Six Nations, Trigger Point and After the Flood: TV highlights this week

Big Night of Musicals 2024 by the National Lottery (Saturday 27/01/24, BBC1, 7.50pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

It seems Jason Manford has a simple rule of thumb when it comes to choosing his TV projects – he won’t sign up for anything he wouldn’t tune into himself.

He once said: “You’ve got to be honest with yourself, and be able to go on your social media and say, ‘Hey, I’m doing this new show, and I think you should watch it, because I’d watch it’ and that’s what I’d always try and do.

“The same with my kids – I think, ‘Would my family sit down and watch this show if somebody else was doing it?’ And invariably, yeah, we would.”

So, you can rest assured that even if he wasn’t hosting Big Night of Musicals 2024 by the National Lottery, he’d be at home, singing along in the comfort of his own home.

And he’d probably be doing a pretty good job of it, too. Although he’s primarily known as a comedian, Manford has proved on several occasions that he can belt out a showtune. He’s appeared in musicals such as Sweeney Todd, The Producers, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Guys and Dolls, and also came second on the first series of The Masked Singer.

So, no wonder he was chosen to host the first Big Night of Musicals in 2022, which aimed to thank the people who had helped to keep the theatre industry going during the difficult days of Covid. He proved such a hit, he returned in 2023.

Now he’s back for a third time, and he’s joined by Beverley Knight, Daniel Mays Nicole Scherzinger and Alfie Boe.

There are also appearances by the casts of an impressively wide variety of musicals, from vintage crowd-pleaser Guys and Dolls, which made its Broadway debut in 1950 and still get regularly revived thanks to Frank Loesser’s witty, evergreen score, to Mrs Doubtfire the Musical, which opened in the West End last year.

The mix of classics and new favourites continues as we get performances from A Chorus Line, Grease the Musical, Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Hadestown, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Hamilton and Disney’s Aladdin.

They may be very different in plot and musical style, but what they should all have in common is an ability to remind us why theatre endures, even in tough times.

As Jason said ahead of last year’s show: “I always think theatre and musical theatre and comedy or anything is good for the soul, it’s good for you, it’s good to see people having a great time, even in difficult moments.

“It’s been a terrible time for the industry, whether it’s pandemic, whether it’s cost-of-living crisis placing customers in crisis, it’s a very difficult time at the moment and hopefully nights like this help.”

If you need a further boost, the good news is that the musical theme continues on BBC2 with Showtunes at the BBC, followed by Andrew Lloyd Webber at the BBC, while on Sunday, BBC Four kicks off its own musicals night with Leonard Bernstein – Stage and Screen with the John Wilson Orchestra.

Trigger Point (Sunday 28/01/23, ITV1, 9pm)

Words by Sarah Morgan

What’s the best way to surprise TV drama viewers?

Truly original stories are hard to come by – everything is a variation on a theme, after all – but killing off a major character early on is one surefire way to make people sit up and take notice.

Spooks did that when Helen Flynn, played by Lisa Faulkner, was murdered in horrific fashion in only the second episode; the actress was a well-known name and had previously been expected to be a mainstay of the entire run.

Whether Daniel Brierley, the creator and writer of Trigger Point, had that in mind when he killed off Adrian Lester’s bomb disposal expert Joel Nutkins at the end of the first edition is unknown, but it certainly came as a shock to those who were watching, and perhaps inspired them to carry on viewing, turning it into ITV’s best-performing drama of 2022 in the process.

Shortly afterwards, it was announced the programme had been recommissioned for a second run, with Vicky McClure reprising her role as Afghan war veteran-turned-police bomb squad leader Lana ‘Wash’ Washington.

“I’m delighted to have commissioned a second series of Trigger Point and to be working again with Vicky McClure and the production team,” said Polly Hill, the broadcaster’s head of drama, when filming began last March. “It’s the most compelling of dramas and I can’t wait for the audience to see what we have in store for series two.”

Executive producer Mark Redhead added: “Trigger Point is a television drama like no other. Centred on a great bunch of characters led by the magnetic Vicky McClure as the single-minded Lana, it combines explosive action with a compelling thriller plot. It’s very exciting to be working with such a great team to create a gripping new series.”

It’s the kind of high-octane entertainment we’ve come to expect from Jed ‘Line of Duty’ Mercurio, who is one of Trigger Point’s executive producers; he mentored Brierley during a special TV bursary scheme, which perhaps explains, at least in part, why it’s such nail-biting stuff.

Alongside McClure, Mark Stanley, Kerry Godliman, Kevin Eldon and Nabil Elouahabi are also returning to the cast, with the likes of Outlander’s Natalie Simpson and Bridgerton’s Julian Ovenden joining them.

“After such a great response to the first series of Trigger Point, we are so pleased to be back!,” smiles McClure. “The scripts are filled to the brim with twists, turns, those explosive moments and along with our returning cast and brilliant new cast members it’s set to be exciting!”

The opening episode follows Lana as she returns from training Ukrainian bomb disposal teams. Although supposedly not yet on active duty, she’s soon back in the thick of things when, while giving a routine talk to security officers from major financial institutions, she hears there’s a bomb attack in the heart of the city.

But is Lana really ready to return to work? And if she is, will she be confronted with a devastating death, just as she was in the first series? There’s only one way to find out…

Born from the Same Stranger (Monday 29/01/24, ITV1, 9pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

Since 2011, Long Lost Family has been helping people who are hoping to be reunited with their relatives, with most of the stories centring on adoption.

The same team are behind this series, which began last week and is narrated by Long Lost Family presenter Davina McCall. However, Born from the Same Stranger takes a slightly different angle as it features people who were conceived with help from a donor. As on Long Lost Family, some of them will be hoping to solve mysteries about their own identities, but there’s also a chance that they could encounter siblings they never knew they existed.

Born from the Same Stranger is being made as a UK law change takes effect in 2023, which will see donor anonymity disappear meaning anyone conceived by donation after 2005 will be able to apply to find out more details about their identity as soon as they turn 18.

As Leanne Klein, managing director of production company Wall to Wall Media, says: “[The series} is built around stories that are not only highly personal but incredibly modern and absolutely of the moment – they simply couldn’t have been told before.

“Now for these young people who have been missing a vital piece of their own story there’s a real chance of closure and we’ll be with them for every turn of these dynamic and emotional journeys.”

For those who were born before 2005, there may be additional hurdles as well as ethical dilemmas around identifying donors who believed they would be anonymous. Luckily, the show has a team of experts on hand to support the participants as they use DNA technology to learn more about their beginnings.

Jo Clinton-Davis, ITV Controller of Factual, says: “For many people born to anonymous donors, finding out the hidden stories of where they come from and who their blood relations are is a deep and long-held desire. And as this series will show, their stories are moving, astonishing and reveal much about the human condition.”

The second episode introduces viewers to brother and sister Tom and Isabel. He was conceived from a double donation of both sperm and egg and Isabel was conceived from a donated embryo. They both trace their donors, who talk about their reasons for getting involved with the process, but Isabel’s story takes an unexpected twist when she learns she has a genetic twin who is seven years older than her.

Meanwhile, Marco was born to same sex parents during the 1980s and has always known she was conceived with the help of a donor – until she started school, she didn’t realise that there was anything unusual about it.

At the time she was born, fertility clinics did not accept lesbian parents, which meant her conception was part of an informal arrangement and there is no official paperwork relating to it. It seems her only hope lies with putting her DNA on a commercial website and seeing what she finds out.

David Mitchell’s Outsiders (Tuesday 30/01/24, BBC2, 9pm & 9.45pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

David Mitchell is undoubtedly a man of many talents. He starred in the acclaimed sitcom Peep Show and the sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Look, is a regular on Would I Lie to You?, and is also a successful writer.

He’ll even soon be seen in his own detective comedy, Ludwig, where he stars alongside Motherland’s Anna Maxwell Martin.

However, if you had to pick a celebrity to help you survive in the wilderness following the breakdown of society, he might not be your first choice.

So, you may be surprised to find him presenting this series. If you didn’t see David Mitchell’s Outsiders when it initially aired on Dave, it takes three pairs of comedians and finds out how they would cope in the great outdoors.

As David explained ahead of the first run: “The concept is, can the contestants learn skills to survive without all the stuff we all live with every day: the buildings, the shops, the Wi-Fi, the electricity?

“That’s a question that people have asked themselves, literally for centuries, even at times when we would consider they had no modern technology. [Even then], they were thinking maybe we should be living a more rural, a more basic existence.”

He adds: “So it’s a show that comedically addresses that question. It’s particularly apposite now when the pandemic and the threat of climate change is making us probably ask that question even more.”

Luckily, it seems he won’t be offended if anyone suggests that he doesn’t seem like a survivalist – by his own admission, he’s glad he’s hosting the show and not competing himself. Asked to list the qualities someone needs to succeed, he says: “[They need] not to be too attached to personal comfort, to be a natural rule-breaker, and be physically deft.

“I’ve described the opposite of me.”

Still, many viewers would think he’s a being far too self-deprecating when he suggests that his very existence may be a sign that we need to go back to basics.

He jokes: “We’ve created weird creatures like me who can’t begin to think about building his own shelter. I need an economy, whereby I make sarcastic remarks in an attempt to amuse, and that means other people will provide me with food and shelter.”

Tonight, we meet the six comedians who are hoping to prove that they could survive if society – including the comedy circuit – collapsed. The teams are Ed Gamble and Lou Sanders, Kerry Godliman and Toussaint Douglass, and Jessica Knappett and Jamali Maddix.

On their first day, the Outsiders have to compete in three challenges – felling a tree, rescuing an air crash victim and inventing a camp motto – before David reviews their progress and decides who has earned a badge. (Maybe think of him as the show’s Scoutmaster rather than the Taskmaster.)

In the second episode, they try their hands at milking goats, which could be particularly challenging for vegan Lou.

After the Flood (Wednesday 31/01/24, ITV1, 9pm)

Words by Sarah Morgan

You may not have heard of Quay Street productions, but you will certainly have seen one of their projects.

Based in Manchester, it was set up in 2021 by Nicola Shindler, a Rochdale-born TV producer who had previously worked on Last Tango in Halifax, Happy Valley and Hillsborough. She’s also worked extensively with Russell T Davies; Quay Street’s first commission was Nolly, the screenwriter’s series about Crossroads star Noele Gordon, which appeared on ITV1 recently.

Since then, the company has been behind comedy-drama Significant Other, Harlan Coben’s Fool Me Once and Viagra film Men Up, so Shindler and her colleagues have been very busy. But somehow, they also found the time to produce After the Flood.

“What grabbed me in the initial pitch was there’s a huge flood in a town, a dead body is found in a lift and then very quickly we realise that body was killed before the flood,” explains Shindler. “It felt such a good hook to me. You’ve got the important story to tell with the flood, the murder mystery about who put that body in the lift, who killed that body and why was it killed? It’s important to try and put environmental issues in every drama that we do… in this it is right at the centre of the plot in a very natural way.”

Sophie Rundle, Lorraine Ashbourne, Nicholas Gleaves, Philip Glenister and Jonas Armstrong are among the stars, and as they’re all in demand, we should have realised early on that Mick Ford’s scripts must have been fabulous to have attracted them.

Shindler is quick to credit casting director Andy Pryor for assembling the cast.

“He cares about who he puts in front of you and treats actors so well,” says Schindler of her colleague. “He thinks about every single possibility and potential sensitivity. He works with a director to understand what they want from actors. He then makes it work behind the scenes with the agents, which isn’t always easy.

“We were both on Cracker in the 1990s where he was an assistant casting director and I was a script editor. We have gone through the ages together. With a big ensemble it isn’t just about one person, it’s about casting a group of people who look and feel right together.”

Pryor didn’t have to work hard to find someone to play the husband of Rundle’s character – her real-life partner, Matt Stokoe, accepted the role.

“It’s so interesting to see the husband-and-wife relationship of Jo and Pat played by Sophie and Matt,” claims Shindler. “There is a naturalism that comes with them knowing each other, but this isn’t their relationship. What they have managed to do is create characters who aren’t them (but) give us a convincing marriage.”

We’re now at the halfway point, and it’s pleasing that Shindler’s dreams for After the Flood have come true: “I hope (viewers) are entertained by a story of a real family in a community and a thriller. That is the most important thing.

“On top of that, if everyone is there thinking, ‘This is awful that towns have to suffer like this and why wasn’t there enough sandbags to build the wall? Why weren’t there people helping them when it was clear it was going to flood again?’ I think if you raise those questions in people’s minds then that’s only a good thing.”

The Apprentice (Thursday 01/02/2024, BBC One, 9pm)

Words by Richard Jones

The Apprentice will have been on UK TV screens for 20 years in 2025.

In many people’s eyes, the key to its longevity is the deluded and egotistical contestants duking it out for Lord Sugar’s approval and investment.

In recent years, most of the candidates have been sorely lacking on the business savvy front. But what they’e lacked in that, they’ve more than made up for in comedy value, and, let’s face it, they are more like reality stars than aspiring entrepreneurs.

This year’s 16-strong line-up is likely to follow that theme again, with well-worn Apprentice types making plenty of business blunders for schadenfreude-seeking audiences to snigger at.

In 2023, Marnie Swindells’ inclusive boxing gym concept saw her crowned the winner.

So who will succeed her and secure Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment this year?

Over the past few years, the BBC have kicked off the new series on the first Thursday in January, but series 18 has been pushed back due to the success of The Traitors.

‘Business Thursday’ is back with a bang this week though as The Apprentice joins Dragons’ Den in the Beeb’s Thursday night line-up.

As usual, the series begins with a pep talk from Lord Sugar in the boardroom.

He is keen to impress upon his candidates that rising costs and economic uncertainty mean value for money has never been more important. That’s from a man who’s worth £1.1billion.

Anyway, the candidates are then split into teams before being sent to the Scottish Highlands.

Once there, they are tasked with organising and hosting a luxury getaway day for corporate clients.

Predictably, there’s chaos in the kitchen, and back in the boardroom, it’s already the end of the road for one candidate.

Other tasks during the series include a tourism challenge in Budapest, discount buying in Jersey, creating a new cereal for children and a virtual escape room, and the annual TV shopping channel task.

As in previous years, Lord Sugar will be joined by Baroness Brady and Tim Campbell to advise him throughout the process.

Former winner Tim is known for shaking head his head and raising his eyebrows at the cringeworthy contestants, but speaking to The Sun, he said this year’s line-up is very strong.

“I think we’ve got the best candidate group ever, it’s amazing,” he said.

“We’ve got the best quality calibre of candidates, business owners, professionals and experts in their fields, who are coming along to give up their time and energy and enthusiasm to be part of one of the most robust interview processes in order to find out Lord Sugar’s next business partner.

“Some are already running very successful enterprises who have all still wanted to come and apply for the unique opportunity to get investment from Lord Sugar and his mentorship.

“That’s really is a credit to him and the power and robustness of the show.

“There’s some massive characters and some really big deals, some amazing deals that are done. We’ve got some really transformational exchanges that have come along in the process.

“I think people who are watching this series are going to pick their favourites because it’s nice to have a character that you can connect to.”

Six Nations Live (Friday 02/02/2024, ITV1, 7.15pm)

Richard Jones

Hardly a day goes by without rugby union being rocked by some sort of controversy, usually relating to safety, governance or finance.

Thankfully, the focus will be firmly back on the pitch tonight as the world’s oldest rugby tournament – the Six Nations – gets under way.

While last autumn’s Rugby World Cup was a thrilling affair, it ultimately ended in disappointment for the Home Nations.

But in sport, there’s often another day, another match and another competition to redeem yourself.

This year’s Six Nations starts with what should be a real humdinger, as the two pre-tournament favourites lock horns at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.

Andy Farrell was unveiled as the British & Irish Lions head coach for the 2025 tour to Australia last month, but as his Men in Green begin the defence of their Six Nations crown away in France, he is facing a few selection headaches.

Ireland went into the World Cup as the top-ranked side in the world, but eventually went down to the All Blacks in the quarter-finals.

Many predicted that defeat would prompt Farrell to embark on a post-RWC purge, but with wingers Mack Hansen and Jimmy O’Brien injured and Irish rugby icons Johnny Sexton and Keith Earls now retired, the coach and his new captain Peter O’Mahony may have to rely on the experience of other ageing stars if he wants Six Nations success.

In terms of attacking play, Les Bleus were impressive during their home World Cup, with Damian Penaud, in particular, standing out with six tries.

However, they will be without the world’s best scrum-half Antoine Dupont who is taking a break from the 15-a-side game in order to focus on sevens in the build up to Olympics in Paris.

Although this mouthwatering opening contest between the world’s third and fourth-ranked sides is by no means a title decider, it could go a long way to decide the destination of the trophy on Super Saturday in six weeks’ time.

Saying that, England may quietly fancy their chances this time around and enter the Six Nations with renewed belief after making it to the RWC semi-finals.

They kick-off tomorrow (Saturday February 3) afternoon against perennial wooden-spooners Italy in Rome, with coach Steve Borthwick expecting improvement from his new-look side led by captain Jamie George.

That game is followed by Wales against Scotland in Cardiff, as the hosts’ coach Warren Gatland calls on new faces due to a number of injuries, not least to his World Cup captain Jac Morgan.

There were still just the five nations when Scotland last won this tournament, and their coach Gregor Townsend has a headache at full-back following the international retirement of Stuart Hogg and injury to his heir-apparent Ollie Smith.

Jill Douglas is joined in the studio in Marseille tonight by Brian O’Driscoll, Rory Best and Benjamin Kayser to present the first of this year’s 15 games being shared between ITV and the BBC.

However, the 2025 season could be one of the last chances we get to watch free-to-air TV coverage of the tournament, with the UK government declaring the Six Nations isn’t a sporting ‘crown jewel’ and the Beeb concerned they may not be able to afford it in the future.

However, it’s probably best if we leave that controversy for another day, and instead just focus on the on-field sporting drama in Marseille and the return of the ‘Joy of Six’.