BBC's The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Mrs Brown’s Boys: TV highlights

Whitney Houston Night (Saturday 26/07/25, BBC2, from 8pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

If any singer seemed born to be a star, it was Whitney Houston.

Not only did she have a truly incredible voice and model looks, but she also came for a very musical background.

Her mother, Cissy Houston, was a Grammy-winning soul and gospel singer in her own right, her cousins included Dionne Warwick, her godmother was Darlene Love and Aretha Franklin was considered ‘an honorary aunt’.

Whitney’s own career began at 14 as a back-up singer for her mum, and in her teens she combined music with modelling, before being signed by legendary A&R man and record producer Clive Davis in 1983 when she was still only 19.

Her self-titled debut album topped the charts three years later, and Whitney was soon established as an international star. By the early 1990s, she was also breaking into films with a starring role in the blockbuster The Bodyguard.

While it may have seemed from the outside that her success came easily, Whitney struggled with fame. Her story had a tragic ending when she died in 2012 at the age of just 48, following a well-publicised battle with addiction.

Tonight though, BBC2 is giving viewers the chance to remember Whitney at her peak as it devotes a night to the star. It begins with Whitney Houston at the BBC, which features archive performances of songs including Saving All My Love for You, Where Do Broken Hearts Go, How Will I Know and Your Love Is My Love.

That’s followed at 9pm by the premiere of the biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, which traces her rise to fame as well as the difficulties she encountered later in her too-short life.

Her former mentor Clive Davis, who served as a producer on the film (and is portrayed in it by Stanley Tucci) was keen that the movie give a complete picture of Whitney, rather than wallow in her later years.

He said: “It certainly was my mission to make sure that we show the life of a great music star and what made her special, unique.

“Our intent was not to whitewash the lethal impact of drugs – how they brought a unique person to a premature, tragic ending. But it is also to show the great talent, why she was beloved and an unparalleled talent that affected the world over.”

British actress Naomi Ackie, who had the daunting task of playing Whitney, agreed, saying: “I think that it’s important to refocus the energy back on to the amazing parts of her life and the joy that was very present in her life. And I think this film tries to do that too.”

The evening then concludes with a chance to see the star herself in action with Whitney Houston: Live in South Africa 1994. Her performance at Kings Park Stadium in Durban made her the first big western star to visit the post-apartheid nation following Nelson Mandela’s victory in the presidential election – another achievement that’s worth celebrating.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Sunday 27/07/25, BBC One, 9.15pm)

Words by Sarah Morgan

He may no longer be among the frontrunners in the race to replace Daniel Craig as James Bond (according to the bookies at any rate), but Jacorb Elordi is still a man very much in demand at the moment.

He’s been acting professionally since 2017 (having made his movie debut in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), and first grabbed the attention as a member of the cast of teen drama Euphoria (playing a high school American football star with issues), but it was 2023 that turned out to be his real breakout year thanks to roles as Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola’s biopic Priscilla and the object of Barry Keoghan’s obsession in Saltburn.

Elordi now has three films awaiting release – remakes of literary classics Frankenstein (in which he’ll play the monster) and Wuthering Heights (he’s been cast as Heathcliff) and Ridley Scott’s latest sci-fi epic The Dog Stars.

Elordi has also managed to squeeze in a starring role in The Narrow Road to the Deep North, a five-part adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name.

Shooting took the Brisbane-born star back to his native Australia to play medical student Dorrigo Evans (Ciarán Hinds portrays the same character as an older man). But it wasn’t being able to return home that made him want to be a part of the project, it was the chance to work with director Justin Kurzel, having fallen in love with Snowtown, the film-maker’s debut from 2011.

“I think the intrigue to me from working with him was how much space and freedom he gives the performer,” explained Elordi during an interview with the Deadline website. “He doesn’t let the camera or the lights or the sound get in the way of the performance… he’s very particular about the performance coming before everything, which as an actor is as close as you can get to a theatre experience on screen.”

If you missed last week’s opening episode (which is now available on the BBC iPlayer), it introduced viewers to Dorrigo, whose life is charted in three phases – pre-Second World War, his time as a PoW working on Burma’s notorious ‘Death Railway’, and afterwards as an older man and successful surgeon looking back at his achievements and disappointments.

Among them is his relationship with Amy (Odessa Young), the much younger wife of his uncle, which forms the backbone of the series.

“The Narrow Road to the Deep North is an epic tale of the sustaining power of love under the harshest of circumstances,” say executive producers Jo Porter and Rachel Gardner. “(We’re) honoured to help bring this story to life.”

Sue Deeks, Head of BBC Programme Acquisition, adds that it’s a “complex, beautiful, and heart-wrenching series.”

No wonder Elordi signed up. But what is he doing next? After a busy 12 months, you would hope a rest is in order – but, as he’s a wanted man, you can bet he’ll be back on set in no time.

Mayfair Witches (Monday 28/07/25, BBC One, 11.10pm & 11.55pm)

Wprds by Sarah Morgan

When you love a TV show, you simply cannot wait for it to return. So spare a thought for those who became hooked on Mayfair Witches almost two years ago.

It’s only now about to return for a second run, but there is a good excuse for its absence from our screens – its star, Alexandra Daddario, has been busy having a baby, something her alter ego, neurosurgeon and spellcaster Rowan, scion of a great witch family, did at the end of the previous series. No doubt her real-life offspring is far calmer than her on-screen child, who is set to grow up superfast, having developed some extraordinary powers.

The native New Yorker probably feels rather sentimental about the show, because after years of being part of an ensemble in the likes of the Percy Jackson films, the Baywatch movie and the first seasons of both True Detective and The White Lotus, it finally gave her the opportunity to play the lead role. Not that she’s complaining about her career to date.

“The first Percy Jackson film was a time of great joy and fulfilment and I felt like I’d taken a huge step forward in my career,” says the star, while in a philosophical mood. “There’s times when you can’t get a job when I’m less happy, but as I’ve gotten older, maybe a little bit wiser, I’m just a bit more content with things, taking things as they come.”

Mayfair Witches is, of course, the second drama (after Interview With The Vampire) to be set in Anne Rice’s ‘Immortal Universe’, and Daddario couldn’t wait to get her teeth into it.

“I’m fascinated by Anne Rice even though I hadn’t read any of her work before booking the show,” she explained to The AV Club. “I wanted the opportunity to dive into who she was and why she wrote these stories. I had also never been the lead of my own TV show, which felt cool.”

She later added about her character: “Rowan isn’t exactly the friendliest at times, but there’s a reason. It’s because she’s struggling and compartmentalising so much. I tried to approach her as the mess she is, and how the world reacts to who she is.

“I thought it was well-written because she faced tough struggles even before finding out the truth about her family.”

Obviously it’s not based on a true story, but Mayfair Witches is appealing because, like many of the projects Daddario has appeared in, it is, in her own words: “escapism,” something she thinks is important: “What I love about what I do is I have the opportunity to entertain people and to make them feel.”

Jack Huston, Harry Hamlin and Tongayi Chirisa also star, while Ben Feldman joins the cast as Rowan’s former boyfriend, genetics startup boss Sam Larkin. The really great news is a third series has already been commissioned – here’s hoping it won’t take quite so long to make it onto our screens.

Pompeii: Life in the City with Dan Snow (Tuesday 29/07/25, Channel 5, 9pm)

Words by Damon Smith

Step back in time to 79 AD, when Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the Roman city of Pompeii beneath metres of volcanic ash, in the company of historian Dan Snow and author and historian Doctor Kate Lister.

A fascinating four-part series accompanies the duo as they unlock the beautifully preserved mysteries of the UNESCO World Heritage site located south-east of Naples, where modern archaeological curiosity has exposed the intricacies of day-to-day life almost 2000 years ago.

“I hope viewers will see Pompeii not just as a place of destruction, but as a window into the real Roman world,” explains Dan.

He has visited Pompeii a few times before, but the new series allowed him to shift focus away from the wider history of the Roman Empire and the discovery of the city and concentrate instead on the people who were residing in the shadow of Vesuvius when Mother Nature unleashed her fiery fury.

“So much has been preserved,” he enthuses. “There’s grass, wall paintings, human remains and bread that was left in the oven before Vesuvius erupted. They even found eggs that were covered in superheated volcanic debris, so they became baked eggs, but still in their shells.”

He was equally surprised by the high volume of wooden objects that have been unearthed and the charcoal handprints on walls that could have happened days before destruction. “They’ve found evidence of kids drawing around their hands on the walls and leaving graffiti of gladiators,” he adds.

The first episode is dedicated to the city’s workers. Around 30 per cent of labour would have been enslaved and the rich of Pompeii were heavily reliant on the lowly – not just household servants, gladiators and sex workers but also teachers, accountants, medics and estate agents, some of whom would have been slaves.

Archaeologists have discovered more than 30 bakeries, hairdressers, pubs and shops and they have been able to put names to some of the locals. One pig keeper, who kept her hogs in the centre of Pompeii, was called Nigella.

City streets were dangerous at night but few places in Pompeii could compare to the hellish conditions in a laundry, where bodily fluids were used to clean clothes. “The slaves were in there all day, working with human urine and horse urine, in hot, disgusting conditions. It was just brutal,” reflects Dan. Criminals were often sent to work in bakeries in the suffocating heat where donkeys turned millstones and clouds of flour choked the air, making it difficult to breathe.

Life in Pompeii would have been considerably easier for the rich and powerful. Dan dresses to impress on screen as a Roman senator in a toga and he found the experience liberating. “It was bonkers but very fun,” he confesses, “and actually when you put people’s clothes on, walk in their shoes, and eat their food, it does give you an insight into their lives.”

Destination X (Wednesday 30/07/25, BBC1, 9pm)

Rachael Popow

When it comes to TV, Rob Brydon may seem like the definition of a safe pair of hands.

From portraying a fictionalised version of himself in The Trip, playing Bryn in the much-loved sitcom Gavin & Stacey or hosting one of the TV’s most consistently entertaining panel shows, Would I Lie to You?, the actor, comedian and presenter has plenty of critical and ratings hits to his name.

However, he admits he’s never done anything quite as big as BBC’s new travel-based game show Destination X.

He says: “[One of the things] that attracted me was the scale of it and being a part of a show as ambitious as this, with as huge a crew and as huge a team. I knew it would be a real challenge to see if I could steer that ship.”

Or, more accurately, bus. As Rob explains: “The show sees 13 people travel around Europe on a very special bus. The windows of the bus are opaque for most of the time but can suddenly become clear at the flick of a switch, albeit very briefly. The players have to learn to live with each other and to complete challenges to win clues as to where on earth they are.

“At the end of each episode, they all go into a very special ‘map room’ that is hidden away on the bus and they have to place their X on the map trying to guess where they are. Whoever is furthest away from our actual location or Destination X has to leave.”

He adds: “I loved the idea of it, the combination of having to work out clues as to where you are and having to get on with each other. It struck me as the best bits of The Traitors with the best bits of Race Across the World.”

That explains why Rob signed up, but some viewers may be wondering why the contestants would want to take part a travel-based show that, by definition, won’t involve a lot of sight-seeing.

Well, there is a jackpot of £100,000 up for grabs, which only one person can win, and as the series progresses, the contestants increasingly have their eyes on the prize.

Rob says: “I suppose the most gripping thing is seeing how the players respond to the pressure that they are under and watching players’ relationships develop. I don’t want to give anything away but when they start out, they are very much in a team mentality, they are keen to remind me that they are a team – and then things evolve.”

So, things should still be nice and friendly in this opening episode as the contestants get to know each other. And whoever is the first to leave can take some consolation in the knowledge that while Rob may make a great host, he thinks he’d have made a terrible player.

Ro claims: “A good knowledge of Europe is the most basic thing and I don’t really have that beyond the places we always go on our holidays in Europe… I think I would be hopeless at the game, I would not have a clue and would be cruelly exposed as being not too bright at all!”

The Gone (Thursday 31/07/25, BBC2, 9pm)

Words by Damon Smith

Unspeakable, ugly crimes happen in the most beautiful locations. That was certainly true in the first series of The Gone, a suspenseful crime drama shot on location in the rural town of Te Aroha in the Waikato region of New Zealand. This vast area of the North Island, named after the longest river in New Zealand, welcomed an influx of “precious” tourists after Peter Jackson chose the Waikato to double for The Shire in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings films.

In The Gone, the breathtaking landscapes of Te Aroha became the fictional community of Mount Affinity, where visiting Irish detective Theo Richter, played by Grey’s Anatomy and Shameless actor Richard Flood, unravelled the mystery of a missing young Irish couple with the assistance of local police officer Diana Huia (Acushla-Tara Kupe).

One of the lost tourists happened to be the daughter of a criminal court judge (Michelle Fairley) based in Dublin, whose recent rulings had made her an enemy of a powerful drug cartel. Theo and Diana’s investigation was repeatedly hampered by Irish journalist Aileen Ryan (Carolyn Bracken), who had travelled to New Zealand to ask uncomfortable questions about the family behind the cartel and the historical Mountain Murders.

Series one ended on a cliffhanger, neatly setting up this eagerly anticipated return to Mount Affinity and its close-knit Māori community, which is justifiably wary of outsiders. Behind the scenes, around 40 per cent of the production crew was Māori and the rich history and traditions of Indigenous people are positively reflected on screen.

The luck of the Irish appears to have completely deserted Theo at the beginning of the second series. Ready to leave New Zealand for his beloved Ireland, he is reluctantly drawn back to Mount Affinity from the airport to spearhead the search for Aileen and understand how her sudden disappearance is connected to the Mountain Murders from many years ago. Grim history seems to be repeating and Theo will need to work closely again with Diana to exhume literal and figurative skeletons buried in the sun-baked earth.

It’s not just the police who are feeling the ripple effect of the previous investigation. Game of Thrones actress Michelle Fairley returns as Judge Hannah Martin and she faces the unenviable task of helping her daughter Sinead (Rachel Morgan) to heal after the psychological trauma of her abduction and the murder of fellow tourist Ronan Garvey (Simon Mead).

Her deepest wounds are invisible and even with Hannah’s years of experience on the judicial bench, she may not be fully prepared for the immense challenge of rebuilding her child’s shattered confidence in a world where the Goatman investigation is still active and a copycat killer could still be on the loose.

The truth cannot stay hidden forever, even in Mount Affinity.

Mrs Brown’s Boys (Friday 01/08/25, BBC1, 9.30pm)

Words by Damon Smith

Take cover. No-nonsense mother-of-six Agnes Brown and the rest of the madcap clan are back in four episodes of mayhem and mirth, which writer and star Brendan O’Carroll affectionately describes as a mini-series.

In the opening misadventure for the Finglas gang, Agnes accidentally hijacks Cathy’s new podcast project and becomes an overnight sensation with her no-nonsense wit and wisdom from the comfort of the family home.

Later in the mini-series, Foley’s bar will host its annual talent show and pedestrians across Dublin will be looking left and right multiple times before stepping into the road when Agnes helps Winnie to pass her driving test.

Brendan confirms that the storylines of these four episodes follow a similar creative process to the 53 previous fun-filled instalments. “Believe it or not most of the storylines are based on true events that either happened to my family or have been told to me by people about their families,” he confides. “Everybody has a story, and it’s quite common for someone in a family to say in the middle of a family disaster, ‘This is like an episode of Mrs Brown’s Boys’.”

The show is recorded in Glasgow in front of a live studio audience and rollicking responses to jokes and pratfalls – and the inevitable bloopers, when cast forget their lines or crack each other up – have become a trademark of the long-running show.

Brendan reflects warmly on the importance of that immediate feedback to the team’s hard work. “So many times, at the end of rehearsals for a particular episode, our director, Ben Kellett, will say, ‘All this needs now is the audience’ and he is so right. They follow every move, every line and add so much to our performances. We would be lost without them.”

Recalling Anges’s daredevil exploits this mini-series, Brendan confesses he particularly enjoyed an opportunity to put his feisty matriarch on a mobility scooter and there are some lovely interactions between Agnes and Granddad during the talent show. “In every episode there is something that stands out for me,” confirms Brendan. “I love being Agnes Brown and I love her family, and her neighbours like Winnie and Birdy.”

The first episode of Mrs Brown’s Boys aired in February 2011 and continues to curry favour with viewers almost 15 years later. Brendan admits that he doesn’t know the secret to the show’s enduring success but there is no reason to change a winning formula. “I write and perform what I think is funny and just hope that somebody somewhere watching gets a laugh out of it,” he explains. “Although I sometimes try to include a ‘family’ message along the way, essentially it’s just a bunch of actors trying to make you laugh.”