a Rolling Stone from 10.50pm sees the broadcast of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’s hour-long 2022 documentaries, reminiscing about 60 years together, their love of blues, their desire to keep playing together even during fallings out and Jagger’s eye for the main chance. His film gives the best chronology of the band’s success, and he acknowledges that his job is to be a big show-off, practising his moves at home before early television appearances. “Mick Jagger is Mick Jagger,” offers Keith Richards, “a very honourable man under all that crap.” HS
• Is The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones the greatest rock chronicle?
Travel Diaries (5, 9pm)
You may already have seen a great deal of Michael Portillo’s Milanese trip as he visited there last year with his Long Weekends series, but this “reversion” sees the highlights of the first show spliced together with the best sweepings from the cutting room floor. The former MP is typically game for a laugh, gladly accepting a “backie” from a Lambretta club member and shouting “we put the brum-brum into Milano” as they sweep past the camera. There is a fashion segment where his personal shopper tries to insist he replace his flat cap with a brown badger-hair fedora (cue Portillo’s Bogart impression) and, ever flamboyant, he delightedly plumps for a green one instead. Some of these wintry weekends seemed rather lonely last year, but he is comfortable in Italy, genially pretending not to know the difference between an espresso and a macchiato. HS
Have I Got News For You (BBC1, 9pm)
Tonight’s edition comes with an especially engaging line-up. Not only is Katherine Parkinson adding the role of quiz-show host to her already impressive CV (“I really hope I can read the autocue,” she says) but there’s an appearance from the ever-delightful Julian Clary. Given he and Paul Merton go way back, becoming friends and comedy co-conspirators on the 1980s stand-up comedy circuit, sparks should fly. VS
Beyond Paradise (BBC1, 8pm)
There’s drama on the high seas tonight — or at least on the waters of the Saltleigh regatta. When one of the competitors falls from her boat, it becomes clear that she has been sabotaged, a sequence of unfortunate events that — unthinkable! — turns Martha (Sally Bretton) into the prime suspect, already juggling the demands of work and childcare. It’s all as cosy as a nautically striped sweater, despite a few harsh realities creeping into the coastal idyll. VS
M&S vs Aldi — Who Does Easter Best? (5, 7pm)
If you’ve missed the meeting where a chocolate cavapoo captures the spirit of Easter, then this consumer show might help you to understand the conversation around high-street treats. Under the eye of food experts, which wins the battle for hot cross bun supremacy? VS
Harrowing events that shook a nation
Oklahoma City Bombing — American Terror (Netflix)
This documentary about Timothy McVeigh’s bombing of a US federal building on April 19, 1995, is a gripping account of the chaos, horror and heroism that followed this act of domestic terrorism. But through accounts from survivors and first responders as well as archive interviews also hints at how the roots of Trump’s America might be found in McVeigh’s actions and the climate of paranoia they engendered. AM
Readers’ views on recent TV
Important plot point inserts of text messages on mobile phones are often too small to read. Subtitles of their content would make viewing much more enjoyable.
Alan Cassie
Good to know I am not alone in complaining of the background noise louder than the spoken words. I won’t call it music because it isn’t. Doesn’t anyone listen beforehand before broadcasting?
Pat Myall
The Marlow Murder Club (U&Drama) is so blindingly bonkers that it is ecstatically entertaining — more of this febrile farce please.
Patrick Tracey
I binged This City Is Ours on iPlayer and thoroughly enjoyed it. James Nelson-Joyce is superb as the ice-cool Michael, and he surely has a bright future ahead. If cheekbones can be menacing, his are first-rate frightening. I look forward to seeing him on screen again soon.
Nancy Kirk
A recent YouSayer highlights the spoilers that plague the end of programmes in the trailers. It’s especially annoying if you are watching on iPlayer. However, my bigger grievance is that so often this comes at the expense of the credits (clue in the name). All that work and even the actors get no recognition. Binge-watching indeed — we just gorge on the fast food of content.
Suzie Wilde
May I offer some advice for those who struggle to hear dialogue over music on TV? There are a couple of things that may help. First, most modern TVs offer ways to adjust and customise the sound settings to suit you best. If you are unsure how to do this, find a tech-savvy friend or relative to assist. Second, a soundbar makes a huge difference. Some come with dialogue-enhancing features. Both of these methods can reduce the overwhelming sense of overloud background music and muffled voices.
Steve Hulse
Much praise is due to Jakey (aged ten years) for his wonderful, heartfelt speech at his parents’ (Paul and Mel) wedding on Papay Westray (This Farming Life, BBC2). Just shows what the power of love and dedicated parenting can achieve when we realise this young man, formerly diagnosed as autistic, could barely speak two years ago. Congratulations to the whole family!
Audrey McIlvain
How can the BBC complain of underfunding when they commission dross like Joe Swash and his missus doing absolutely nothing and getting paid for it. Come on, get a grip.
Jeff Elliott
In the trailer for 99 To Beat (BBC) the host says he cannot bear to watch — that’s just how I feel.
Stephen Bunford
Send your comments to: telly@sunday-times.co.uk
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