What To Watch Next Week

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

Monday 18th January

C4, 8pm – Devon and Cornwall

Millions of visitors make their way to both Devon and Cornwall each year, in search of adventure, culture and stunning scenery. But these proud regions are more than just playgrounds for tourists. From the beautiful lofty heights of the moors to the spectacular coastlines, this programme celebrates the people who live and work in the most south westerly corner of England. In the first episode of this new series we're all at sea, meeting the people who live and work along the beautiful and rugged coastline. In Looe on the south coast of Cornwall, the whole community gears up for one of the biggest events of the year - the one-mile wild swim from St George's Island back to the town beach. Hopes are riding high for a calm sea and a big turnout... On the heel of Cornwall in Gweek, clean ocean campaigner Steve Green prepares for another adventure, along with his band of volunteers, paddling to hard-to-reach beaches along the peninsula to rid the shoreline of plastic flotsam. Scallop diver Frazer Pugh sets sail from the port of Brixham in Devon, in search of precious bivalves. In the busy fishing town of Newquay in north Cornwall, gig racer Natalie Trebilcock prepares to return to the sport after four years spent raising a family, in the hope of winning the coveted Silver Salver. And on the north Devon coast, coasteering guide Sue Allen heads off in search of a new route on the rocky shores, perfect for tourists to experience.

Devon and Cornwall

 

C4, 10pm – Shut-Ins: Britain’s Fattest People

Thousands of people across the UK are affected by obesity, living lives shut away from the world. This new series of Shut-ins follows two people as they attempt to regain control of their lives. In this first episode, we meet 23-year-old AJ from Airdrie, who has been mostly shut in for the last six years - partly down to physical reasons and also to escape being mocked and shamed. AJ's weight issues began as a child and bullying at school led to even more eating. AJ is now barely able to move and has to rely on mum Sharon for all aspects of care. Sharon is also coming to terms with AJ's decision to identify as non-binary and AJ wanting to have gender surgery in the future. Right now though, AJ's weight is putting a strain on their health; walking across a room and climbing the stairs is challenging and AJ also needs a sleep mask at night to help with their breathing. Feeling like life has hit rock bottom, they consult bariatric surgeon Professor Kerrigan who declines to offer surgery until both AJ and Sharon make some major changes to their diet and lifestyle - including specialist psychological help so they can better understand their experiences. Unpicking years of ingrained habits - both physical and psychological - is a challenge, but is their only route to bariatric surgery.

Shut Ins Britains Fattest People

 

Tuesday 19th January

C4, 8pm – Lose Weight Like Me

Hosted by Diversity's Jordan Banjo and This Morning's Dr Sara Kayat, this programme features two would-be dieters as they follow in the footsteps of one of our four 'health heroes' who have each lost weight and changed their lives. Each dieter will only get to meet a 'health hero' - who are hidden behind pictures of what they used to look like - if they choose them as their mentor by selecting their tried and tested plan to follow, all of which have been approved by our dietician and trainer. Jordan, who has gone through his own weight loss journey, and Dr Sara help the dieters pick the right choice for them and, over an eight-week period, we see them follow their hero's weight loss plan. Family man Jamie from Yorkshire wants to change his lifestyle to be a better role model to his two kids, and 52-year-old Londoner Kathleen wants to regain control of her weight before she experiences the menopause. Jamie and Kathleen hear from the 'health heroes' and find out how each one lost weight and changed their lives. But in order for Jamie and Kathleen to meet them, they must choose them as their mentor and follow their tailored diet and exercise plan. And when Jordan and Dr Sara reunite with Jamie and Kathleen eight weeks later, will they have managed to follow in the footsteps of their 'health hero'?

Lose weight

 

C4, 10pm – First Dates

BAFTA Award-winning First Dates returns, with the new series launching in the brand-new Manchester restaurant. In this romantic new setting, maître d' Fred and some new helpers welcome an array of single people who hope to be served the love of their lives. First into the new restaurant is 23-year-old Tory Jessie, a parliamentary assistant, who's not conservative about talking sex and politics on a date but worries that this scares guys off. Taking her on is 25-year-old journalist Josh, who has been sworn at on dates for his strong opinions. They bond over their shared opinions on pointless Twitter beefs but will they leave the restaurant without a deal? Self-confessed former ladies' man Winston, a 69-year-old ex-roadie who's had Metallica round to his Manchester home, wants someone to settle down with after surviving prostate cancer. He pulls out all the stops to impress 60-year-old glamorous grandma Donna. Kristina, a 37-year-old Lithuanian spa therapist, went for the wrong men when she moved to the UK, and is now looking for an older guy who's ready to start a family with her. Her date with cheery 43-year-old car salesman Billy is filled with laughter, but is he her idea of the perfect English gentleman? Alan, who's 32 and works in a greasy spoon, has exhausted Rotherham's gay scene, and wants to settle down with someone who knows nothing of his promiscuous past. His match, 36-year-old casino manager Stephen, is also from Rotherham, and instantly recognises Alan. Will these former friends-with-benefits grab a second shot at love?

First Dates

 

Wednesday 20th January

E4, 7.30pm – Married At First Sight Australia

The couples are thrown into the second commitment ceremony, where shock decisions are made, surprises are revealed and there are plenty of tears.

Married at first sight Australia

 

C4, 9pm – Grand Designs

Kevin McCloud follows more of Britain's most ambitious self-building projects, as intrepid individuals attempt to design and construct the home of their dreams. Nathan was born and bred in Lincolnshire and has never moved far from his home town. He's always wanted to stay local, setting up building, pub and microbrewery businesses right where he grew up. But five years ago, Amye, a teacher from Ireland, walked into his life and kick-started a whole new chapter. Together, they've decided to build a giant cathedral-like new home modelled on the Dutch barn style houses of the area - but with a sleek contemporary twist and a striking 5000-tile armadillo roof. The build will also bring together three generations of family, with a wing for Nathan's teenage kids and an annexe for his mum and stepdad to move in to - from the static caravan they've called home for the last 13 years. It's a hugely ambitious plan, and with Nathan project managing, the pressure on him to pull it off is immense. Setting themselves just a year to finish, it's not long before the sodden agricultural landscape of Lincolnshire's reclaimed marshlands leaves them struggling. Constant rain and a rising water table cause excavations to collapse and a 36-tonne crane to sink into the mire. Then the pressure goes up another notch with news of an additional family member on the way. With mum-to-be Amye's increasing desire to get the house finished as soon as possible, there's now zero room for error or delay for Nathan...

Grand Designs

 

Thursday 21st January

M4, 9pm – Location, Location, Location: 20 Years And Counting

To mark the 20th anniversary of Location, Location, Location, this new series sees Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer look back on their 20 years of house-hunting, from chocolate box cottages and future-proof pads, to tackling tough markets and the most memorable offers made. In this episode, Kirstie and Phil reminisce on 20 years of helping house-hunters downsize. Margot and Henry have been in their house for almost 50 years and now Margot wants a smaller modern pad to keep her feeling young. Retiring vicar Ian and wife Peta are moving out of the vicarage but want to stay local and find a period property. In Shropshire, Hannah and John want to downsize without losing space and are after a project to create their forever home. Sue and Alan were spoiled by their sprawling Australian home and are now finding it hard to accept what their money buys back home.

Location, Location, Location

 

C4, 10pm – Back

The comedy starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb returns for a second series. After a long absence, a rejuvenated Stephen (Mitchell) prepares to head back to the John Barleycorn, just as Andrew (Webb) is starting to feel restricted and weighed down by the mundanities of being a provincial pub landlord. Have the tables now turned for these reluctant foster brothers? When Stephen returns, his sister Cass (Loo Brealey) tells him some surprising news about their mum Ellen's (Penny Downie) relationship status, while the opening of a rival cutting-edge pub just up the road evokes curiosity and trepidation, especially when it becomes apparent that the new establishment needs a manager, and plans to headhunt a certain hotshot from the Barleycorn.

Back S2

 

Friday 22nd January

M4, 7.50pm – The Great Pottery Throw Down

The battle of the clay continues in the brand-new series of The Great Pottery Throw Down, hosted by Siobhán McSweeney, as 12 of Britain's best home potters compete to become champion. This episode is all about bricks and mortar as the 11 remaining potters slab-build a 3D building. And in a Pottery Throw Down first, judge Rich Miller tasks the potters to handmake bricks, as he and fellow judge Keith Brymer Jones decide who will be named potter of the week and who will be leaving the pottery.

The great pottery throwdown

 

C4, 9pm – It’s A Sin

Drama from Russell T Davies about five friends living and loving in the shadow of AIDS. September 1981, and Soft Cell are Number One. Eighteen-year-old Ritchie Tozer (Olly Alexander) is leaving the Isle of Wight to go to university. In London, Roscoe Babatunde (Omari Douglas) walks out of home after his parents make a shocking discovery. And Colin Morris-Jones (Callum Scott Howells) arrives from Wales, to start a new career on Savile Row. The three boys meet, and life will never be the same again. As the year unfolds, the boys - along with fellow student Ash (Nathaniel Curtis) and their best friend Jill (Lydia West) - form a gang and move into a flat, christened the Pink Palace. And there, they start to become who they truly are. But a distant threat on the horizon means that life in the 80s might be all too precious.

It's a sin

Saturday 23rd January

E4, 6.55pm – The Day The Earth Stood Still

Director Scott Derrickson's remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic replaces the original's theme of fear of impending nuclear war with current concerns about environmental catastrophe. Keanu Reeves stars as Klaatu, an alien sent by a confederation of extraterrestrial beings to warn the inhabitants of Earth that the biosphere is on the verge of collapse. Predictably, as soon as he emerges from his spaceship a trigger-happy soldier ignores his instructions and takes a shot at the visitor. The wounded Klaatu asks for access to the United Nations to deliver his message, but the Secretary of Defence, Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates), instead orders that he should be taken away for further investigations. And so Klaatu becomes increasingly convinced that Earth can only survive if mankind is eradicated... Also starring Jennifer Connelly, Jaden Smith and John Cleese.

The Day the earth stood still

 

M4, 9pm –  Holocaust: Night Will Fall

A powerful documentary about the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and how combat and newsreel cameramen filmed the almost unbelievable scenes they found there. When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries revealed for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information's Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting evidence of the Nazis' unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including his friend Alfred Hitchcock. There were even secret talks with Hollywood director Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot), himself an Austrian refugee from the Nazis. But despite initial support from the British and US governments, the film was shelved. It was considered too sensitive for the rapidly changing political climate. Now, 70 years on, Bernstein's film has been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums. This eloquent, lucid documentary by André Singer (executive producer of the award-winning The Act of Killing) tells the extraordinary story of filming the camps and the fate of Bernstein's project, using original archive footage and eyewitness testimonies. Over 15 countries joined Channel 4 in broadcasting Night Will Fall in the run-up to and on Holocaust Memorial Day, 27 January 2015.

Holocaust Night Will Fall

 

Sunday 24th January

C4, 7pm – Billionaire Cruise Ship: Paradise Island

This special programme provides a glimpse of the day-to-day life on the private island of Ocean Cay - an exclusive, luxurious tropical paradise in the azure seas of the Bahamas. But this is a people's paradise - the island is owned by the giant cruise liner company, MSC Cruises, and three times a week a ship carrying over 5000 expectant holidaymakers arrives, who demand the very best service and facilities. And it's not just the passengers who demand perfection. The island has a demanding boss - a billionaire owner who has a very hands-on approach, as he tries to make 'his' private island the best it can be and attempts to get one over on the competition and other cruise-ship-owned islands. This island is brand new, a paradise found on the site of an old sand mining facility. From the arrival of the very first ship onwards, this documentary shows the creation of the island's entertainment programme, how the staff are trained to make guests safe and handle emergencies as well as deliver on the promise of luxury, and the incredible logistics behind entertaining, feeding and keeping 5000 guests at a time in the lap of luxury.

Paradise Island

 

C4, 11pm – Walter Presents: All The Sins: Roots

Walter Presents - which showcases the best foreign language drama series from around the world - continues with this intense Finnish crime drama. Lauri Raila, a young criminal investigator, is sent to his conservative northern hometown, Varjakka, after two murders have occurred. Lauri is anxious about his return home as he left due to the influence of the local religion - the revivalist Laestadian movement - which forbids homosexuality, but at least the trip will give him a break from the couples' therapy that he and his husband are attending. Sanna Tervo, his detective partner and the investigation's leader, is more easy-going on her first trip north, but they both become aware that the investigation will be testing due to the extreme control the Laestadian movement exerts over the community. In Finnish with English subtitles.

All the sins

 

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