Wave goodbye to your evenings, The Traitors is back!
It's the first week of 2024, which means lots of new telly including a new term at Waterloo Road, a new thought-provoking Channel 4 drama, another turn from Sarah Lancashire as Julia Childs, plus the return of Amanda and Alan's Italian Job, Dragons' Den, Taskmaster's New Year Treat and of course The Traitors!
Here are 7 TV shows you can't miss this week...
1. Waterloo Road
Tuesday 2nd January at 8pm on BBC One
Affairs, scandals, blackmail and many, many headteachers. Who said education was easy? That's right. Waterloo Road is back!
With a swathe of long-term refusers descending on Waterloo Road, the balance of peace and harmony rests on thin ice. But with cracks appearing, will Kim Campbell and her team have what it takes to stop their school from sinking?
As Kim rolls out a fresh initiative to get long-term school refusers back into education, mayhem soon follows, and two worlds collide when Tonya forms an unlikely bond with one of the new students.
Meanwhile, as their relationship continues to go from strength to strength, Andrew has an interesting proposition for Kim – but it could change Waterloo Road forever. For Dean and Noel, they mastermind a brazen plan to get back at Coral after she rubs them up the wrong way.
1/8 Continues weekly. All episodes available at launch
2. Taskmaster's New Year Treat
Tuesday 2nd January at 9pm on Channel 4
Despite the festive period being behind us, there's one more festive treat in store as Taskmaster's New Year Treat returns as a new group of celebrities enter the annual bunfight to win Greg Davies’ coveted Golden Eyebrows trophy.
As the New Year dawns, the supreme Taskmaster and his doting assistant Little Alex Horne welcome five famous faces from all corners of the entertainment world to step up and face a set of ludicrous challenges.
The celebs taking part are Dragons' Den star Deborah Meaden, music artist Kojey Radical, actor Lenny Rush, TV presenter, adventurer, author and wildlife expert Steve Backshall, and radio and television presenter Zoe Ball.
Each one of them are vying for points and scrapping for the Taskmaster’s fleeting praise while avoiding acerbic judgement in a bid to claim bragging rights to call themselves a Taskmaster’s New Year Treat Champion.
1/1
3. The Traitors
Wednesday 3rd to Friday 5th January at 9pm on BBC One
It was THE breakout reality TV hit of 2022 and now The Traitors is returning for its highly anticipated second series as Claudia Winkleman greets 22 strangers to a beautiful castle in the Scottish Highlands to play the ultimate game of detection, backstabbing and trust, in the hope of winning up to £120,000.
But hidden amongst them are the Traitors whose job is to secretly murder a player every night, without getting caught.
It’s up to the others, the Faithfuls, to try to detect who the traitors are, and banish them from the game, before they become their next victim.
For the lucky ones who survive to the end, they have the chance of winning that life-changing cash. But if a Traitor remains undetected, they’ll steal all the money.
1-3/12 Continues Wednesday to Friday with three episodes available at launch
4. Truelove
Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th January at 9pm on Channel 4
Channel 4's new thriller Truelove breaks the rules for older characters on screen with a core cast in their 70s. Written by Iain Weatherby and co-created with Charlie Covell, it flips ageist tropes on their head in a series which promises thrilling twists and turns, irreverent humour and passionate romance.
This gang of old friends make a drunken pact to rather than let each other suffer a slow and dreadful decline, step in and engineer a dignified death. In short, they will help each other die when the time is right. Because that, they all agree, is a sign of Truelove. But what starts out as a fanciful idea soon morphs into a shocking reality.
Lindsay Duncan plays Phil, an ex-police chief enjoying a comfortable if boring retirement and Clarke Peters plays Ken, a divorcee and ex-special forces vet who feels similarly at sea. They were teenage sweethearts and despite life having moved on, they have never quite managed to forget each other.
The cast also includes Sue Johnston as Marion, Karl Johnson as Tom, Peter Egan as David and Kiran Sonia Sawar as Ayesha, a young police officer who senses there is more to these friends than meets the eye. Further cast includes Phil Davis as Nigel and Fiona Button as Kate.
Truelove wrestles with the knotiest of ethical questions out there – is it ever right to help end a life? It’s also a love story, as a long-extinguished romantic flame is rekindled between two people who missed out on each other when they were younger, offering them a second chance to experience the love of their lives before time runs out.
1-2/6 Continues Wednesdays and Thursdays
5. Dragons' Den
Thursday 4th January at 8pm on BBC One
As Dragons’ Den returns for its 21st series, a new set of eager entrepreneurs enter the Den hoping to impress the fearsome fivesome.
In the first episode, an entrepreneurial family hopes the Dragons will fall head over heels with their sock business which employs people with learning disabilities. Three lads from Liverpool hope to impress with their second-hand luxury clothing business.
And a pair of optical experts set their sights on investment with affordable and fashionable eyewear, and a product-mad inventor finds a kindred spirit in the Den.
But who will be victorious in securing a deal with Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Sara Davies, Steven Bartlett and Touker Suleyman?
1/14 Continues weekly
6. Julia
Thursday 4th January at 9pm on Sky Atlantic
The start of 2024 sees Sarah Lancashire return as Julia Childs in the second season of Julia and with her trailblazing cooking show up and running on the air, Julia grapples with her rising celebrity and what that means for her, her colleagues and her show.
In season two, Julia and her devoted husband Paul return from Simca’s home in France to find that her success has changed everything.
Through her singular joie de vivre, she and her team must navigate WGBH, the White House and a threat from their past, while continuing to spearhead female-driven public television and confront social issues still prevalent today.
1/8 Continues weekly. All episodes available at launch
7. Amanda and Alan's Italian Job
Friday 5th January at 8.30pm on BBC One
Following the huge success of their first series, Amanda Holden and Alan Carr are packing their boiler suits once again after bagging another ‘One Euro’ house – this time, in the idyllic region of northern Tuscany.
Falling in love with the romance and history of an old building, Alan purchases a dilapidated 17th century house with a medieval watchtower in the rural hamlet of Fornovolasco, and ropes in best friend Amanda to spend their summer transforming it into another Italian dream home.
However, arriving at the property for the first time, they discover it’s been left empty since the previous owner passed away. Full of damp, and with rotten floors and cracked windows it dawns on them that a massive restoration job lies ahead.
1/8 Continues weekly. All episodes available at launch
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