Saving Lives in Leeds, Endeavour and Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway: TV highlights this week

Words by Sarah Morgan

Since Bruce Forsyth’s death in August 2017, the title of ‘King of Saturday Night Telly’ has been up for grabs. Some would suggest that Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, aka Ant and Dec, should share it. After all, over the years they’ve enjoyed a pretty successful run at the weekend thanks to shows such as Limitless Win and Saturday Night Takeaway. But they’re not alone – there’s another pretender to the thrown out there over on the BBC.

No, we’re not talking about Paddy McGuinness or Danny Dyer, who have both had a shot at presenting prime-time shows; it’s too early to gauge how successful Mo Gilligan’s That’s My Jam will be in the long-term too. But Michael McIntyre… well, he must surely be in the running. Not only does he present his own variety series, Michael McIntyre’s Big Show, which only recently completed its latest run, he’s also the host of The Wheel.

The latter is back this week, and will be going head-to-head in the schedules with Saturday Night Takeaway, which may sort out who gets Brucie’s title – not via a Harry Hill-style fight, but rather by finding out which tops the all-important ratings tree.

Most of the smart money will be on Ant and Dec who, in January, announced they had extended their exclusive relationship with ITV for a further three years – the perfect way to celebrate their 25th anniversary with the broadcaster. “We’re so lucky to host the best entertainment shows in the world,” said Ant at the time. “We absolutely love our shows and we are both extremely happy and very excited to extend our relationship with ITV for another three years.”

Donnelly jokingly added: “We can’t believe we are reaching 25 years exclusively with ITV. Especially as we are both only turning 30 this year!”

Kevin Lygo, managing director for media and entertainment at ITV, added: “The world of television and streaming is always a much brighter place with Ant and Dec at the centre of it.”

The deal means we can expect to see the duo front more episodes of Limitless Win, Britain’s Got Talent, the regular run of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and its new spin-off series, which will take place in South Africa and feature some of the original show’s most memorable campmates.

But for now we’re simply looking forward to the new run of Saturday Night Takeaway, which will be its 19th. During the run, Joe Wicks and Claudia Winkleman will appear in I’m A Celebrity… Get Out Of Me Ear!, while Alison Hammond and Rylan are the unwitting victims of their very own Undercovers.

Plus, look out for new whodunit Murder At Bigwig Manor, which is set to star Richard Wilson as the head of ITV, with cameos from Davina McCall, Keith Lemon, Judi Love and many more. Ant and Dec will also be involved in more personal challenges set by their celebrity friends.

It promises to be a fun night for those taking part and others watching at home – McIntyre is certainly going to have to work hard to dislodge these two media monarchs from their lofty perch at the top of Saturday night TV.

Endeavour (Sunday 26/02/23, ITV1, 8pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

In theory, the Inspector Morse prequel Endeavour could run and run. The first episode, which aired in 2012 to mark the 25th anniversary of the original series, was set in 1965. We’ve now reached series nine and we’re still only up to 1972, meaning there’s still a good 15 years left to fill in to explain how Shaun Evans, who plays the younger Morse, transforms into the older version portrayed by John Thaw.

However, it seems the team behind Endeavour never wanted to outstay their welcome. Speaking about the show’s future ahead of the eighth series in 2021, Evans hinted that it wasn’t a given that the drama would keep going indefinitely: “That’s a decision for the whole team. We need to take a look at this series, see if there’s still a story to tell and if we all still want to tell it.”

“I think we’ll know when the time has come to end Endeavour. You want to do it until the story is told.”

We now know that Evans, his co-star Roger Allam, who plays Morse’s mentor DCI Fred Thursday, producers Mammoth Screen and screenwriter Russell Lewis did come together and decide that, while there was definitely enough of a story for another series, the ninth run, which starts tonight, would be the last.

Executive Producer Damien Timmer said behalf of producers, Mammoth Screen: “Endeavour has been a real labour of love for all of us, and we salute Russell Lewis for his extraordinary achievement in chronicling Endeavour Morse’s coming of age across 72 hours of TV. Russell always knew where he wanted the series to end, and that Remorseful Day is nearly upon us!”

He added: “Russell has many surprises up his sleeve for the final three films, with the return of some familiar faces and new challenges for Endeavour and Thursday to face before the final goodbye.”

But just how final will that goodbye be? Of course, we know that Morse will continue being a copper, but there are some other questions hanging over the series, especially when it comes to Thursday and his daughter Joan.

Speaking to PBS Masterpiece, Evans suggested that we will get our answers. He said: “[We] know because of the unique prequel nature of this story, that neither Joan nor Thursday is ever mentioned in either the books or in the series with John Thaw. So, it’s our duty to make a decision about why that is, and what they do in our particular stories that ensure that they’re never mentioned again later on. And I feel like we’ve satisfied that…”

Luckily, Thursday and Morse are still working together in the first episode, as they deal with two unexplained deaths that seem to be linked to the Oxford Concert Orchestra. A body has also been discovered in a derelict warehouse, which leads to fears that ‘London business’, as the cops call it, has once again found its way to Oxford.

As they dig deeper, Thursday and Endeavour uncover some unsettling connections to cases they believed were firmly in the past.

Unforgotten (Monday 27/02/23, ITV1, 9pm)

Words by Sarah Morgan

Cast your mind back to the first day in your job. Although you might have been excited about it, you were probably a little nervous too, right? So spare a thought for DCI Jessica James. Not only is she taking on a new role with a new team, she’s taking the place of a much-loved colleague, someone whose death is still very much in the hearts and minds of those who worked with her.

The sudden demise of Cassie Stuart, played by the brilliant Nicola Walker, left many fans of the popular cold case crime drama in shock, but that’s nothing compared to how her right-hand man, DI Sunny Khan is feeling. It also left the show’s creator and writer, Chris Lang, with a headache – how to fill the huge gap Cassie/Nicola left behind.

“I’ve been left heartbroken enough times myself when a favourite TV character has died,” claims Lang. “We take these people into our homes and into our hearts, and when they leave us, it is genuinely sad.

“And so then it struck me, that that’s what I start with. Allowing our characters (Sunny and the team) to go on exactly the same journey as the audience, as they deal with the loss of a person they adored, whilst also trying to process the brutal inevitability of someone else stepping into those much-loved shoes.”

DCI James is the person who’s taking over the team, and Lang is thrilled that Sinead Keenan, whose CV also includes Being Human, Doctor Who, Little Boy Blue and My Left Nut, is playing her.

“If we’d searched every day for a year we wouldn’t have found a better actress, nor one who fitted in to the Unforgotten world more effortlessly,” says Lang. “But we didn’t have to search for a year, we didn’t have to search for a day, because as soon as I knew the team needed a new DCI, I also knew it had to be Sinéad, having watched her TV work in slack jawed wonder over the years.

“That was my hunch anyway. Having now completed production, I can confidently say it was the soundest hunch I ever had.”

Keenan adds of the character: “She was a fast-tracked cop, one of those who have a degree and can skip a few levels. She is very good at her job, very ambitious, and has a promotion. She’s got a husband, two children, perfect life.

“And then she starts this new job, and on the first day she gets some news on the way to work that completely blindsides her that has implications in terms of how she is at her job. So that’s simmering in the background.”

Hopefully Jess can keep going because she, Sunny and the rest of the team have a tough job ahead of them – it involves figuring out who a severed leg found in a bricked-up chimney belonged to, and who put it there.

Whatever happens, she should be able to stand on her own two feet, even as the pressure mounts.

Katie Price’s Mucky Mansion (Tuesday 28/03/23, Channel 4, 10pm)

Words by Richard Jones

“It’s now my happy home”, declared Katie Price as she proudly revealed the remarkable part-transformation of her £2million West Sussex mansion in 2021. After showing viewers around her sleek new kitchen diner with stylish pink sofas and a roaring fire, pretty lighting details and the incredible themed bedrooms for her kids, she added: “The journey of this house hasn’t just been about me, it’s been about the journey of my kids, my mum, my sister.

“I’ve put my touch on it, and so have my family. But this just goes to show you can turn things around, and I’m really proud of what I have achieved. This is my land and my house, now the house is coming back together like I’m coming back together. In the past, this place has been called the Mucky Mansion, but it’s not that any more.”

The first series of Katie Price’s Mucky Mansion was broadcast two years ago, despite the star’s arrest just before its broadcast over ‘abusive messages’ sent to her ex-husband Kieran Hayler’s fiancée. The show followed Katie, her family and put-upon builder Steve as they worked to repair the 19-room home, formerly owned by ex-Horsham MP Francis Maude.

In recent years, the property had fallen into disrepair after vandals broke into it and left the taps on – flooding the kitchen and causing the floor to fall in. There was also a fire at the property and it was full of old clothes, kids toys and Katie’s memorabilia.

Mother-of-five Katie, who was declared bankrupt in 2019, apparently landed a £45,000 payday from Channel 4 for the first series. Meanwhile, many of the costs were covered by the production company and Katie landed plenty of freebies from companies who want the exposure of being on her show or her social media.

The show was also a success with viewers, so it was no surprise that Katie and Channel 4 quickly shook hands on a second run. As with the previous series, the programme’s production has been plagued by various problems. When the crews arrived to film last summer, the house was reportedly “filled up with rubbish again” and deemed “too dirty”.

However the series has eventually gone ahead, and speaking on ITV’s Lorraine, Katie said: “We’ve only done four rooms so far, there’s 11 bedrooms there, all the other rooms. Everyone loved it, I wanna do my bedroom!”

In last week’s series opener, we saw Katie set her sights on an ambitious five-room revamp of the top floor, turning it into her own little haven including a new bedroom, a cinema room and a lounge.

Katie also opened up about threats she’s been receiving on social media, and she had to call in pest control to remove a giant wasp nest living in her storage container.

Tonight, Katie transforms daughter Bunny’s bedroom with an underwater mermaid theme, and gets to work creating a Hollywood-inspired family cinema room.

Meanwhile, online threats push Katie to beef up her home security, and renovations come crashing to a halt when an old foot injury rears its head.

Saving Lives in Leeds (Wednesday 01/03/23, BBC2, 9pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

The fifth series of Surgeons: At the Edge of Life concluded last week, but its place in the schedules has been taken by another documentary that gives viewers an insight into the difficult decisions faced by Britain’s medics.

Filmed in 2022, the eight-part Saving Lives in Leeds had exclusive access to one of the largest trusts in the UK, taking in seven hospitals across five sites in the city.

It hears from some of the trust’s world-leading doctors and surgeons as they battle the waiting lists to transform the lives of their patients.

Professor Phil Wood, Chief Executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust says: “Saving Lives in Leeds really shines a light on the outstanding people working at Leeds Teaching Hospitals carrying out remarkable and world-leading surgery.

“It highlights some of the challenging decisions they make on a day-to-day basis as they work to ensure our patients get the best possible care. It’s been a really positive opportunity for us to explain the complexity behind some of the decisions we take when managing waiting lists and highlight that we always have our patients’ best interest at the heart of everything we do.”

The series will also explore the patients’ emotional journeys and the impact their treatment has on their families.

In the opening episode, viewers are introduced to Professor Simon Kay. He’s a world-renowned pioneer in hand surgery who leads a unit at Leeds General Infirmary, which is the only hospital in the UK to specialise in Hand Transplantation. Since the first surgery in 2012, Professor Kay had performed 14 transplants on 8 patients for both single and the rarer double hand transplants.

One of the people on his waiting list is 38-year-old Jamie, who lost all his limbs after being electrocuted at work in 2016. He currently uses prosthetic legs and arms, but as a single dad to five-year-old twins, that has frequently been a struggle. He’s been waiting for a double hand and forearm transplant for more than two years, and in this episode, the call has come in that a potential match has been found.

Both Jamie and Professor Kay know that it’s a high-risk operation and that even if the surgery is successful, there is no guarantee that it will work long term. But if it does, the results could be life changing.

Meanwhile, in neurosurgery, consultant Kenan Deniz is faced with two patients needing life-saving surgery – 49-year-old Karen, who has a potentially cancerous brain tumour, and 72-year-old Jean, who has a swelling aneurysm which could be fatal if it were to burst. However, with just one post-operative bed confirmed, he faces a tough decision about who to operate on first.

Meanwhile, in Leeds Children’s Hospital, Orthopaedic Consultant Adelle Fishlock takes Declan into theatre. The 13-year-old has been waiting a year for his hip surgery and has already been cancelled twice, but when the operation proves to be more complex than Fishlock anticipated, will she have to cancel another patient?

Stephen Fry: Willem & Frieda – Defying the Nazis (Thursday 02/03/23, Channel 4, 9pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

Stephen Fry is something of a renaissance man – he’s an actor, writer, presenter of panel shows, and recently he’s been delving into history.

On Sunday nights, he’s been hosting Dinosaur with Stephen Fry on Channel 5, which has seen him travel back in time to come face to face with computer-generated prehistoric beasts, while also talking to flesh-and-blood experts about the creatures’ behaviour.

Now, in Stephen Fry: Willem & Frieda – Defying the Nazis he’s going back to the 20th century to learn more about a truly remarkable story.

The Willem and Frieda of the title are painter Willem Arondeus and cellist Frieda Belinfante, who lived openly gay lives in the Netherlands at a time when that would be enough to make them pioneers.

When the Nazis occupied their country during the Second World War, the pair found a new outlet for their artistic talents – forging identity papers for Jews. Their handiwork helped to save countless lives, but it came at a great risk.

The Dutch had one of the most advanced identity card systems in the world, and the Nazis had added an extra safeguard against forgery – every card they issued came with a duplicate that was stored at the Amsterdam Central Records Office.

When the Nazis began checking the fakes against the real files, Willem realised he needed to take action. With the help of a ragtag bunch of artists, he led a raid to blow up the Central Records Office and destroy the duplicate cards.

It was one of the most daring and far-reaching acts of sabotage in the history of the Dutch resistance, but it came with a proviso. Willem insisted that no one should be hurt in the blast as ‘we are not like them’.

It sounds like Willem and Frieda’s story should have been turned into a Hollywood film by now, so it’s surprising that their names aren’t better known. In fact, it seems it was even new to Fry, who must be one of the most well-informed people on TV.

He says: “I confess that, before Rik Carmichael and John Hay sent me the fruits of their amazing research, I had never heard of Willem Arondeus or Frieda Belinfante — a pair whom I now regard as being authentic and remarkable heroes. Living their lives as openly gay in the 1930s was remarkable enough, but once the Nazi’s invaded their homeland of the Netherlands, they found in themselves a depth of courage and determination that is, across the years, still inspiring.”

He adds: “It’s a question we often ask ourselves – how would I respond to the occupation of my country? Would I fight for freedom or duck down and keep out of trouble? I think the world needs to be reminded of Willem and Frieda, ordinary people who found extraordinary inner resources…”

So, in this documentary, Stephen makes an emotional journey to Amsterdam to learn more about the artists and Jewish activists involved in this act of bravery, to find out what happened next, and to ask why their story has remained largely hidden.

Hotel Portofino (Friday 03/03/23, ITV1, 9pm)

Words by Richard Jones

Over the past four weeks, viewers have been gripped by the adventures of Bella Ainsworth (Natascha McElhone), her dysfunctional family and their wealthy guests in the beautiful Italian Riviera.

But every good drama needs a good central villain, and in Vincenzo Danioni (the perfectly cast Pasquale Esposito) Hotel Portofino has certainly ticked that box.

The despicable local crime boss has been scheming his way into the lives of the Ainsworth family and their clients over the past few weeks.

However, Esposito, who previously played Eduardo Arenella in Gomorrah, thinks his character is more than just your average stereotypical baddie.

“I find him so interesting,” Esposito says. “He could be categorised in a very generic way as “bad”, but he is a lot more nuanced than that.

“In the microcosm of Hotel Portofino, Danioni is a sort of link between what happens inside and what happens outside, a door into what was happening in Italy in those years.

“He connects viewers and characters around him with history, within the context of post war Italy.

“In reality, he is a bit lonely: he manages everyone, so he’s in contact with everyone a little, but not in the sense that he has relationships with people, for him it is more about favouritism, business, favours, and sometimes blackmail.

“Obviously, he doesn’t see himself as the ‘bad guy’ of the situation, and indeed he sees the Ainsworths as somewhat similar to himself in some respects.”

The penultimate episode of Hotel Portofino’s first season (a second is due for release later this year), begins with chaos – and it’s no surprise that Danioni is right in the middle of it.

He arrives at the hotel unannounced with a civil servant authorised to inspect the premises and, inevitably, the finished report cites unhygienic conditions.

Bella is given 14 days to rectify the (bogus) issues or face closure of her establishment.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Cecil has finally read Bella’s intercepted letter given to him by – you guessed it – Danioni.

Angered by his wife’s feelings for another man, Cecil is just about to confront her when a commotion erupts from the stairwell.

Jack Turner announces the Rubens painting has disappeared from his room and demands an investigation.

After Billy is summoned for the errand of fetching the police, Danioni accuses him of bicycle theft, while Billy has time to warn Nish that he hid the box of anti-fascist pamphlets under Lady Latchmere’s bed.

The Ainsworth’s driver Francesco is tasked with bringing back the police, but, as we all know, he is a spy and soon alerts his boss, Danioni.

Later, as the guests gather in the dining room for breakfast, Cecil makes an accusation over the missing painting, while Nish offers to accept responsibility for the pamphlets.

While all this is going on, Constance goes about her usual duties unnoticed, and the Count comes to Bella’s aid, tracking down Danioni for what proves to be a battle of wills disguised as a friendly chat.

Finally, when Bella plucks up the courage to tell Cecil the truth, his anger from the incident with the painting has reached boiling point and he lashes out.

So who did steal the the painting? How will Bella react to Cecil’s violence? And what is Danioni planning next? All will be revealed in next week’s series finale.