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The Grand Tour: Sand Job
Friday 16 February, Prime Video
This new instalment of the motoring banter series was filmed before Jeremy Clarkson’s partnership with Amazon was put in jeopardy by his incendiary column about Meghan Markle (in which he suggested she be “paraded naked” through the streets while people “throw lumps of excrement at her”). Along with his usual muckers Richard Hammond and James May, Clarkson follows the route of the Dakar rally – well, just the desert bit – not in the souped-up rally cars that usually traverse the Sahara but in modified sports cars. They kick off in Mauritania and make their way to the Senegalese capital (despite the Home Office’s warning against travelling there).
The 1% Club
Saturday 17 February, 8.50pm, ITV1
![From Magnum Media The 1% Club: SR3 on ITV1 and ITVX Pictured: Lee Mack. This photograph is (C) Magnum Media and can only be reproduced for editorial purposes directly in connection with the programme or event mentioned above, or ITV plc. This photograph must not be manipulated [excluding basic cropping] in a manner which alters the visual appearance of the person photographed deemed detrimental or inappropriate by ITV plc Picture Desk. This photograph must not be syndicated to any other company, publication or website, or permanently archived, without the express written permission of ITV Picture Desk. Full Terms and conditions are available on the website www.itv.com/presscentre/itvpictures/terms For further information please contact peter.gray@itv.com](https://wp.inews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SEI_191619374.jpg?w=760)
The shiny floor game show aesthetic of Beat the Chasers meets the tough brain-teaser questions of Only Connect in the third series of Lee Mack’s surprisingly difficult and very entertaining quiz. Each episode starts with 100 contestants, who are eventually whittled down to just a few as they struggle to wrap their heads around questions that become increasingly harder, their difficulty determined by the percentage of surveyed members of the public who got them right. To take home the top prize of £100,000, contestants have to correctly answer a question answerable by only 1 per cent of the public (sounds complicated, but trust me, it works).
The Bafta Film Awards
Sunday 18 February, 7pm, BBC One
If the Golden Globes are anything to go by, Cillian Murphy and Oppenheimer will clean up at this year’s film Baftas – or will Barbie finally get the recognition its fans think it deserves? David Tennant hosts the ceremony from the Royal Festival Hall within London’s Southbank Centre, where homegrown British talent and Hollywood stars gather to celebrate the past year in film. Sophie Ellis-Bextor will be on hand to perform her hit “Murder on the Dancefloor”, which recently enjoyed a resurgence thanks to Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, itself nominated for Best British Film.
Miners’ Strike: A Frontline Story
Sunday 18 February, 8pm, BBC Two
BBC Two is picking up the story that began with Channel 4’s recent in-depth documentary series The Miners’ Strike 1984: The Battle for Britain. Here, striking miners who picketed their workplaces for a year share their memories of the strike front line alongside their families and police officers at the scene – many of whom are speaking publicly about their experience for the first time. Among them are Andy Beard, who decided to go back to work midway through the strike, policeman-turned-miner Les Saint who didn’t miss a day of work in 1984, and David Nixon, who witnessed the death of a fellow striking miner during the chaos in Ollerton.
Breathtaking
Monday 19 February, 9pm, ITV1
Don’t let the fact that this drama takes place during the Covid-19 pandemic (a period I’m sure the majority of us is not keen to revisit so soon) put you off – it’s important television. Based on palliative care doctor Rachel Clarke’s memoir of the same name and produced by Jed Mercurio (himself a former doctor), Breathtaking is a visceral reminder of the stress and strain NHS workers were put under during lockdown as patients kept being admitted to hospital while PPE and beds ran short. Joanne Froggatt plays Abbey, a doctor who decides to speak out against the government policies that have pushed her and her colleagues to the limit.
The Way
Monday 19 February, 9pm, BBC One
When a violent uprising begins in their usually unassuming small industrial Welsh town, the Driscoll family are forced to flee the place they’ve always called home. But it’s not as simple as setting up a new life elsewhere – the family are wanted by the police and so find themselves on the run. Written by powerhouses James Graham (Sherwood, Quiz) and Adam Kay (This Is Going to Hurt) alongside proud Welsh actor Michael Sheen, The Way is a fantastic showcase of Welsh talent – the cast includes Gavin and Stacey’s Steffan Rhodri and Callum Scott-Howells, best known as Colin in It’s a Sin.
Joe Lycett vs Sewage
Tuesday 20 February, 9pm, Channel 4
A few months ago, Joe Lycett pretended to launch a new toilet-themed podcast on the banks of Liverpool, only for the event to be cancelled when his prop bog spilt “sewage” into the River Mersey. Of course, it was all a ruse to bring attention to the dismal state of the UK’s rivers, and this one-off documentary continues that job. He travels up and down the country to meet experts and those who live close to polluted rivers to learn the true extent of the damage done by water companies dumping their waste into our rivers. Then, in true Joe Lycett style, he takes his damning evidence straight to the door of the water companies themselves.
Boarders
Tuesday 20 February, 9pm, BBC Three
A new fish-out-of-water comedy from actor Daniel Lawrence Taylor (Timewasters) follows a group of five underprivileged black children from inner-city London who are awarded scholarships to a Hogwarts-esque elite boarding school. Alongside asking vital questions about race and class, Boarders is also a lot of fun, as the kids face everyday coming-of-age issues, from exams to first crushes.
Constellation
Wednesday 21 February, Apple TV+
When astronaut Jo (Noomi Rapace, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) survives a disaster on board the International Space Station, she’s sent back down to Earth to rest and recuperate. But all is not as it seems at home, as Jo starts to realise that entire parts of her memory and life have gone missing. Creepy and sometimes terrifying, this sci-fi thriller follows the astronaut as she begins an investigation into the nature of space travel, uncovering conspiracy theories concerning how it really affects us down on Earth.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Thursday 22 February, Netflix
Aang (Gordon Cormier) is the world’s last airbender – that is someone who can control all four elements (air, fire, water, earth). He’s known as the Avatar, and it turns out he is the only person with the power to bring an end to the various wars that ravage his world. A new adaptation of the children’s fantasy action cartoon is a huge deal for fans (of which there are millions) – and for Netflix, which will be hoping its version will fare better than M Night Shyamalan’s disparaged 2010 film.
