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WHAT TO WATCH 4-10 March

If you have any plans this week, I'd cancel them because there's just so much great telly to watch. So much so that I couldn't pick just 7 shows to highlight so for one week only, I've picked 10.


Here are 10 shows you can’t miss this week including the return of Derry Girls, Ricky Gervais' new comedy After Life and that Michael Jackson documentary that everyone is talking about...


1. This Time with Alan Partridge

Monday 4th March at 9:30pm on BBC One


After last week's triumphant return to the BBC for Alan Partridge, this week's episode of This Time with Alan Partridge sees Alan and the team host a special show dedicated to the memory of a much-cherished broadcaster.


With viewers in shock, it falls to Alan to handle this delicate situation as only he can. But one man’s loss is another’s opportunity…



2/6



2. Fleabag

Monday 4th March from 10am on BBC Three and at 10:35pm on BBC One


It's been almost three years since the first series of Fleabag aired on BBC Three and now Phoebe Waller-Bridge's masterpiece is back for six brand new episodes.


The series two opener takes place entirely in a restaurant as the family gather for the first time since that sexhibition just over a year ago. Why are they all together? To celebrate Fleabag's father's engagement to her Godmother, played by recent Academy Award® winner Olivia Colman.


It's an uncomfortable family dinner to say the lease as uptight sister Claire is there with her alcoholic husband Martin and Godmother’s new Priest played brilliantly by Andrew Scott. The evening comes to a tempestuous end however, when an unexpected attack brings old tensions bubbling to the surface.


1/6



3. The Great Celebrity Bake Off

Tuesday 5th March at 8pm on Channel 4


Hollywood star John Lithgow, Paralympian Hannah Cockroft and comedians Jon Richardson and Russell Brand are the first celebrities to step into this year's tent for The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer.


They'll be aiming to impress judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith with their baking skills and only one celebrity each week will be awarded with the coveted star baker apron.


Their first challenge is to bake brownies, their technical challenge is a handful and there's a tough showstopper where the celebrities have to make a 3D biscuit.


1/5



4. Derry Girls

Tuesday 5th March at 9:15pm on Channel 4


The girls are back! Yes, that's right. Northern Ireland's most-watched TV show since records began and Channel 4's highest rated comedy in a decade Derry Girls makes a glorious return to our screens for a second series.


As the series returns, Erin and the rest of the gang are excited to attend an outdoor pursuits weekend which aims to bring Protestant and Catholic school kids together as part of a peace initiative.


But peace is the last thing on Michelle's mind once she finds out that there will be Protestant lads there!


1/6



5. Home

Tuesday 5th March at 9:45pm on Channel 4


You come back from holiday, open your car boot and find a Syrian asylum-seeker hiding in amongst the luggage. What would you do?


That's the dilemma one family faces in Rufus Jones' new comedy for Channel 4, Home. When Peter, his new partner Katy and her son John return from their first holiday together.


Somehow they must come to terms with the loss of their luggage, the arrival of something that will change their lives forever, and the chance of criminal charges for people smuggling.



1/6



6. MotherFatherSon

Wednesday 6th March at 9pm on BBC Two


Richard Gere on the BBC? You bet! And the great cast doesn't stop there. Also starring alongside him in Tom Rob Smith's MotherFatherSon are Helen McCrory, Billy Howle and Sarah Lancashire.


US-born Max, played by Gere, is the owner of a media empire that includes newspapers and television stations and is aat the heart of British politics and power. His aristocratic ex-wife Kathryn, played by McCrory, has been frozen out of the family and spends her days working at a homeless shelter.


Their son Caden, played by Howle, is at the heart of Max's operation, editing broadsheet newspaper The National Reporter but he's out of his depth and the strain is showing. When Caden suffers a catastrophic breakdown, the fragmented family is pulled back together.


1/8



7. Leaving Neverland: Michael Jackson and Me

Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th March at 9pm on Channel 4


It's the controversial documentary that everyone is talking about and after premiering at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival in January, the four-hour film is coming to Channel 4 and will air across two nights.


The documentary explores the separate but parallel experiences of two young boys, James 'Jimmy' Safechuck, at age ten, and Wade Robson, at age seven, who were both befriended by Michael Jackson. They and their families were invited into his singular and wondrous world, entranced by the singer's fairy-tale existence as his career reached its peak.


Through gut-wrenching interviews with Safechuck and Robson, now in their 30s and 40s, as well as their mothers, wives and siblings, director Dan Reed's film presents a portrait of sustained abuse, and explores the complicated feelings that led both men to confront their experiences. From the beginning, Jackson impressed upon the boys that they had to keep their sexual contact a secret.


1-2/2



8. Celebrity Apprentice for Comic Relief

Thursday 7th and Friday 8th March at 9pm on BBC One


The celebrity version of The Apprentice has been off our screens for ten years but now it's back as Lord Sugar puts ten celebrity candidates from the worlds of entertainment, sport, journalism and comedy through their paces to raise as much money as possible in a two-part special for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day.


The candidates are journalist Rachel Johnson, Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda Holden, EastEnders actor Tameka Empson, interior designer Kelly Hoppen, The X Factor judge Ayda Williams, Good Morning Britain's Richard Arnold, football manager Sam Allardyce, TV presenter Rylan Clark-Neal and comedians Omid Djalili and Russell Kane.


As always, both teams will be closely observed by Lord Sugar’s advisors Baroness Brady and Claude Littner and in the first episode, the candidates are tasked with organising and hosting a themed cabaret night in less than 48 hours.


1-2/2



9. After Life

Friday 8th March on Netflix


It's his first TV comedy in 4 years and Ricky Gervais' Netflix series After Life sees him play Tony, someone who until his wife Lisa suddenly passed away, had the perfect life. And it might just be the best thing he's ever done.


After contemplating taking his own life, Tony decides instead to live long enough to punish the world by saying and doing whatever he likes from now on. He thinks it’s like a Super Power, not caring about himself or anyone else. But it's tricky when everyone is trying to save the nice guy they used to know.


The cast includes former Extras co-star Ashley Jensen, former Derek co-stars Joe Wilkinson and David Earl, Jo Hartley, Mandeep Dhillon and Roisin Conaty who all starred in David Brent: Live on the Road as well as Tom Basden, Tony Way, Tracy Ann Oberman, Penelope Wilton, David Bradley, Brian Gittins, Paul Kaye and Diane Morgan.


Read my interview with Ricky Gervais on Wednesday.


1-6/6



10. Baptiste

Sunday 10th March at 9pm on BBC One


This week's episode of Baptiste sees Julien confront Martha about a life-changing secret she has kept hidden from him. And just as Julien’s luck is looking up, Edward makes a reckless move that puts the entire case in jeopardy.


Things don’t go according to plan when Edward takes matters into his own hands after Genevieve coerces him to meet with Constantin.


After discovering Natalie’s true intentions for the money, Julien meets Herman de Boer. But the cash is nowhere to be found and Julien is led to the creepy home of Bram Visser who is hiding depraved secrets of his own.


4/6

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