WHAT TO WATCH 19-25 July

An incredibly jam-packed week for drama and comedy fans!

This week's best telly includes the return of three of telly's funniest comedies, Mandy starring Diane Morgan, Mr Bigstuff starring Danny Dyer, Ryan Sampson and Harriet Webb, and Here We Go starring Jim Howick, Katherine Parkinson and Alison Steadman.

And it's a great week of telly for drama fans too, with the return of Karen Pirie on ITV1 and Whitstable Pearl on U&Drama, as well as Jimmy McGovern's new single drama for BBC Two, Unforgivable and Prime Video's The Assassin starring Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore.

Here are 7 TV shows you can't miss this week...

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1

 RETURNING DRAMA

KAREN PIRIE

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Sunday 20th July at 8pm on ITV1

Emer Kenny's superb cold-case drama Karen Pirie returns this week with a riveting new case to solve, based on Val McDermid’s A Darker Domain, with Lauren Lyle returing to play Karen Pirie, who after her bittersweet success in series one, has been promoted to Detective Inspector and seemingly given the authority she has long been fighting for.

Just as she’s getting into the swing of her powerful new role, she is assigned an infamous unsolved case that will put her under intense scrutiny; from her boss, from the media, and ultimately, from sinister forces that would rather the past stayed in the past.

The 1984 case of Catriona and Adam Grant has confounded investigators and intrigued the public like no other. Catriona, the charming young heiress to a vast oil fortune, and her two year old son Adam, were brutally kidnapped at gunpoint outside a fish and chip shop in Fife. The ransom notes that followed stirred up an uncontrollable press storm, but when the culprits fell silent, the police faltered, and Catriona and Adam were never seen again.

Now, a man’s body has been discovered, with indisputable links to the original kidnap. With the first piece of evidence in decades, Karen must assemble an unbeatable team alongside her sincere and lovable sidekick DC Jason ‘Mint’ Murray, played by Chris Jenks, and the brilliant, but romantically complicated, DS Phil Parhatka, played by Zach Wyatt.

With the international renown of the kidnap and the constant pressure from Catriona’s father, Sir Broderick Grant, played by James Cosmo, the team take on the biggest challenge of their careers to date. As Karen delves deeper into what happened in the autumn of 1984, political grudges and painful secrets reveal themselves, and it soon becomes clear… the past is far from dead.

 3 EPISODES  CONTINUES WEEKLY

STREAM ON ITVX  ALL EPISODES AVAILABLE

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2

 RETURNING COMEDY

MANDY

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Monday 21st July at 10pm and 10.15pm on BBC Two

Mandy Carter is back! That's right, Diane Morgan's brilliant comedy Mandy is back with six brand new episodes as Madny continues to live hand-to-wonky-mouth, cooking up enough dodgy side hustles and trashy cash hacks to hopefully climb up into the squeezed middle and out of the squashed bottom.

Constantly harassed, pursued and persecuted by her benefits officer, played by Tom Basden, Mandy finds solace in her friend Lola’s salon, drinking in the heady aroma of cheap bleach and Minty Pig nail polish.

 6 EPISODES  CONTINUES WEEKLY

 STREAM ON BBC IPLAYER  ALL EPISODES AVAILABLE

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3

 BRAND NEW DRAMA

UNFORGIVABLE

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Thursday 24th July at 9pm on BBC Two

Jimmy McGovern's new single drama, Unforgivable, airs on BBC Two this week, exploring the impact of grooming and sexual abuse on one family.

Set and filmed in Liverpool, the fictional drama centres around the Mitchell family who are dealing with the devastating aftermath of an act of abuse perpetrated by a member of their own family.

Having served his prison sentence, Joe, played by Bobby Schofield, arrives at St Maura's, an institution which offers him a home and rehabilitation after his release. With the support of Katherine, played by Anna Maxwell Martin, an ex-nun, Joe undertakes therapy sessions in the hope of understanding what led him to commit the abuse and to face up to the consequences.

Simultaneously, his sister, Anna, played by Anna Friel, is dealing with the enormous impact that Joe's crime has had on her family, her sons, Tom and Peter, played by Austin Haynes and Fin McParland, and her father, Brian, played by David Threlfall.

 STREAM ON BBC IPLAYER 

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4

 RETURNING COMEDY

MR BIGSTUFF

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Thursday 24th July at 9pm and 9.30pm on Sky Max

There's more chaos on the way as Danny Dyer, Ryan Sampson and Harriet Webb return with a brand new series of Mr Bigstuff.

Set in suburban Essex, series two picks up two weeks after the shock news that the brothers’ dad’s not actually dead, and Lee and Glen are handling it very differently. But, with chaos mounting and questions piling up, the brothers unite on a mission to track him down.

Meanwhile, Kirsty’s taking charge in the bedroom and the boardroom, but one badly timed kiss and a mysterious blackmailer, threaten to bring it all crashing down. With secrets spilling and tempers flaring, it’s only a matter of time before the family blows up again.

 6 EPISODES  CONTINUES WEEKLY

 STREAM ON SKY AND NOW  ALL EPISODES AVAILABLE

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5

 BRAND NEW DRAMA

THE ASSASSIN

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Friday 25th July on Prime Video

Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore star in Prime Video's new action-packed thriller The Assassin, playing a mother and her estranged son who are forced to work together in a fight for survival, and testing their dysfunctional relationship to its limits,

Amid uncovering a dark conspiracy, they believe to be their only threat, a greater danger emerges that could destroy their relationship entirely. In a race against time, Julie fights to save Edward and salvage their relationship as past and present collide in a showdown across the globe.

 6 EPISODES

 STREAM ON PRIME VIDEO  ALL EPISODES AVAILABLE

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6

 RETURNING COMEDY

HERE WE GO

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Friday 25th July at 9pm and 9.30pm on BBC One

Tom Basden's hilarious BBC One sitcom Here We Go, returns this week as we continue to follow the chaotic Jessop family as they navigate new jobs, love, loss and family gatherings. Plus a family holiday to Malta, where, of course, nothing goes according to plan.

This series, mum Rachel, played by Katherine Parkinson, is starting her new life as a therapist, whilst dad Paul, played by Jim Howick, is now a police constable, and continues his quest to gain the respect of his peers and his kids.

Grandmother Sue, played by Alison Steadman, has moved back into the family home and Sam, played by Jude Morgan-Collie, is, of course, on hand, capturing all the calamity on camera from bungee jumps to riverside baptisms.

Elsewhere, Uncle Robin and wife Cherry, played by Tom Basden and Tori Allen-Martin, are busy with a new arrival, baby Atlas, while Amy, played by Freya Parks, is still figuring out life as a 20-something.

 7 EPISODES  CONTINUES WEEKLY

 STREAM ON BBC IPLAYER  ALL EPISODES AVAILABLE

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7

 RETURNING DRAMA

WHITSTABLE PEARL

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Friday 25th July at 9pm on U&Drama

Kerry Godliman returns this week as restaurant owner Pearl Nolan in the third series of U&Drama's Whistable Pearl.

This series, we find Pearl fully immersed in her private investigating, leaving most of the running of the restaurant to her mother Dolly, played by Frances Barber, and Ruby, played by Isobelle Molloy. Mike, played by Howard Charles, has been away for a few months and arrives back a changed man - leaner, fitter and more Zen. But will this last?

There is still a deep connection between them but Pearl’s concern is more about Mike’s state of mind throughout the series. As their paths continually cross, solving Whitstable crimes, it becomes clear to Pearl that Mike is far from resolved with his wife’s death and is determined to help him find closure.

 6 EPISODES  CONTINUES WEEKLY

 STREAM ON U  ALL EPISODES AVAILABLE