Who will win the next race across the world?
This week's best telly includes three new dramas starring Jill Halfpenny, Kate Winslet and Michael Douglas, as well as the return of Race Across the World and Meet the Richardsons.
Here are 5 TV shows you can't miss this week...
1. The Cuckoo
Monday 8th to Thursday 11th April at 9pm on Channel 5
BRAND NEW
Jill Halfpenny leads Channel 5's newest drama The Cuckoo which tells the story of how a family's plans for a restorative relocation to the countryside collapse into extreme jeopardy.
It also stars Claire Goose and Lee Ingleby as Jessica and Nick, and Freya Hannan-Mills as their 14-year-old daughter Alice, who has a difficult relationship with her mother and is against their idea to relocate to the countryside to (hopefully) leave their financial struggles and family conflicts behind.
In the first episode , we find Jessica at a farmhouse under renovation, interviewing potential lodgers and she begins to lose hope until Sian, an artist played by Jill Halfpenny arrives. But Jessica is interrupted when their conversation is interrupted by their plumber's wife, demanding payment for work and Sian offers to cover the bills with her deposit.
When Nick and Alice return home, they are introduced to their new lodger. Sian is charming but Alice is uncomfortable and Nick voices his concerns to Jessica about taking so much money from Sian.
Later, Jessica admits to Sian that she struggles to connect with Alice, and that Nick had an affair. Nick contacts one of Sian's references, discovering Fay Calder is her aunt, heightening his suspicions. But when Nick expresses his doubts about Sian, Jessica dismisses him.
As Alice and Sian grow closer, Sian’s troubled past could be edging the family towards a disastrous future and in a race against time, Jessica and Nick must fight to preserve everything they hold dear.
1-4/4 Continues nightly
2. Meet the Richardsons
Monday 8th April at 9pm on Dave
RETURNING
Written by Lucy Beaumont and Tim Reid, mockumentary Meet the Richardsons returns this week for a fifth series as we delve further into the funny and frustrated lives of married comedians Jon Richardson and Lucy Beaumont who play exaggerated versions of themselves.
In this series, Lucy’s career is turbo-charged by her BAFTA nomination and she’s getting offered shows from the very big to the frankly bizarre. Jon is fine with Lucy’s success, he’s not competitive at all, and he knows when he’s beaten.
So, while Lucy’s busy on Taskmaster, Bake Off and Celebrity Chinese Whispers, Jon is plotting his escape from telly, with one last, lucrative job hosting a new daytime Quiz show.
Meanwhile, at home, a global superstar and her partner move in next door, making it harder than ever to keep up with the neighbours. Lucy’s turning 40 and she’d really like Jon to go with her to Glastonbury to celebrate. He’ll never agree to that. But will they both agree that five series of Meet The Richardsons is more than enough?
1/10 Continues weekly. All episodes available on UKTV Play at launch
3. The Regime
Monday 8th April at 9pm on Sky Atlantic
BRAND NEW
Kate Winslet stars as Chancellor Elena Vernham in new drama The Regime, which tells the story of life within the walls of a modern authoritarian regime as it unravels.
After not leaving the palace for quite some time, Elena becomes increasingly paranoid and unstable and turns to a volatile soldier, Herbert Zubak, played by Matthias Schoenaerts, as an unlikely confidant.
As Zubak's influence over the chancellor grows, Elena's attempts to expand her power eventually result in the palace and the country fracturing around her.
1/6 Continues weekly. All episodes available at launch
4. Race Across The World
Wednesday 10th April at 9pm on BBC One
RETURNING
After three series and a celebrity series, BBC One's hugely successful Race Across the World is back for its fourth series as five teams of intrepid Brits battle it out in a breathtaking race, hoping to take home the cash prize of £20,000.
This time they must race 15,000 kilometres across Eastern Asia from Sapporo to Lombok and through some of the world’s most populous regions and some of its most unexplored. Leaving behind their smartphones, internet access and bank cards, they will be armed only with the cash equivalent of the airfare from Sapporo to Lombok.
The journey will see them race through multiple countries,including experiencing Japan's clash of ancient traditions and ultramodern, unexpected South Korea. They will also come face to face with chaotic and colourful Vietnam and brave the unexplored Indonesian archipelago, the largest Muslim nation in the world.
The race begins in Sapporo, the capital city of Hokkaido, the most northerly of the four main islands of Japan. To reach the first checkpoint in Nara City teams face 1600 kilometres through one of the most expensive countries where only a small percentage of the population speak English. With a myriad of routes to choose from they must use all their skills, ingenuity, and determination to make it off the island and to the checkpoint.
1/9 Continues weekly
5. Franklin
Friday 12th April on Apple TV+
BRAND NEW
Based on A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America by Stacy Schiff, Apple TV+'s new drama Franklin is executive produced by Michael Douglas who stars in the title role of Benjamin Franklin. The eight-part drama explores the thrilling story of the greatest gamble of Benjamin Franklin's career.
In December 1776, Franklin is world famous for his electrical experiments, but his passion and power areput to the test when, as the fate of American independence hangs in the balance, he embarks on a secret mission to France.
At age 70, without any diplomatic training, Franklin convinced an absolute monarchy to underwriteAmerica's experiment in democracy. By virtue of his fame, charisma and ingenuity, Franklin outmaneuvered British spies, French informers and hostile colleagues to engineer the Franco-American alliance of 1778 and the peace treaty with Great Britain in 1783.
The eight-year French mission stands as Franklin's most vital service to his country. Diplomats and historians still regard it as the greatest single tour of duty by an ambassador in our nation's history, as without French aid, America could not have won the Revolution.
1-3/8 Continues weekly