Tom Jones, Great British Bake Off and Ludwig: TV highlights this week
Apples Never Fall (Saturday 21/09/24, BBC1, 9.25pm)
Words by Rachael Popow
Author Liane Moriarty has an impressive track record when it comes to TV adaptations – her novels have been turned into the series Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers.


So, no wonder the new mystery drama Apples Never Fall, which begins on BBC1 tonight and is based on another of Moriarty’s bestsellers, has attracted such an impressive cast.
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Hide AdIt’s headed by Annette Bening, who has five Oscar nominations to her name, including for American Beauty and last year’s Nyad, and Sam Neill, who has been in everything from Jurassic Park to Peaky Blinders.
They star as Joy and Stan Delaney, who are parents to four adult children, played by Jake Lacy (The White Lotus, How to be Single), Alison Brie (GLOW, Mad Men), Conor Merrigan-Turner (Thai Cave Rescue, Shattered) and Essie Randles (The Speedway Murders).
So, the drama has an impressive pedigree – but what is it about?


Joy and Stan used to run a successful tennis academy – he was the coach, and she took care of the business side. However, they are now looking forward to a peaceful retirement and the chance to spend more time with their each other and their family. Or that was the plan…
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Hide AdAs Neill points out, the reality hasn’t been quite what the couple expected. He told The Wrap: “Retirement has come to them as more of a shock. They were looking forward to time together and, what happens to a lot of people when they retire, they realize that their [children] have left home psychologically and physically.
“They have no job to go to in the morning. So, it’s just kind of the two of them and that can be boring.”
Bening, who is also one of the drama’s executive dramas added: “As the story begins, what’s at [Joy’s] core is that she’s lost and doesn’t know where her centre is. She feels unknown to her family. She feels unknown to herself. And so she’s at a real transition point in her life.
“She doesn’t know how she got to this moment. She didn’t expect to be in this moment, and is looking for the next step to take.”
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Hide AdThere are plenty of people who would watch seven episodes of Bening and Neill getting on each other’s nerves as they come to terms with having a bit too much time on their hands, but as fans of author Moriarty’s work have probably already deduced, there’s much more to the story than that.
The plot kicks into gear when a wounded young woman knocks on the Delaneys’ door, and it initially seems like she could be a welcome break in the monotony of Stan and Joy’s lives.
But when Joy subsequently goes missing, her children wonder if the woman could be linked to the disappearance. As they dig deeper, they are forced to confront the fact that their parents’ marriage isn’t as idyllic as it seems.
As Sue Deeks, Head of Programme Acquisition at the BBC, says: “Suspenseful and sinister, Apples Never Fall is a compelling mystery drama that will keep viewers intrigued until its riveting final episode.”
Tom Jones (Sunday 22/09/24, ITV1, 10.20pm & 11.20pm)
Words by Rachael Popow
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Hide AdIf you saw the title of the new four-part period drama Tom Jones and assumed it was a biopic of the Welsh singer, you’re not alone – even leading man Solly McLeod made the same mistake.
He says: “I was working on a job up in Manchester. The audition came through for ‘Tom Jones’ and I thought, ‘I don’t look a thing like Tom Jones. I can’t even do a Welsh accent…’ Then I read it, and it wasn’t that Tom Jones.”
Instead, it’s based on Henry Fielding’s 1749 novel The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling. There have been many adaptations over the centuries, including an 18th-century opera by François-André Philidor, an Oscar-winning 1963 film, a 1997 BBC series starring Max Beesley, and a 21st-century jukebox musical, What’s New Pussycat, which moved the action to the 1960s and featured the songs of the other Tom Jones.
Once he’d cleared up his initial confusion, Solly decided to go back to the original source. Or at least that was plan…
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Hide AdThe actor, whose previous credits include The Rising and House of the Dragon, says: “I went out and bought the novel, a nice hardback, got about three chapters in… and I didn’t have a clue what was going on! So, I just used Gwyneth’s Hughes’s brilliant script as reference to give me what I needed to get in to character.”
It’s the story of a young man who was abandoned as a baby, only to be rescued and adopted by kindly country gentleman Squire Allworthy (James Fleet). Tom grows up to be a charming free spirit, but he cannot escape his lowly birth.
So, when he falls for wealthy heiress Sophia Western (Sophie Wilde), their families disapprove of the match and Tom is banished to London. Can he find a way to prove himself worthy of the woman he loves, especially when the big city holds so many temptations for a handsome young man with an eye for the ladies?
While he may be lacking in self-discipline, Tom is essentially an enthusiastic, well-meaning character – and Solly admits that can sometimes be more challenging to play than an out-and-out villain.
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Hide AdHe explains: “It was a lot of work and I’d be tired and then you’d get people shouting at me across
the set saying, ‘Just smile a bit more please!’ ‘Open your eyes!’ I’m a cheery person I hope
— if I’ve had enough sleep. The thing is it has been rare to get that in the last year. But in
the end, it’s been very enjoyable.”
Solly also found some common ground with Tom. “Even though it’s not contemporary and a very different experience to my own I’ve looked at the parts of his life that I can relate to. Him being a young man, trying to figure out what’s right, what’s wrong.”
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Hide AdHe adds: “This Tom Jones is quite a different kind of period drama. There’s a realness to it, and there’s humanity, I think. A lot of period dramas are quite serious: this one has comedy and emotion and peril added in to make it feel really different.”
Mozart: Rise of a Genius (Monday 23/09/24, BBC Two, 9pm)
Words by Richard Jones
In a creative lifetime spanning only 30 years, Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart redefined the symphony, composed some of the greatest operas ever written and lifted chamber music to new heights.
However, away from his musical and artistic achievements, the complex and contradictory character’s life was just as captivating and compelling, as director Alice Smith’s three-part series Mozart: Rise of a Genius, narrated by Juliet Stevenson, is illustrating.
Across three episodes, Mozart’s letters, music manuscripts and performances of some of his most famous pieces are showing how this child prodigy who was driven mercilessly from infancy and flawed human battled his domineering father and defied the social conventions of his time.
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Hide AdIn tonight’s second episode, we will see more cinematic drama vignettes depicting Mozart’s life, featuring a host of stars, world-leading musicians and experts including Stephen Fry, Sheila Hancock, Richard E Grant, Chris Addison, Adjoa Andoh, Karla Crome, Ed Gardner, Lucy Crowe, Golda Shultz, David McVicar, Dr Robert Greenburg, Jane Glover, James Hawes and Dr Flora Willson.
They are all paying homage to the prolific and influential Austrian genius who was feted by kings and emperors, but whose life was cut short by a bitter musical rivalry.
At the end of last week’s opener, we heard how Mozart finally broke free from his oppressive father, Leopold, and made his way to Vienna.
The story picks up again in 1781, at the beginning of his ‘golden decade’.
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Hide AdHowever, when the 25-year-old composer first arrived in the Austrian capital, he faced an uncertain future in a city where he had few friends.
Eventually, he found solace and security with his old friends the Weber family, particularly with Constanze, with whom he fell in love.
Their courtship faces challenges, with his own father refusing to give his permission to Mozart to marry.
Mozart even hotly denied his romance in a letter to his father, writing: “I have never thought less of getting married… besides, I am not in love with her.”
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Hide AdScandalously, they go ahead with the union anyway, and a newborn baby follows quickly after.
This period marked a low point in the relationship between father and son.
Musically, though, more fame and success followed for the composer.
Mozart creates his most rebellious and provocative work to date, an opera called The Marriage of Figaro, which reached the stage on May 1, 1786, and was warmly received.
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Hide AdIt was part of his three-opera collaboration with the librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, which also included Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte, with the trio regarded as the highpoint of 18th-century comic opera.
While in Vienna, Mozart also composed what are widely considered to be two of his greatest works – Mass in C Minor and Piano Concerto 21 – but, along the way, he would continue to ruffle the feathers of the elite patrons who had previously supported his rise to stardom.
Mozart famously once said: “I pay no attention whatever to anybody’s praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.”
However, as he moved onto his later years, which will be chronicled in next week’s concluding programme, the question remained: could he finally overcome his demons?
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Hide AdThe Great British Bake Off (Tuesday 24/09/24, Channel 4, 8pm)
Words by Sarah Morgan
Heave a big sigh everyone – Bake Off is back.
With the nights drawing in and the weather on the turn, it’s rather lovely to have the gang back together to ease us into autumn.
Regular viewers will be thrilled to know that Alison Hammond, following her successful debut last year, is returning alongside fellow presenter Noel Fielding.
“Alison is much loved, effortlessly funny and the owner of the best laugh in Britain,” said Channel 4’s chief content officer, Ian Katz, when it was announced that she would be taking over from Matt Lucas. “She was a huge hit when she appeared on Celebrity Bake Off and we’re thrilled to have her back in the tent.”
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Hide AdShe proved to be an excellent foil for Fielding, her down-to-earth approach providing a nice contrast to his flights of fancy. Some viewers criticised his previous partnership with Matt Lucas, claiming the comedy was too distracting and, at times, not as funny or interesting as whatever the contestants were getting up to.
Hammond has, of course, brought her customary warmth to the proceedings, and works well, not only with Fielding, but with judges Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood.
The latter, who has been with the show since its humble origins, was probably glad to get back in the tent following a traumatic summer in which his beloved cat had to undergo life-saving surgery. In a weird Bake Off-Supervet crossover, it was Professor Noel Fitzpatrick and his team who worked on her; Hollywood repaid their kindness by judging the clinic’s employee cookery competition.
Who knows, maybe their bromance will give Channel 4 ideas… Its chief content officer, Ian Katz, is keen not to miss out on any other major shows after passing on both Killing Eve and Succession.
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Hide AdHe did say, however, during a talk at the Edinburgh TV Festival, that the station’s bosses are “very confident” it will continue to broadcast The Great British Bake Off for a long time to come following questions about whether it would keep the licence – and that can only be good news.
Although the programme started life on the BBC, it’s really found its feet on Channel 4 and, despite initial concerns over the number of ad breaks viewers would have to endure, it continues to be a ratings-winner.
Now it’s back for a 15th series, but who will succeed PE and science teacher Matty Edgell as champion? It’s too early to tell, particularly as surprises often occur, with an underdog – such as Matty and, before him, Nadiya Hussain – swooping in to take the cake stand trophy. As Hollywood said after last year’s final, Matty just “got better and better… If you are going to smash it, you do it in the last challenge, and that is exactly what he did.”
Tonight we’re going to meet the class of 2024, some of whom will fall by the wayside, while others will become household names.
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Hide AdAnd don’t forget, Jo Brand is back on Thursday at 8pm with the first edition of spin-off show An Extra Slice, in which she’ll dish up all the backstage gossip and meet the first competitor to leave the tent.
Ludwig (Wednesday 25/09/24, BBC1, 9pm)
Words by Rob Lavender
This tempting new detective mystery-comedy is a heady mix of genres and plots that take inspiration from all manner of places – from Inside No 9 and Upstart Crow to the underrated and prematurely cancelled glossy US thriller Ringer.
If we are to compare it to Ringer, then we have David Mitchell in the Sarah Michelle Gellar role – which is not a sentence we ever thought we would write.
Mitchell plays identical twins, but more specifically the titular character, puzzle-setter John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor. John is an introspective fellow, quiet and solitary; his brother James meanwhile is an outgoing family man, and a successful Detective Chief Inspector within Cambridgeshire’s busy Major Investigations Team.
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Hide AdThen one day James goes missing, and in order to solve that mystery John decides to step into his twin’s shoes – and his ready-made life, family and all.
It turns out that, as difficult as the grisly crime scenes of James’s day-job are, it’s the challenges of being a dad that most perplex John. Although, as he tries to keep James’ reputation by cracking cases, he finds he has one unique advantage: he is able to see the whole world as if it were a puzzle.
All the while, however, he is secretly working on solving the biggest puzzle of his life.
Starring alongside Mitchell is the ever-excellent Bafta-winner Anna Maxwell-Martin (Line of Duty, Motherland), Dipo Ola (We Hunt Together), Izuka Hoyle (Boiling Point) and the stand-up comic, writer and actor Sophie Willan (Alma’s Not Normal).
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Hide AdIt’s a brilliant blend of dramatic and comedy actors, which proves just how determined the creators are to ensure that neither aspect is overshadowed: it is funny throughout, true, but that doesn’t mean it can’t also be exciting and gripping.
And the best bit is, the format allows for a ‘case-of-the-week’ style plot, whereby the wider arc takes a back seat to whatever case John is attempting to crack.
Mitchell explains that this was one of the reasons he felt drawn to Mark Brotherhood’s scripts in the first place, saying: “A lot more television programmes these days are serials. You have to keep watching to kind of get anything. In Ludwig there are rewards for keeping watching every week but equally there is a story in each episode that is resolved, hopefully in a pleasing and intriguing way … I like the fact that you get some sort of resolution with Ludwig in one sitting”.
He continues: “It struck me that this was a really fun, funny and different idea. The comedy of a fish out of water but a fish out of water who, if I am going to stretch this metaphor, can nevertheless walk around relatively effectively because of what his previous job in the water was. That’s a great situation”.
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Hide AdIt’s a quintessentially “David Mitchell” description; exec producer Kenton Allen meanwhile is more straightforward: “Ludwig is a classic crime drama with a unique twist. That unique twist being that the lead detective is not a detective, but his twin brother is”.
Well, quite.
Fake or Fortune (Thursday 26/09/24, BBC One, 8pm)
Words by Sarah Morgan
Philip Mould is back on the box, and this time, it’s for a rather more sedate reason than his previous headline-hitting appearance.
This summer, Jonathan Yeo’s red-hued portrait of King Charles went on display at Mould’s London gallery, where two Animal Rising demonstrators promptly stuck a picture of Wallace from Wallace and Gromit on it. While some found it amusing, others felt it was no laughing matter.
“We had anticipated that there might be these type of responses,” claimed Mould at the time. “(The painting) is safely secured in its frame with protective layers. One always lives with that thought these days. I wasn’t hugely surprised.
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Hide Ad“The attack on the picture was not actually of a serious nature. The perpetrators put water on the surface very quickly in a swift manoeuvre and then they added stickers to that. No damage was done. The stickers only remained up for about 10 or 15 seconds, and then were taken down by my gallery staff.
“I asked the individuals to leave and they did.”
Hopefully the only dramatic events that will happen when Mould returns alongside Fiona Bruce for the 12th series of Fake or Fortune? will involve them proving a long-lost work of art, be it a painting, drawing or sculpture, really is genuine rather than something knocked up by an artistic wannabe.
Many viewers have probably dreamed of unearthing something, perhaps in the attic or at a car boot sale, and discovering it’s worth a life-changing amount of money. Over the years, Mould, Bruce and their team of experts have been relatively successful at delivering such good news, with the rest presumably left bitterly disappointed.
We look on with bated breath before the final verdict is discovered, having witnessed the tireless efforts of those involved in proving or disproving their claims.
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Hide AdScience is often brought into play in an effort to identify the paint used as well as quirks common to a particular artist which might otherwise be invisible to the naked eye. The duo also carry out their own research before a decision is reached. Think of it as an artistic detective show, and you get the picture (pun intended).
Memorable episodes have focused on efforts to prove that Turner painted three scenes belonging to the National Museum of Wales, which had been dismissed as fakes in the 1950s, works believed to be by Munnings and Winston Churchill found in a coal hole, an early Lucien Freud and an image sold twice by Mould himself before being proven to be by the great landscape artist John Constable.
Occasionally, heated discussions have taken place, with an effort to get sketchbooks purportedly belonging to Toulouse-Lautrec verified turning out to be particularly frustrating.
No doubt Bruce and Mould are hoping for more straightforward cases this time, but they start with a tricky one. It involves a work purportedly by abstract artist Piet Mondrian. It has promising provenance, but as the Dutch master is a favourite of forgers, is the owner about to be disappointed? You’ll have to tune in to see how the story develops…
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Hide AdElizabeth Taylor – Rebel Superstar (Friday 27/09/24, BBC Two, 9pm – Wales, 9.35pm)
Words by Richard Jones
For too long, Dame Elizabeth Taylor’s story has been told as a soap opera – with the eight marriages, the diamonds and the addictions, among other things, turning her into tabloid fodder.
However, this landmark biographical series, executive produced by Kim Kardashian, Kari Lia and Hamish Fergusson, finally gives the two-time Academy Award-winning actress, in all her incarnations, the significance she richly deserves.
It tells her story as a performer, rebel, business mogul and activist, and reveals how she broke down barriers, created the blueprint for modern celebrity and paid a heavy price for defying convention.
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Hide AdThe programme takes a deep dive into the London-born star’s craft and technique – as she not only mesmerised cinemagoers, but also reinvented the nature of fame, smashing the glass ceiling in Hollywood, before going on to become a billion-dollar businesswoman and advocate.
It features unheard recordings of Taylor herself, along with the testimony of those who knew her best, including members of her family, friends and colleagues from throughout her stellar career.
Tonight’s first episode tells the story of Elizabeth’s astronomical rise to fame during Hollywood’s Golden Age.
As a young actor, she landed the starring role in MGM’s smash hit National Velvet – but as she got older, her life was tightly controlled by the studio, who dictated everything from what she ate to who she dated – stage-managing her first marriage to Conrad ‘Nicky’ Hilton as a publicity stunt to promote the 1950 movie Father of the Bride.
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Hide AdHowever, the marriage was a disaster and Taylor decided to live life on her own terms, marrying British actor and producer Michael Wilding, father of her children Michael and Chris, and producing some of her best work – including Giant with James Dean and Rock Hudson.
After divorcing Wilding, Elizabeth married Mike Todd, a brash, charismatic film producer in 1957.
But just two weeks into filming Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which was to earn her critical acclaim, Elizabeth received devastating news, which changes everything.
Among the stars who will be paying homage to Taylor over the next three weeks is Sharon Stone, who first became friends with her through her work campaigning for those with HIV/AIDS.
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Hide AdStone notes: “She was the first person to send me 100 roses when I had my stroke”.
Meanwhile, Michael Jackson’s daughter, model, actress, singer and activist Paris, was Taylor’s goddaughter.
She was 12 when Elizabeth died, but has followed in her godmother’s footsteps using her platform to help those with HIV/AIDS.
She says Elizabeth had a “badass approach to life”.
The series also features in-depth interviews Taylor’s son Chris Wilding, her granddaughter Naomi Wilding, stepson Todd Fisher and daughter-in-law, Aileen Getty, and Taylor’s former boyfriend, Hollywood actor George Hamilton.
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Hide AdIt has been 13 years since Elizabeth Taylor passed away, aged 79, in Los Angeles.
But as this programme shows, the public’s’s fascination with and love for the screen legend and trailblazer hasn’t diminished in the slightest.
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