This week's best telly includes the long-awaited return of a warm Sunday night favourite, the return of a hit US comedy and Kate Winslet's return to television in a leading role.
Here are 7 TV shows you can't miss this week...
1. In For A Penny
Saturday 17th April at 7pm on ITV
In the hands of another presenter, In For A Penny probably wouldn't work. But in the hands of Stephen Mulhern, it absolutely does work. Which is why this street gameshow where unsuspecting members of the public are the contestants, is back for a third series.
This series, there are a host of new games for them to play, including Pet Bet where contestants will be joined by their dogs to be in with a chance to win £100, Sausage Roll where teams of two will attempt to roll a sausage roll across their partners body without using their hands and A Gelato Fun, which sees one team member attempt to drop the ice cream into a cone that is precariously placed in their partner's mouth!
The series will also see the return of the popular games, Pump It Up, Mum’s The World, Cross Dressing, Driving Me Round The Bend, You Are What You Eat, Drawing A Bank, Weigh To Go, Whatever The Weather and the world famous ‘stop watch game’ which gives shoppers the chance to bag £1000.
On the first show of the new series Stephen Mulhern heads to Sheffield. But how will the unsuspecting public fare when faced with a host of games including, Weigh To Go, Pump It Up, Pound Pong and the finale, In For A Penny?
1/8 Continues weekly
2. Call the Midwife
Sunday 18th April at 8pm on BBC One
Usually we only have a week or two after the Christmas special to wait for a new series of Call the Midwife, but after the pandemic delayed filming, we've had to wait almost four months for the tenth series of the hit BBC One drama. A series which is one episode short of the usual eight.
As we return to Poplar, it's 1966 and change is on the horizon as Sister Julienne enlists the help of Trixie to determine whether a private clinic venture, that will generate much needed income for Nonnatus House, is a suitable workplace for the Sisters. Thrilled to be challenged professionally, Trixie agrees to spend six weeks at the Lady Emily Clinic
This causes tension between Sister Julienne and Dr Turner who are strongly against private healthcare and their first falling out in over 20 years is felt by all. In particular Shelagh who feels caught in the middle.
Elsewhere, Lucille and Sister Frances are startled when a baby boy is born without legs below the knee and Sister Frances alerts Dr Turner, who frets this could be another Thalidomide case. Perturbed by the event, he determines to uncover the cause.
And with the Church’s financial support, Cyril moves into the flat above the Buckle’s paper shop, while Sister Monica Joan’s crisis of faith continues to weigh heavily on her mind.
1/7 Continues weekly
3. Line of Duty
Sunday 18th April at 9pm on BBC One
After AC-12 link Gail Vella’s murder with a historic case of police corruption, Kate hatches a plan to tell once and for all if Jo is bent. Closer than ever to cracking the case, Hastings’ team are left in a potentially dangerous situation after his authority is undermined.
This week also sees the return of Anna Maxwell Martin as Detective Chief Superintendent Patricia Carmichael, whose no-nonsense approach you'll remember from series five. She was brought in as an independent investigator from AC-3 after suspicions mounted over the integrity of Superintendent Ted Hastings.
Now with Ted’s forced retirement looming, is Carmichael in position to take control? And with the restructure of the anti-corruption units, is this the end of AC-12?
5/7 Continues weekly
4. Dreaming Whilst Black
Monday 19th April on BBC Three
Every now and then the BBC drop a pilot, in the hope that audiences love it enough for them to commit to a full series. This week's pilot, Dreaming Whilst Black, co-created, co-written by Adjani Salmon started out online and follows aspiring filmmaker Kwabena in and out of reality as he tries to make it in Babylon.
Kwabena has been stuck in his dead-end recruitment job for way longer than he initially planned. He spends the majority of his time in reveries of accomplishing his dream: to be a filmmaker.
When he bumps into Amy, an old friend from film school who is now working at a production company, he gets the chance that he’s been waiting for. Unfortunately, the once-in-a-lifetime pitching opportunity clashes with an important presentation Kwabena has to deliver for one of the recruitment company directors.
Already on a warning for his slack performance, Kwabs knows that if he bails on the presentation, he is likely to lose his job. But this pitch could also be the first step towards following his dream.
1/1
5. Ackley Bridge
Monday 19th - Friday 23rd April at 6pm on Channel 4
Ackley Bridge, the school drama set in a Yorkshire mill town, returns for its fourth series this week in a new early evening slot with daily 30-minute episodes and a host of new characters, alongside some familiar favourites.
New characters Kayla, Fizza and Johnny instantly form a tight friendship. Kayla is funny, dual heritage and torn between her white Mum’s family and her traditional Pakistani Dad’s family.
Fizza is a fiercely intelligent, fist-in-the-air firebrand and Johnny is a cocky, good looking member of the traveller community who is deeply suspicious of school and catches the eye of both Kayla and Fizza. Also joining Year 11 is Tahir, Kaneez's nephew from Manchester.
In the first epsiode, Martin experiences a baptism of fire as acting head teacher and Kayla finds herself at the centre of a cruel prank that goes viral across the school.
1-5/10 Continues weekdays. All episodes available at launch
6. Superstore
Monday 19th - Friday 23rd April at 7.30pm on ITV2
At the start of this year I discovered Superstore on Netflix (sorry ITV2) and watched all 5 available seasons in a ridiculously short amount of time. The hit US comedy follows a group of employees working at a Cloud 9 superstore in St. Louis, Missouri and returns this week for its sixth - and sadly final - season.
The new series, set in March 2020, sees the pandemic take its toll on the Cloud 9 workers as they prepare a send-off for Amy and Jonah.
1-5/15 Continues weeknights
7. Mare of Easttown
Monday 19th April at 9pm on Sky Atlantic
Kate Winslet returns to television this week in Mare of Easttown, her first leading role for 10 years. She stars as small-town detective Mare Sheehan, who investigates a local murder at a time when her own life is crumbling around her.
Stricken with grief following her son’s suicide, Sheehan is trying to find normalcy in her own life, but her pain leads her to develop an obsession with various cases of missing and murdered girls in Easttown.
With everyone fully aware of her situation and the rumours swirling around her, how will this affect her dogged pursuit of the killer?
1/7 Continues weekly