This week's best telly includes a gripping new Channel 4 drama based on a true story, the return of hit comedy Ghosts as well as a celebration of cult comedy People Just Do Nothing, another I Am drama and the return of Celebrity MasterChef.
Here are 5 TV shows you can't miss this week...
1. Ghosts
Monday 9th August at 8.30pm on BBC One
Ghosts, the hit comedy which stars Charlotte Ritchie and Kiell Smith-Bynoe as young couple Alison and Mike, who unexpectedly inherit a grand country estate, only to find it is both falling apart and overrun with ghosts, is back for a third series.
When a historical documentary team comes to film at Button House, Alison and the ghosts are shocked to discover that the assassination plot they’re exploring involves one of their own.
Meanwhile, Mike, always on the lookout for free publicity, begs Alison to accept the offer of a television interview about the old house. The only hitch is Alison is terrified of speaking on camera. Luckily, Thomas is there to coach her in the art of speech-giving. What could possibly go wrong?
1/6 Continues weekly. All episodes available at launch
2. Celebrity MasterChef
Monday 9th, Tuesday 10th and Friday 13th August at 9pm on BBC One
Celebrity MasterChef is back as 20 brand new celebrities will spend six weeks hoping to follow in the footsteps of last year’s champion Riyadh Khalaf, and take home that coveted Celebrity MasterChef trophy. Battling it out in the kitchen this week, are Su Pollard, Rita Simons, Duncan James, Bez and Munya Chawawa.
The first challenge, Under the Cloche, is a new one. In front of each celebrity is a cloche, underneath which is an ingredient. With each celebrity presented with a different ingredient, they must create one dish showcasing that ingredient to demonstrate to the judges they have potential. With nerves running high and just over an hour to create their dishes from scratch, the celebrities must think on their feet to impress the judges.
Next, it’s another brand new challenge, the Street Food Challenge, which sees the celebrities presented with a popular street food dish from Denmark, frikadeller with red cabbage and apples. They must taste it and try to identify the ingredients. They then have to cook this classic national dish themselves, using not a recipe but their instincts about how it is made.
Then, in the final test of culinary creativity, the contestants are asked to prepare their Dinner Party Dish, something they would cook to impress if someone was coming round to eat - in just one hour. At the end of this test, one of them will be sent home.
Who can handle the pressure and show the judges they have the skills, creativity and flair to progress further in the competition?
On Tuesday, Nisha Katona challenges the four remaining celebrities to cook an Indian recipe from her menu and Friday's quarter-final sees the three remaining contestants cook for three former Celebrity MasterChef champions: Riyadh Khalaf, Kimberly Wyatt and Angellica Bell. For the one who can’t cut the mustard, the journey ends here.
1-3/18 Continues weekly
3. Kurupting the Industry: People Just Do Nothing Story
Wednesday 11th August at 10.35pm on BBC One
People Just Do Nothing, the BBC Three mockumentary about a group of aspiring MCs and DJs as they run a pirate radio station called Kurupt FM went from being an online series in 2011 to a BBC pilot in 2012. What followed was 5 hit series and an upcoming feature film.
In this 45-minute special programme, the team behind the cult BBC Three mockumentary reflect on their journey from the small screen to the big screen, celebrating the show's rise from web series to BAFTA award-winning comedy.
Cast members Allan Mustafa, Asim Chaudhry, Hugo Chegwin, Steve Stamp, Dan Sylvester, Lily Brazier, Executive Producer Ash Atalla, producer Jon Petrie and Director Jack Clough will tell the story of how a group of mates from Brentford took their online mockumentary and turned it into a smash hit British comedy. They'll reflect on their journey from teenage friends to winning the biggest prize in UK comedy.
Beyond the show itself, they have sold out gig venues, performed at some of the world's biggest music festivals and worked with some of the biggest artists on the planet. And as they now prepare for their upcoming film release, what next for Brentford's biggest pirate radio crew and the legion of fans they have made all over the world?
1/1 Available from 6am on BBC Three
4. I Am Danielle
Thursday 12th August at 9pm on Channel 4
Following last week's I Am Victoria, starring Surrane Jones, Dominic Savage's female-led anthology drama continues this week with Letitia Wright as a photographer focused on her career in I Am Danielle.
She meets Michael, a model played by C.J. Beckford. He could be the one. But after falling completely in love, she discovers a disturbing secret. Can she still love him after this betrayal of trust?
I Am Danielle is a compelling reflection on the hope and heartache of falling in love in the age of social media, where trust and betrayal go hand in hand.
2/3 Continues weekly. All episodes available now
5. Deceit
Friday 13th August at 9pm on Channel 4
Written by Emilia di Girolamo, this new gripping four-part drama examines the true controversial honeytrap at the heart of the high-pressure investigation into the devastating murder of Rachel Nickell in 1992.
Examining the complicated and toxic sexual politics of the early ‘90s and the police’s obsession with the wrong man, Deceit enters a dysfunctional world, where a female undercover officer, played by the sensational Niamh Algar, codename ‘Lizzie James’, is asked to become sexual bait for a suspected killer.
Five months on from the crime, The Met Police are still no closer to capturing the man they’re convinced is responsible. First identified through a BBC Crimewatch appeal, the evidence points to Colin Stagg. The media feed a national obsession, covering every detail of the case and demanding justice. The police are determined to catch the man who, in their eyes, is guilty before he kills again.
In desperation, the relatively young Detective Inspector leading the case, Keith Pedder engages the nation’s most famous criminal profiler, Paul Britton to help devise a bold undercover operation which will see an attractive, young female officer start a relationship with an innocent man, Colin Stagg.
Growing up under Thatcher’s reign, with second-wave feminism, ‘Lizzie James’ is determined to rise through the ranks. But the early ‘90s has brought with it an inevitable backlash in the shape of ‘Lad Culture’, obliterating any feminist gains and putting women firmly back in their place, something felt by both ‘Lizzie’ and her friend and colleague Lucy.
Hugely ambitious, ‘Lizzie’ has found a way to stand out by becoming one of very few female undercover officers deployed in covert operations, in a team that includes her sometime confidant Baz. But then she’s offered a central role in the biggest murder enquiry the country has ever seen.
Starring alongside Niamh Algar are Sion Daniel-Young, Eddie Marsan, Harry Treadaway, Rochenda Sandall and Nathaniel Martello-White.
1/4 Continues weekly. All episodes available at launch
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