Our definitive guide to the best telly on air next week
Next week we've got Steph McGovern returning to our screens with her brand new live show Steph's Packed Lunch, a new series of the unique dating show Five Guys a Week and the return of Britain's sharpest armchair critics in series 16 Gogglebox. On UKTV we've got the ever funny Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier on Dave and a hunt for bargains in Antique Road Trip on Really.
Monday 14th September
Steph’s Packed Lunch - 12.30pm on Channel 4
Steph McGovern presents a bold, fresh and exciting daily show broadcast live from Leeds. Steph's Packed Lunch features celebrity guests as you've never seen them before, fantastic food, intriguing real-life features and the best entertainment, lifestyle and consumer stories making the headlines. In this upbeat show, Steph is joined in the studio by a variety of well-known TV faces including actress and presenter Gemma Atkinson, rapper Lady Leshurr and TV and radio presenter Vogue Williams, who reveal what has got the viewers at home talking each day. In the kitchen, chefs Jack Stein and Dr Rupy Aujla rustle up delicious lunchtime treats. And there's a sideways look at the daily news in One O'Clock Views, with personalities such as Chris Kamara and Bill Turnbull. Dr Helen Lawal and Dr Javid Abdelmoneim are the show's resident medical experts. In the first few weeks of the series, Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse takes us behind the scenes of auditions for dancers for her new tour, while best-selling author Giovanna Fletcher presents a look at the rise in home births.
Continues weekdays at the same time.
Inside The Bomb Squad - 8 pm on Channel 4
Britain is on high alert for terrorist attacks, with the threat level still classed as substantial. This series has unprecedented access to the British Army soldiers who serve as part of the UK's bomb disposal elite, and also provides an insight into the training that they receive at 'Bomb School' in Bicester. Sergeant Alex 'Swansea' Hughes is called out at night to a woodland near Clitheroe, where a dog walker has found an explosive dating back to World War II. Swansea must make it safe by taking it to a large open field and blowing it up. It's thought that there are 21,000 sites in the UK with unexploded World War II ordnance. Sergeant Sam Jones is based at RAF Northolt, just outside London. A veteran of Afghanistan, he has seen a spike in the number of calls the bomb squad receive in the UK due to a new craze: magnet fishing. Treasure hunters hurl large industrial weights into lakes and canals but often get more than they bargained for, pulling out all manner of potentially deadly explosives including mortar bombs and hand grenades. One 'fisherman' has caused a major incident by disposing of a hand grenade he found in a dustbin on the industrial estate where he works. If it explodes it could rupture a nearby gas main, with catastrophic results. For Sam, and his number two, Corporal Blake Cookson, it's a race against time. In Greater Manchester, police have arrested a man who had a hand grenade in his locker at work, At the man's home in a tower block, Staff Sergeant Steve Cockburn discovers a hoard of military munitions. Meanwhile, at Bomb School, the bomb squad train to deal with booby traps.
Tuesday 15th 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. In tis episode Natasha and Phillip set out on the penultimate leg of their trip. One of the antiques experts takes a keen interest in some dinosaur remains.
Lost Pyramids Of The Aztecs - 9pm on More 4
The Aztecs ruled one of the most powerful civilisations ever seen in the Americas. They were ruthless warriors and ingenious engineers who conquered a huge territory and built towering pyramids and ambitious civil engineering projects using manpower alone. But after just 200 years, their vast empire was wiped out by Spanish invaders and their cities and monuments were destroyed. Today, many of the Aztecs' secrets lie buried underneath Mexico City. Now, archaeologists are digging deeper than ever before to find out who the Aztecs were and how they built their remarkable empire. Using stunning CGI imagery, and with unique access to ongoing new excavations, and a pioneering experiment to build a replica Aztec pyramid in the Mexican countryside, Lost Pyramids of the Aztecs is an immersive investigation into the vanished world of this fascinating civilisation. In the first of two episodes, archaeologists begin a pioneering experiment to build a replica Aztec pyramid, investigate the mysterious pyramid ruins being unearthed in the heart of Mexico City and venture deep inside a set of hidden tunnels below a vast pyramid that had been lost for centuries.
Wednesday 16th September
Jon Richardson Ultimate Worrier - 8pm on Dave
Jon and guests Sara Pascoe, Phil Wang and Catherine Bohart discuss, categorise and rank worries to do with Global Affairs. What are micronations?
Lost At Sea: My Dads Last Journey - 10pm on Channel 4
This epic tale of the ocean follows a young man's personal journey to understand his father. Peter Bird is one of Britain's forgotten sporting heroes. In 1983, Bird was the first person to row the Pacific Ocean single-handed. Crossing 8000 treacherous miles in a 29-foot rowboat, with no support vessel, turned Bird into an international legend. In 1991 Peter and his partner Polly had a son, Louis, but Peter continued to go away to sea for nearly a year at a time. On a 1996 voyage, he disappeared. His empty boat was recovered with a film camera still attached, but Peter was never found. Using personal archive materials, Lost at Sea: My Dad's Last Journey follows Louis' attempt to piece together his father's life, even going rowing on his own to overcome his fear of water. A dramatic story of obsession and extreme isolation, Lost at Sea: My Dad's Last Journey is also an intimate and uplifting exploration of a mother and son coming to terms with feelings of loss and abandonment, while also trying to deal with the legacy of trauma.
Thursday 17th September
Devon And Cornwall - 8pm on Channel 4
More insight into the lives of communities in the beautiful south-west of England. On St Mary's, on the Isles of Scilly, Charlotte Hicks has returned to her place of birth to become the islands' one and only midwife, and the first mum due to give birth off the Cornish coast is her childhood pal Meriel King. At the edge of Dartmoor National Park, woodman John Williamson has taken on new apprentice Jordan Harris, and the pair are making a batch of charcoal that they hope to sell to local restaurants. On the south Devon coast, Torquay's harbour master Nick Burns needs to replace a 140-metre section of the harbour that will help protect the millions of pounds worth of yachts berthing here in the winter months. In the fishing village of Appledore, brothers Geoff and Neil Hocking continue the family ice cream business that has been going strong since 1936, including an annual pilgrimage to the vintage steam rally at Chapleton, in company with their grandad's 1928 vintage Morris Cowley.
Council House Britain - 9pm on Channel 4
Southwark in London is one of the biggest social landlords in the country. Through the eyes of frontline council workers and residents, this series follows the many varied stories concerning a basic universal need: a roof over our heads and a place to call home. Housing officer Janet is tackling her tenants' biggest bugbear: fly tipping. Across the estate that she manages, Janet finds everything from mattresses to three-piece suites dumped on the roadside. Meanwhile, pest controller Andy is confronted with a fly tip on an extraordinary scale: 40 tonnes of junk dumped on council land that was cleared for building new homes. Last year it cost Southwark Council, and ultimately its residents, £1.7 million to clean up. Meanwhile, on one of Europe's biggest housing estates - the Aylesbury - it's all change. After years of discomfort for residents, the ageing estate is planned for demolition, which means 10,000 residents will move to new homes. It's acquisitions officer Mel's job to help them do so. But for homeowners John and Shirley, leaving their family home of almost 50 years is heartbreaking. Life is also changing for scholar Anthony. His life's work, a biography of the moon, is nearing completion and he's agreed to clear some of the books cluttering his home. Currently books are stacked up to the rafters and the council's hoarding manager, Laurna, is hoping to persuade Anthony to move some of his possessions into a rented garage space. Even with the removal men's help, will Anthony be able to part with thousands of books?
Friday 18th September
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.
Five Guys A Week - 10pm on Channel 4
Hit dating show Five Guys a Week returns for a new series. Fast-tracking the dating process, in each episode one woman who's looking for a boyfriend invites five single guys of her choice to spend a week living with her in her own home - all at the same time. Each day, she must ask one of them to leave, whittling them down to the last man standing. Will he be her perfect match? A photographer, a haulage guy, a shopping centre manager, a health worker and an oven cleaning technician move in with Tara, a 32-year-old business consultant from Halifax in Yorkshire, and compete to win her affections. Nearly all of Tara's friends are married, whereas just about the most serious relationship she's ever had is with Kaiser - her German shepherd. Top of her list of requirements is a guy who makes her laugh. She's hoping that Peter Kay lookalike Lou will fit the bill. Arriving with a massive suitcase, packed by his mum, and a pillow with his face printed on it as a gift, he makes a good first impression. Essex-based photographer Chris, who loves a northern accent, has travelled up the motorway with a home-made chocolate tart in the boot, hoping his culinary skills will see off the competition. Tara has also selected good-looking northerner Kris, a health worker, and muscly oven cleaner Michael. But it's only when shopping centre manager Adam reveals how cerebral palsy has affected his confidence and dating career that she starts to open up to the guys about her own insecurities. At the final romantic dinner - for three! - she must eliminate the runner-up and select her new partner. It all comes down to an agonising choice between her head and her heart. When five guys become one, will Tara make the right choice?
Saturday 19th September
Pacific Rim: Uprising - 9pm on Channel 4
Sci-fi action sequel starring John Boyega of Star Wars fame. Since the defeat of the monstrous Kaiju, earning a living for the pilots of the massive robots known as Jägers has been a struggle. But that's all about to change... Ten years after the action of the previous movie, Stacker Pentecost's son, Jake (Boyega) is drifting a bit. He's dropped out of the Jäger Academy since there doesn't seem to be much call for the giant human piloted robots since his dad helped close the breach and rid the world of Kaiju menace. Indeed, his stock is so low he's resorted to selling scrap on the black market and petty crime. Not to worry, because his sister Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) gets him to buck up his ideas just in time to face new threats, from rogue Jäger pilots and also from bigger, stronger, more frightening Kaiju. Buckle up! Charlie Day and Burn Gorman return as wacky scientists Newt Geizler and Hermann Gottlieb. Cailee Spaeny makes her feature debut as Amara Namani, a trainee pilot with attitude plucked from the streets. Steven S. DeKnight takes over the director's chair from Guillermo del Toro, who produces this movie.
Network Premiere.
Sunday 20th September
Live Heineken Champions Cup Rugby: Quarter Finals - 12.15pm on Channel 4
Toulouse v Ulster. Lee Mckenzie presents live coverage of the Heineken Champions Cup between Toulouse and Ulster, with commentary from Miles Harrison and the very recently retired Nolli Waterman. Lee will also be joined in the studio by special guests, including Stephen Ferris. Toulouse won the first ever Heineken Cup back in 1996 and will be looking to win their fifth in this, the 25th season of the competition. And if they take it this year, they'll move one title ahead of Leinster, with whom they are currently tied for the most ever cup wins. But they'll have to get through Ulster first. They too are former champions, having won it in 1999, and they are currently riding high on getting through to the Pro14 final. The winner of this match will go on to play Exeter or Northampton in the semis.
Scotland’s Scenic Railways - 8pm on Channel 4
Beneath vast mountains and across open moorlands, Scotland's railways connect coastal towns and rural villages through a breathtaking Highland landscape, with what has been voted the world's most beautiful railway. This programme looks back at the people who work on the railway and the steam enthusiasts who safeguard these iconic routes, providing an extraordinary glimpse into a diverse community united by a passion for Scotland's railways. We ride the Flying Scotsman along the Fife coast and over the Forth Bridge and follow the engineers responding to a landslide that threatens the world-famous West Highland Line. We also visit Scotland's most beautiful station at Wemyss Bay and it's a family affair on a Highland journey to Oban, where we meet newly qualified conductor Sean and his mum Angela, who drives the train.
