Our Dream Farm with Matt Baker, Michael Palin in Nigeria and Jamie Oliver Cooks Spring: TV highlights this week

Our Dream Farm with Matt Baker (Saturday 27/04/24, Channel 4, 7.50pm)

Words by Rob Lavender

The pastoral competition continues, having provoked some controversy at its launch with various people wondering whether the 10-year tenancy of a farm is an appropriate prize for a TV show – or whether the tenancy should have been offered to local people before being offered up as the reward in what is essentially a talent contest for would-be agriculturalists.

What the series has done, though, is to shine a light on exactly what is involved in the running of a farm. Matt Baker, who lives on an organic sheep farm, has long been a champion of the British countryside and the people who make a living by working it.

“The rhetoric was ‘first it was Strictly, then Bake Off – and now they’re doing it with farming’,” Matt told Country Living Magazine.

“But this is not some kind of X-Factor-style contest about who can hit a fence post in the quickest. It’s a real-life job interview for a proper tenant farm.”

Here he tasks the remaining hopefuls (the first elimination was last week) with looking after the ewes during their lambing – an activity that doesn’t respect the time of day. There can be no nine-to-five on a farm (indeed Matt himself says that when he isn’t filming, he typically gets up at 5.30am and works on his land and with his livestock until 9pm), and during lambing you can forget about early starts because some nights you don’t actually stop.

Certainly this does set Our Dream Farm apart from the other skills competitions in that it doesn’t just demonstrate a technical ability, but rather the understanding of the whole lifestyle that to be successful in that world requires. There’s no mention in Bake Off of contestants’ willingness to get up at 4am to receive a flour delivery or to get that day’s bread dough proving.

This week’s other challenge will see the would-be tenants host an educational farm visit for a group of schoolchildren, with Giles and Sally hoping that the kids will learn about farming, conservation and food production while also having fun.

It’s a lesser known aspect of a farmer’s life, but increasingly education is more and more important. Helping people to feel connected to the land that provides the food they consume can help them make informed decisions about their shopping or eating habits, especially at a time when climate change is such a present threat.

This is something that the participants hope that they can instil in these kids, but it’s also a matter that this series hopes to demonstrate to those watching at home.

It might be hard work, but at the end of it all, for the victor the good life awaits. Take Matt’s own life as an example: “We swap produce with the neighbours. At the weekend, we’ll roast a leg of lamb that we’ve reared ourselves.

“There’s nothing better. We have a very strong connection with what we’re eating. If we haven’t reared or grown it ourselves, our neighbours will have.”

Sounds like heaven!

Dopesick (Sunday 28/04/24, BBC Two, 10pm & 11pm)

Words by Sarah Morgan

In the mood for something hard-hitting and thought-provoking?

If the answer is yes, then BBC Two is the place to be this Sunday evening. A few weeks ago, the Beeb broadcast The Dropout, a mini-series based on a true story that had originally been available via Disney+.

Clearly it was a success, because now it’s doing the same thing again.

Dopesick first hit British screens via the streaming service in late 2021, and is now making its way onto regular TV. It’s not always an easy watch, but it is brilliantly acted, written and covers a hugely important story – the opioid epidemic that has swept across the US, resulting in thousands of overdoses.

“It made me feel furious and I, thankfully, am not directly linked to anyone who’s been lost,” says one of the series’ stars, Will Poulter. “I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be a victim of this crisis, to be battling with the disease of addiction in relation to this drug.

“And for the families of the victims, and the people associated indirectly with this, my heart goes out to them.”

Created by Danny Strong, the actor-turned-writer who appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mad Men and Gilmore Girls before penning screenplays for the two-part Hunger Games finale and the TV show Empire, it’s based on journalist Beth Macy’s non-fiction book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America.

It reveals how, after pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that people would not become addicted, healthcare providers began prescribing opioid pain relievers to an increasing number of patients in the late 1990s.

Since then, evidence has revealed that this rise has led to widespread misuse of both prescription and non-prescription opioids in the US. Dopesick focuses on the part allegedly played by the company Sacklers, who own Purdue Pharma, in the crisis.

Poulter plays sales rep Billy Cutler, who is employed to help launch a new painkiller.

“I’m really grateful to people like Beth Macy, with her investigative journalism, and the book that she created, and writers like Danny Strong, who have brought the truth to light and have allowed people to see the realities of how we got to this stage,” claims the London-born star, before adding: “For the prevailing narrative to be that the opioid crisis is due to a handful of people who derailed an otherwise good drug because they were looking for a high, that’s so upsetting, because it couldn’t be further from the truth.

“This was a drug that was introduced as a legitimate non-addictive form of pain relief, and it was a dangerous, highly addictive narcotic, and the reason it was introduced was solely for financial gain, and that’s the upsetting reality that we have to confront.”

The series begins with a double-bill directed by Oscar-winner Barry Levinson, which focuses on the development of the painkiller Oxycontin.

Michael Keaton, Michael Stuhlbarg, Kaitlyn Dever and Peter Sarsgaard are also among the excellent cast of a series that could be described as America’s equivalent to our own Mr Bates vs The Post Office – both use TV to shine a light on scandals with a direct impact on the public.

Jamie Cooks Spring (Monday 29/04/24, Channel 4, 8pm)

Words by Richard Jones

It may not seem like it when you look out of the window or step outside, but it’s spring, a time of warmer, sunnier weather and longer evenings.

After the bleak winter months, it is an exciting time for cooks and chefs when they can make the most of some of the UK’s wonderful seasonal produce.

For chef and restaurateur Jamie Oliver it is one of his favourite times of the year, and so it’s fitting that he has decided to kick off his new series celebrating ingredients as they come into season in the UK, in spring.

Jamie Cooks… is an extended series split into four parts – Jamie Cooks Spring, Jamie Cooks Summer, Jamie Cooks Autumn and Jamie Cooks Winter.

For every season, he will showcase inspiring recipes using sustainable ingredients that are in bang in season – whether you’re out shopping or growing your own.

The chef, who turns 49 next month, explains: “I can’t wait to show people how wonderful the world of seasonal cooking is – how ingredients can taste, feel, look and cook better in their prime time.

“The show is packed with delicious ways to enjoy local, British produce in our kitchens all year round.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t have your own garden patch or windowsill space, you can tap into what is in the supermarkets and farmers’ markets at that moment and get closer to fresher, more sustainable ingredients.”

In tonight’s first edition, Jamie picks some rhubarb from the garden and celebrates its tart tanginess by making a lip-smacking sauce for marinated pork belly, pan-fried until crispy in his hot and sour rhubarb crispy pork noodles.

He then picks some new season spinach for a silky and luxurious spinach and goat’s cheese risotto, before celebrating a veg that has seen us through the winter – the leek – as he cooks up a scruffy spring tart.

Jamie also shows us how to divide shop-bought basil into lots of individual plants to last us through the year and celebrates the vibrantly coloured stalks and leaves of chard in a crowd-pleasing cheesy spring cannelloni.

Jamie Cooks is already the chef’s second new show for Channel 4 this year, following on from the recent Jamie’s Air Fryer Meals.

And although some critics may think he’s in danger of over-exposure, he thinks viewers will see a different side to him in Jamie Cooks…, including his love of gardening.

He says: “What you’ve seen of me on screen has always been authentic, but Jamie Cooks… allows me to be excited and eccentric, as well as calm as it’s a bit of a slower pace, so you get both gears of me.

“My family is around, as is my faithful dog Conker, and I enjoy the quiet moments where we say nothing.

“I’m in the garden every day I can be. I’m obsessed. I probably spend an hour in the garden every night, picking and eating.

“Before meals, I’ll say to my family, ‘Guys, before we start, everything is from the garden’. They’ll look at me and reply, ‘Yes, you say that every day’. I do feel like a very eccentric father, but I don’t care, because nature’s so bloody clever.”

Michael Palin in Nigeria (Tuesday 30/04/24, Channel 5, 9pm)

Words by Richard Jones

Throughout his globetrotting adventures, Sir Michael Palin has visited locations as far flung as the Himalayas, the North and South Poles, the Sahara and North Korea.

But while he is the definition of an open-minded seasoned traveller, even he was taken aback at some of things he witnessed on his journey around west Africa for his current Channel 5 series.

“Nigeria has the biggest economy, and the biggest population in Africa,” he says.

“The potential of the country is enormous, but so are its problems.

“Visiting the country for the first time, I saw these problems at first hand, but also caught a whiff of the excitement and energy of the place.

“Sometimes inspiring, sometimes a perplexing challenge, my journey through this rich, raucous mix of a country hardly gave me time to draw breath.”

Over the past couple of weeks, we have joined the Monty Python star, who turns 81 next week, as he visited the biggest slum in Africa, Makoko, the luxury bars of Lekki, and the coastal town of Badagry, which was once a slave port.

He has also climbed Dala Hill in the ancient city of Kano, witnessed the ancient sport of Dambe Boxing and heard the harrowing story of a young lady who was kidnapped by Boko Haram.

Tonight, Michael starts the final part of his journey hurtling down one of Nigeria’s notoriously dangerous roads, known for bandit attacks, en route to the historic city of Benin.

Once there, he notices a statue of British soldiers being massacred by a Benin Warrior in the 1897 ‘Raid on Benin’, when Britain’s forces attacked and burnt down the city, before taking thousands of bronze artefacts, which are still on display in the British Museum and continue to cause controversy.

After a lunch of traditional Nigerian Jollof rice, he heads into the vast Niger Delta but the team soon get stuck in muddy roads and it is something of a relief when they finally arrive in the town of Abraka.

The next morning, Michael meets Nigerian filmmaker Chuko Esiri as they board a boat on the stunning River Ethiope, one of the most beautiful places in Nigeria, to discuss the country’s wildlife.

Michael also meets a local palm oil producer to discuss this controversial, but lucrative, product, and travels to Port Harcourt, the crude oil-producing heartland of Nigeria, visiting a local village where an illegal refinery explosion killed 37 people just weeks earlier.

After arriving back in Lagos, Michael gains unique access to one of Nigeria’s Pentecostal ‘megachurches’ on the outskirts of the city.

At ‘The Redemption City of God’, he discovers an entire community, with over 5,000 houses built around the huge church.

Every month this swells as up to a million worshippers descend for services which are joyful and spectacular.

On this particular day, thousands of people arrive for the ‘Holy Ghost’ service. The place lifts off and Michael finds himself at the centre of an event like no other he has ever experienced.

The energy is infectious, and Michael is caught up in the euphoria and excitement.

“I came home exhausted but exhilarated,” he says on his return to the UK.

“As in the best of journeys, I feel I know a lot more about the world.”

Professor T (Wednesday 01/05/24, ITV1, 9pm)

Words by Rob Lavender

The absorbing series starring Ben Miller as a genius Cambridge University criminologist with OCD, an overbearing mother and a knack for helping the police solve crimes draws to a close.

It’s been quite the season for Professor Jasper Tempest, having been jailed and put on trial for murder himself. In fact much of the series saw him bringing his unique deductive skills to bear on various goings-on inside the slammer, which made for a very interesting variation on the show’s usual plot lines.

Still, he must be relieved to be out. It looked doubtful just a few weeks ago when his trial saw him having to decide between saving himself and his former lover. And then even when that was behind him, he almost landed in hot water last week when his biggest rival was murdered at a criminology conference, and the finger of suspicion again pointed his way.

It might be enough to persuade some people that a career change was in order – or at least a sabbatical.

And the beleaguered prof’s latest case seems unlikely to distract him from his troubles, since it has echoes with his own recent situation to an almost unnerving degree.

It involves a woman who is found dead at the scene of a car crash, but it turns out that it wasn’t the collision that killed her (and if that scenario sounds familiar to you too, then that could be thanks to ITV1’s Sunday night series Red Eye also features a similar premise).

The anxious academic won’t let his own experiences distract him from finding out the truth of what happened, though – will he?

Meanwhile, Lisa (Emma Naomi) and Dan (Barney White) progress their relationship to the next level, even as she prepares to transfer to another force.

Part of the joy of Professor T, particularly during this third series, has been the inclusion of the characters’ parents and the opportunity to see how their relationships have shaped the protagonists. It’s quite astute, overtly so with the excellent Frances de la Tour as Tempest’s mother, Adelaide. This season has been given real emotional heft as Jasper, along with his therapist and Adelaide, began to unpack what happened when he found his father’s body during his childhood.

Lisa has also been given additional depth thanks to her dad, Jackson Donckers (played by London’s Burning’s Ben Onwukwe). A retired cop himself, Jackson’s a very interesting character and it’s clear that he has had a huge impact on Lisa’s life – and in particular her decision to go into law enforcement.

As Professor T has already been renewed for a fourth series we know it will be returning. But will it be with or without Lisa, given that she appears to be transferring? We hope she has a change of heart because we would love to see more from both Naomi and Onwukwe.

Murder, They Hope (Thursday 02/05/24, BBC Two, 9pm)

Words by Rob Lavender

The three-part whodunit caper starring Sian Gibson and Johnny Vegas continues, following the pair’s adventures in Murder on the Blackpool Express, Death on the Tyne, and Dial M for Middlesborough.

This second edition of Murder, They Hope sees hapless private investigators Gemma (Gibson) and Terry (Vegas) find another plot thickening on their turf.

Gemma’s sister Monica (Sarah Hadland of Miranda fame) is starring in an amateur theatre company’s production of Romeo and Juliet, which is being sponsored by the town’s local bakers.

Unfortunately, somebody is poisoning the bakery’s products – and lives are now at risk, with Shakespeare’s famous play threatening to turn into a real-life tragedy.

Paul Whitehouse pops up in the episode, hilariously titled “Evil Under the Bun”, making him the latest in a long line of guest stars and celeb cameos to join in the fun. Previous iterations have seen the likes of Phil Davis, Joanna Page, Mike Wozniak, Griff Rhys Jones, Nigel Havers and Mark Heap appear alongside the regulars.

Gibson, who describes her character as “Like a poor man’s Stefanie Powers from Hart To Hart”, puts the series’ ability to attract British comedy talent down to one thing: “It’s the catering. We are known throughout the industry for soups of the day!”

This may be the terrestrial premiere of writer Jason Cook’s comedy, but keen-eyed viewers might be experiencing deja vu – the show has previously aired on the digital channel GOLD. In fact, as it premiered in 2021, much of the episode was filmed around the Covid lockdowns with restrictions in place, which makes the comedic performances all the more impressive.

Gibson told British Comedy Guide that it was a case of “Masks on, masks off, two-metre rules, Covid tests… it definitely felt very strange with all the strict protocols on set, and I was just dying to hug everyone.

“Despite that, I felt very lucky to be working … as so many of my friends [had] lost their jobs or been furloughed during the pandemic. So I felt extremely grateful to be in work and having a really good laugh with my friends.”

The sense of fun comes across in the finished product. And the best news is, we already know the series will continue – series two went out on GOLD in 2022, while a Christmas Special (“Blood Actually”, featuring Jane Horrocks and Martin Kemp) aired last December. A further Christmas special for this year has also been ordered, so there will be no anxious wait to see whether it will be renewed.

But before all that, next week’s series one finale sees Lee Mack return, alongside guests including Hannah Waddingham and Jason Manford in “Dales of the Unexpected”, which will find Gemma and Terry back on the road doing what they do best: running a coach tour. Which, naturally, we expect to go wrong in spectacular – and deadly – fashion.

Granite Harbour (Friday 03/05/24, BBC One, 8pm)

Words by Sarah Morgan

Gangland murders, drugs, mysterious deaths… They’re all in a day’s work for Lindo and Bart.

“Who?” you may well ask, if you somehow missed the first run of Granite Harbour when it aired in November 2022 (if you did, fret not, it’s still available via the BBC iPlayer). They’re the central characters played by Romario Simpson and Hannah Donaldson.

Lindo – or Lance Corporal Davis Lindo, as he was more formerly known – had recently left the Royal Military Police when we first met him. He dreamed of joining New Scotland Yard, but got a taste of an entirely different Scotland when he was sent north to train as a Detective Constable.

He was immediately teamed with DCI Lara ‘Bart’ Bartlett, a sharp, streetwise local, who would have been the perfect person to show him the ropes – if she wasn’t one of those cops who prefer working alone. Nevertheless, over the course of three episodes, the pair learned to collaborate while solving the murder of one of Aberdeen’s leading oil executives.

“We’re delighted to have Granite Harbour return and can’t wait to see Aberdeen shining on screen,” says executive producer Gavin Smith. “Lindo and Bart are a great double act detective duo and we’re excited to see what crime they come up against this time around.”

The show’s stars are thrilled to be back too: “I’m delighted to be returning to Scotland to film season two of Granite Harbour,” remarked Simpson when the drama’s return was announced last August. “I’m looking forward to reuniting with the original cast and collaborating with some new creatives. It’s another opportunity to learn more about Aberdeen, and take in some vital fresh air and open space.”

“Growing up as an aspiring young actress in the north east of Scotland I didn’t often see the landscapes I recognised as home or hear the accents of my friends and family on screen,” added Donaldson. “I’m very proud to be a small part of bringing Granite Harbour to life. Series two is an excellent opportunity for us to delve further into Bart and Lindo’s relationship and the dynamics of the team. I can’t wait to get my necktie on and get back to work with the North East Murder Investigation Team.”

Ah yes, the necktie… Lindo and Bart have been described by some critics as TV’s best-dressed detectives, and although the necktie isn’t as iconic as the jumper worn by Sarah Lund in The Killing, there’s still time for it to develop its own following.

This time around the duo have two mysterious cases to crack. The first involves the death of drug kingpin Grace McFadden’s notorious fixer; his demise sparks an influx of cocaine and ketamine onto the streets, which could mean a drugs turf war is on the way.

The second is rather more puzzling. A pregnant stowaway claims her partner was killed during the journey that was supposed to lead them to a better life. At the dockside, Captain Anders Nilsen and his crew’s odd behaviour sets Lindo and Bart’s minds racing.

Dawn Steele, Patrick Robinson and Lesley Hart co-star in what promises to be a welcome addition to Friday night’s schedule.