This week's best telly includes the return of the happiest 90 minutes of the week, tons of drama - concluding, returning and brand new - plus the return of everyone's favourite armchair telly watchers!
Here are 8 TV shows you can't miss this week...
1. Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
Saturday 20th February at 7pm on ITV
The happiest 90 minutes of the week are back as Ant & Dec return with a brand new series of Saturday Night Takeaway - series 17 no less! Expect exclusive features, guests, live surprises and outrageous stunts along with all of the favourites we know and love.
This week, It's A Sin's Olly Alexander is the star announcer, Gary Barlow is live in the studio for an incredible End of The Show Show, Stephen Mulhern returns for an epic Ant v Dec, Fleur East is ready to give one viewer the surprise of their lives, plus Harry and Jamie Redknapp are the victims of a brand new I’m A Celebrity Get Out Of Me Ear.
Plus, Win the Ads is back, Ant & Dec have another fantastic giveaway planned for viewers and with no studio audience, instead there'll be a virtual studio audience of over 300 people!
And with The Honoured trilogy now finished, there's a brand-new mini-series called Double Trouble in which Ant & Dec have been cloned and the clones have gone rogue! The new adventure will feature many celebrities including Bear Grylls, Prue Leith, Rob Brydon, Alison Hammond and Jermaine Jenas.
1/7 Continues weekly
2. Rose Matafeo: Horndog
Sunday 21st February from 6am on BBC Three
Repeated Wednesday 24th February at 10.45pm on BBC One
Horndog, the Edinburgh Comedy Award winning stand-up special from New Zealand born comedian, writer, and actor Rose Matafeo, arrives onto BBC Three and BBC One this week.
Rose has kissed nearly ten men in her life, AKA she’s a total horndog. Her brand new special of critically applauded stand-up is whirlwind of mid-20s angst and fizzing obsession which enjoyed successful sell-out performances around the world, before making its television debut on HBO Max in the US last year.
New Zealand born Rose has established herself as one of the most exciting new voices in comedy and is firmly fixed as the “voice of millennials” (Comedy Awards) and is currently working on her debut romcom Starstruck, which is set to launch later this year on BBC Three and HBO Max.
Rose Matafeo is one of I Talk Telly's 21 TV Stars of Tomorrow for 2021. Full list here.
1/1
3. Bloodlands
Sunday 21st February at 9pm on BBC One
BBC One's new Sunday night crime thriller Bloodlands, stars James Nesbitt as Northern Irish police detective Tom Brannick, and follows his dogged hunt for a legendary assassin. An explosive cat-and-mouse game where the stakes have never been higher.
When a car containing a possible suicide note is pulled out of Strangford Lough, Tom Brannick quickly connects it to an infamous cold case with enormous personal significance and recognises the calling card of a legendary assassin known as Goliath.
The legend goes that he was a serving police officer who vanished without trace 20 years ago and among his original victims was Tom’s wife. Against opposition from old friend DCS Jackie Twomey, Brannick and his partner, DS Niamh McGovern, break open the Goliath case in the hope that it will help them solve the kidnapping.
As they dig deeper, they find gaps in the original Goliath investigation. Someone tried to suppress the truth. When a vital clue leads them out to an island on Strangford Lough, a discovery is made that changes everything.
1/4 Continues weekly
4. Finding Alice
Sunday 21st February at 9pm on ITV
As with many shows now, chances are that although the final episode of Finding Alice airs this Sunday on ITV, you've already watched it as the entire series was made available after episode one. However, if you've been saving it for a Sunday night treat then that's exactly what you're in for this week as tensions rise between Alice and her daughter Charlotte.
With a newfound confidence, Alice is determined to develop Harry’s land, but can Alice solve her growing list of problems before trying for Harry’s baby? She needs to make enough money to save the house and find a way to mend bridges with her family. But when her parents’ marriage falls to pieces, Roger decides to leave Sarah and becomes Alice’s latest uninvited lodger.
With the house more crowded than ever, tension between Charlotte and Alice reaches breaking point and Charlotte escapes to Sarah’s for some peace and quiet. Hurt, frustrated, and unable to tick anything off her to-do list, Alice decides to organise a family celebration to bring everyone back together.
When a recording on George’s phone finally reveals his true colours, a new revelation forces Alice to confront Tanvi with a difficult question. She still has a long way to go, but Alice's relationship with her daughter will prove stronger than ever and together they’re one step closer to saving the house that Harry built.
6/6
5. Unforgotten
Monday 22nd February at 9pm on ITV
Sanjeev Bhaskar and Nicola Walker return to our screens this week as DCI Cassie Stuart and DI Sunny Khan in a brand new, fourth series of hit drama Unforgotten, and once again, there's a fresh investigation into an emotionally-charged cold case murder for them to solve.
The series opens with the discovery of a headless and handless body in a scrap metal yard in North London. When Sunny and Cassie arrive, they suspect the body was illegally dumped, perhaps transported inside a white goods item.
This is confirmed when pathologist Leanne Balcombe finds that the dismembered corpse had been frozen. A unique Millwall Football Club tattoo leads to the victim being identified as Matthew Walsh, a young man in his mid-twenties who went missing in March 1990.
We then meet four people who may be connected with his disappearance; in the Peak District, therapist Fiona Grayson played by Liz White, in Cambridge, high flying career woman Elizabeth Baildon played by Susan Lynch, in Rochester, businessman Dean Barton played by Andy Nyman and in Southall, expectant father Ram Sidhu, played by Phaldut Sharma.
When DS Murray Boulting and DC Fran Lingley find out that Walsh was last seen on 30th March 1990, they start to try and track down his next of kin.
Also joining returning actors Peter Egan, Alastair Mackenzie, Carolina Main, Lewis Reeves and Jordan Long are Sheila Hancock, Clare Calbraith and Lucy Speed.
1/6 Continues weekly
6. Big Sky
Tuesday 23rd February on Star on Disney+
When Disney+ launched on the 24th March 2020, it quickly became the UK’s third-largest paid streaming service, behind Netflix and Amazon and on Tuesday, Star will launch on the platform, a brand new channel which will immediately house over 75 TV series, more than 280 movies and a slate of four exclusive Star Originals, with new titles promised every month.
One of those Star originals is Big Sky, a new 16-part thriller from the creator of Big Little Lies, David E. Kelley. It follows private detectives Cassie Dewell and Cody Hoyt as they join forces with his estranged wife and ex-cop, Jenny Hoyt, to search for two sisters who have been kidnapped by a truck driver on a remote highway in Montana.
But when they discover that these are not the only girls who have disappeared in the area, they must race against the clock to find the women before it’s too late.
1-3/16 Continues weekly
7. The Bay
Wednesday 24th February at 9pm on ITV
Again, even though the final episode of The Bay airs this Wednesday on ITV, you've probably already watched it, as the entire series was made available after episode one. But if you haven't, then this week's finale includes a confession which brings the team closer to the truth.
After identifying a suspect, conflicting accounts leave Lisa questioning who to believe. With the complexities of the case proving difficult to crack, the stakes are raised as the race to bring those responsible to justice takes an unexpected turn.
Aware her actions have consequences, Lisa is faced with a hard decision, but will she make the right one when protecting those she loves?
And in case you missed the news this week, The Bay will be back for a third series next year as Marsha Thomason takes the lead after Morven Christie's decision to leave the show. But don't worry that isn't a massive spoiler - her exit is not related to anything that happens in this week's final episode.
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8. Gogglebox
Friday 26th February at 9pm on Channel 4
It's become the nation's comfort blanket, and with so much telly around at the moment, something tells me the likes of Lee and Jenny, Pete and Sophie and The Malones, won't be short of things to watch when Gogglebox returns for its 17th series!
As ever some of Britain's sharpest armchair critics will be sharing more of their insightful and passionate takes on the week's biggest and best shows.
From entertainment juggernauts like Saturday Night Takeaway (I'm guessing) and the week's biggest news stories (Covid, probably), to hard-hitting documentary series (Framing Britney Spears maybe?) and gritty drama (well just scroll up, there's plenty!), Gogglebox offers sharp, hilarious, and often emotional critiques of popular and topical TV shows.
1/15 Continues weekly