Wimbledon, Bake Off and Joanna Lumley’s Spice Trail Adventure: TV highlights this week

Crime (Saturday 01/07/23, ITV1, 10.05pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

British TV has no shortage of detective dramas, so how do you make a new one stand out from the crowd?

Some people might think that one of the worse things you could do is give it a generic title – like Crime. However, Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, who has adapted his own novel for the small-screen, is convinced the series won’t be mistaken for a just another cop show. He says: “I’m more excited about Crime than anything I’ve done in a while. I was looking at the episodes again: I’ve just seen nothing like this ever on British television…

“I haven’t seen coppers represented in that way. I’ve never seen anything else that actually even looks like it, the way it’s shot. Whether that’s going to be a bit too much for some people or not what people expect from a British show I don’t know but it just seems to me to be so different from so much of the stuff that I’ve seen.”

At the heart of the series is DI Ray Lennox, played by Dougray Scott, who is on mission to root out evil.

The actor explains: “If you were to describe Lennox, you know, I think you would call him some sort of very rough, fragile, avenging angel who is determined to give a voice to those people who don’t have a voice in society, and to protect the vulnerable.

“Stuff happened to him as a kid and so he went into becoming a copper because he felt that was the best way to avenge what happened to him as a child. What makes him a great copper also makes him a bad copper: he’s impetuous, he works off the cuff, he works on instinct.

Scott adds: “He’s left field – he’ll go down alleyways that no one else will go down in order to try and find the solution or the answer. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t work. But he’s passionate, deeply passionate about what he does.”

Sadly, that passion could be his undoing when he and his new partner DS Amanda Drummond (Joanna Vanderham) investigate the abduction of a 13-year-old girl, leading Lennox to fear that a serial killer known as Mr Confectioner has returned.

It’s a dark plot, but with a cast that also includes Ken Stott and Angela Griffin, and a script by Welsh and Dean Cavanagh, Scott believes it will strike a chord with viewers.

He says: “I think Crime is quite a tender novel. The original is set in Miami as well and the Scottish scenes are all in flashback, but of course we flip that – so we’ve made the first series all set in Scotland.

“We’ve fleshed out that part of it, but it’s still in a brutal environment in terms of what Lennox and Drummond are dealing with… But at the same time, there’s wonderful tenderness within the characters that Irvine just produces. It’s an all-encompassing book and story that I think will appeal to lots of people.”

Evacuation (Sunday 02/07/23, Channel 4, 9pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

The evacuation of Kabul was Britain’s biggest airlift since the Second World War. Two years on, this documentary series, which is airing on three consecutive nights, sets out to bring us the inside story of what really happened.

It may initially seem strange that Channel 4 has described Evacuation as a military thriller, but the events it depicts would not be out of place in any blockbuster. However, with real lives at stake, it has much more impact.

Alisa Pomeroy, Head of Documentaries at Channel 4 and Commissioning Editor, Sacha Mirzoeff said: “This series allows us to see the human evacuation of Kabul through a brand-new lens. Wonderhood Studios have forged such a strong relationship with the British Armed Forces that the interviewees, almost all of whom are still serving, are able to talk in an honest, sensitive way rarely seen on TV.

£The resulting series plays out like an emotional drama complete with revelation and nail-biting suspense.”

Major General Eldon Millar MBE added: “We are excited to be working with Channel 4 and Wonderhood Studios on this important project that will, in a compelling and compassionate manner, bring to light the first-hand accounts of both the people of Afghanistan and those from across Defence and the British Armed Forces who worked round the clock to evacuate them in such challenging conditions during the historic summer of 2021.”

Drawing on never-seen-before MoD footage shot by combat camera teams and personal video, it goes beyond the headlines and parliamentary debates to tell the stories of the British servicemen and women who found themselves faced with a humanitarian crisis on a scale they had never encountered.

The documentary also explores how the military’s work affected the people on the ground, including British nationals and the Afghan citizens who were desperately trying to flee their homeland.

Ultimately, some 15,000 British nationals and eligible Afghans were flown out of Afghanistan in a matter of days, but as Evacuation reminds us, the people involved in faced some impossible dilemmas.

The first episode helps to set the scene as allied forces begin to return home from Afghanistan – and the Taliban start taking back parts of the country.

The British military are aware they may need to evacuate at some point, and a small team is charged with preparing for that eventuality, while a group of elite soldiers are put on standby.

However, no one knows quite what to expect, and when the Taliban shock the world by taking Kabul, the airport runway and surrounding airspace are thrown into chaos. The military are left scrambling to clear the airfield of thousands of panicked civilians and take control.

In tomorrow’s second episode, British soldiers are forced to put old hostilities aside when Taliban fighters breach the airfield, and work together to try to control the crowds.

Young privates find themselves making life-and-death decisions about who is eligible to leave, while the RAF face difficult dilemmas about whether they should overload aircraft to get more evacuees out of the country.

Wimbledon 2023 (Monday 03/07/23, BBC1, 1.45pm & 7pm; BBC2 10.30am & 9pm)

Words by Scheenagh Harrington

For romantic poet John Keats, autumn was the ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’, but for tennis fans, two weeks in summer is the season of strawberries and sparkling wine.

Yes, the eyes of the world will be on the prestigious All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in SW19 as the curtain goes up on the 2023 Wimbledon Championship.

As is traditional, the opening day sees the men’s and ladies’ singles competitions get under way. First to walk into the cauldron of Centre Court will be Novak Djokovic, who won his fourth consecutive title here and his seventh overall after overcoming fiery Australian Nick Kyrgios in the 2022 final.

Having already won the Australian and French Opens in 2023, and with the US Open in August, Djokovic is aiming to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win all four Grand Slam events in the same year.

He’ll have to triumph at Wimbledon first.

As any SW19 devotee knows, tradition is everything with this tennis tournament, from players wearing predominantly white clothing on court, to acknowledging the presence of members of the Royal family with either a bow or a curtsey.

That said, there have been several important changes in the past few years. The addition of a retractable roof on Centre Court in 2009 and, a decade later, on Court No 1 put an end to rain-delayed showpiece matches.

More recently, from 2022, it was announced the Wimbledon honour board for the women’s competition no longer carried the honorifics Miss or Mrs.

There’s a change in store for this year’s tennis tournament too, as veteran broadcaster Clare Balding steps gracefully into the presenting shoes vacated last year by former player and long-term host Sue Barker.

Clare will lead the BBC’s comprehensive coverage, picking up from Isa Guha in the afternoon, and will be joined by some of the most celebrated names in the sport, including John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King and Pat Cash.

Speaking about being unveiled as the new face of Wimbledon, Clare enthused: “It’s a huge honour to be given this responsibility but I am very aware that no one person can fill Sue’s shoes.

“This will always be a team effort and we’re lucky that the BBC line-up includes former professionals with huge insight as well as wonderful reporters and commentators.

“It’s my job to bring out the best in them and to help make our viewers feel they have a front row seat on the greatest sporting stage.”

It’s a long way from Clare’s early days as a trainee with BBC National Radio in 1994, but she’s become a much-loved, familiar face over the past 29 years.

Clare has gone from being the BBC’s lead horse-racing presenter to covering major sporting events, including the Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games, before expanding into hosting episodes of Countryfile, fronting Today at Wimbledon from 2015, and even a Saturday night quiz show, Britain’s Brightest, as well as her own, eponymous sports chat show.

We’ll have to wait and see whether she’ll have the eventual winner of Wimbledon 2023 on as a guest when the chalk dust settles in around two weeks’ time.

Bake Off: The Professionals (Tuesday 04/07/23, Channel 4, 8pm)

Words by Sarah Morgan

You never know if you can do something until you try.

That’s a fact Ellie Taylor discovered when she took part in last year’s Strictly Come Dancing. After she and her partner, Johannes Radebe, became the ninth couple to leave the competition, she admitted she could not believe what she had managed to achieve.

Speaking to spin-off show It Takes Two, she said: “You just look back at all the stuff that we’ve done and I can’t believe I did 10 dances live on telly, and I’ve told myself throughout my life that I can’t dance.”

Taylor shouldn’t, perhaps, have been surprised, seeing as she appears to have developed her career by grabbing surprising opportunities by the scruff of the neck.

After completing an English Literature degree at the University of York, she interned at FHM magazine, where she was spotted by a modelling agency. However, in her mid-twenties she decided to give stand-up comedy a go, and hasn’t looked back since. Taking part in ITV’s X Factor-style contest Show Me the Funny was followed by numerous TV appearances, including that staple of every stand-up’s career – the panel show.

The likes of 8 Out of 10 Cats, Mock the Week and Fake Reaction pepper her CV. Taylor has also turned to acting, most famously featuring in several episodes of the smash-hit sports-themed comedy-drama Ted Lasso.

She’s also dipped her toe into the world of game show presenting with Netflix’s Cheat alongside Danny Dyer, although it’s been her work for Channel 4 that has probably landed Taylor her latest gig.

During the past year, the broadcaster has employed her to front the short-lived Let’s Make a Love Scene, in which singletons hoped to find love by acting out famous steamy movie moments with a stranger, and the detective-based challenge You Won’t Believe This.

She also stood in as the host of The Great Pottery Throw Down when regular presenter and Derry Girls star Siobhan McSweeney broke her leg and appeared as a contestant in The Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off. It’s almost as though someone at Love Productions, who make both programmes, thought, while watching her, “A-ha! She’d make a great replacement for Stacey Solomon on Bake Off: The Professionals”.

However it came about, Taylor makes her debut on the latter this week alongside Liam Charles and judges Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden.

The run begins with a secret challenge – the teams won’t have a recipe to rely on, forcing them to rely on their patisserie instincts, experience, knowledge and teamwork to create 36 individual opera aux fruit and one chocolate amenity in just three hours.

After that, they must turn a classic banoffee pie into a showpiece dessert complete with towering edible showpiece sculptures to be consumed during a fine dining experience.

Once the series ends, Taylor will, of course, be open to more offers of work. As she seems fearless in front of the camera, what will she tackle next? Well, she hasn’t appeared on Dancing on Ice yet, or perhaps a spot of skydiving might be the order of the day…

Joanna Lumley’s Spice Trail Adventure (Wednesday 05/07/2023, ITV1, 9pm)

Words by Scheenagh Harrington

If you put veteran stars Michael Palin and Joanna Lumley in the same room together, you would probably discover that, between them, they have travelled the length and breadth of the planet.

Like Michael, Joanna had already carved out a name for herself as an actress long before she packed her passport for the 1997 documentary Joanna Lumley in the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon.

In it, cameras followed her as she retraced the journey her grandparents took in Bhutan 60 years previously, and it was an instant hit with viewers.

Since then, Joanna, who told The Guardian she “can’t bear the thought of a year without a suitcase”, has travelled to the far north to experience the Northern Lights for herself, explored the Nile, undertaken a Greek Odyssey and a Trans-Siberian Adventure, lifted the lid on India, enjoyed a Silk Road Adventure and explored the Hidden Caribbean.

After all that, there’s no wonder she opted for the mother of all staycations in 2021 with Joanna Lumley’s Home Sweet Home – Travels in My Own Land.

In spite of racking up all those air miles, the itch to travel clearly arose again, leading to this latest four-part televisual postcard.

Curiously, the destination for the opening instalment of this charming travelogue, which sees her journey from Indonesia to Jordan through India, Zanzibar and Madagascar, is a collection of remote Indonesian islands that are so small that Joanna’s first challenge is finding them on the map.

The Banda Islands were one of the few places on Earth where nutmeg grew, and Joanna meets a family who make their living from harvesting these evocative spices.

She also looks past the picture-perfect beauty and uncovers the region’s dark past, before learning how Banda’s charms once attracted A-listers, including Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger.

Heading to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, Joanna gets to the bottom of why 200 million clove cigarettes are smoked in the country every day, before popping into a cool speakeasy bar.

There, she samples a cocktail that is all about the spice and ends up discovering a newfound love for Indonesia’s national pop music.

Scenes capturing the honest, emotional impact of her experiences are just as compelling as the locations in Joanna’s documentaries and travelogues.

Back in 1994, she spent nine days on the island of Tsarabanjina, off the coast of Madagascar, armed with just a basic survival kit. The BBC documentary initially portrayed her as a posh-girl-in-the-wild but, as she detailed her experiences to the camera crew who left her to her own devices each evening, and via her own video diary, viewers were increasingly gripped by the impact the experience was having on the star.

That willingness to explore different cultures and allow us to witness how they affect her has made Joanna one of our most beloved televisual travelling companions.

That curiosity and enthusiasm hasn’t diminished one bit, as she explained about making Spice Trail Adventure: “I kept thinking, this is the very tippy-top, then you see something else,” she said.

Ellie Simmonds: Finding my Secret Family (Thursday 06/07/23, ITV1, 9pm)

Words by Scheenagh Harrington

Ellie Simmonds won the hearts of the nation when she was unveiled as Team GB’s youngest member at just 13 years old, and went on to win two gold medals in the 100m and 400m freestyle events at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.

Four years later, at the Summer Paralympics in London, Ellie cemented her reputation as one of the country’s favourite sportswomen after she won another two golds and set a World Record in the 400m freestyle, before winning gold and setting a world record for the 200m medley at the Rio Paralympics in 2016.

As a country, we were delighted by her success and charmed by her bubbly personality but, as this documentary reveals, there is more to her story than sporting greatness.

Just 10 days after she was born, Ellie was placed for adoption and she has often wondered if this decision was taken after her parents were told she had a disability, and if being born with dwarfism influenced their decision.

As Ellie reaches a new stage in her life, cameras follow her as she tries to find her birth mother, as well as gain a wider understanding about why children from diverse backgrounds are more likely to be placed for adoption.

“Until now, it’s never emotionally affected me, it never made me feel rejected or ask ‘why do my birth parents not want me?’” she says. “I’ve been so focused on the future and never thought about it.”

She goes on: “One of the reasons for being given up for adoption is because of dwarfism. Maybe it can be a factor of why my personality is like it is now, because of that rejection at the start.”

In a shocking statistic, the programme reveals that around 40% of children in the England and Wales care system have a registered disability, far higher than the 8% average for the rest of the population.

The powerful documentary follows Ellie as she explores barriers on both sides of the adoptive process – obstacles that are both social and institutional – and asks if a stigma around having disabled children is being perpetuated.

From probing the existence of in-built systemic bias that begins from the moment of birth, to a lack of wider awareness, Ellie makes it her mission to investigate and unravel this complex issue.

She spends time with families who have adopted disabled children, meets some of those who felt they were not able to raise a disabled child, and hears deeply personal stories from both sides.

The former Paralympian also sets out to highlight the pioneering work of social services teams around the UK, aiming to fully explore the relationship between adoption and disability, which she describes as “so close to my heart and which needs much greater awareness”.

After finally meeting her birth mother for the first time, an emotional Ellie explains: “I have no idea how all this will play out, I’m glad I’ve gone through this process. Questions I’ve carried for years have been answered.

“I’m proud of my life and I love my family and maybe, perhaps, that family just got bigger.”

Five Star Kitchen: Britain’s Next Great Chef (Friday 07/07/23, Channel 4, 8pm)

Words by Scheenagh Harrington

It’s a truth almost universally acknowledged that we Brits really do love an underdog. It could explain why we’ve taken the reality show competition to our hearts over recent years: watching the least likely, most unconfident contestant blossom before our eyes into a dyed-in-the-wool winner can be some of the most water-cooler telly ever.

The best series dangle truly jaw-dropping prizes, from whopping amounts of cash to the opportunities of a lifetime, mostly to justify the cut-and-thrust of competition, but also to demonstrate just how passionate the participants are about their chosen field.

Gordon Ramsay is arguably the granddaddy of the culinary competition sphere, offering American chefs the chance to become head or executive chef at the restaurant of his choosing, but this very British version is every bit as compelling.

This blend of Hell’s Kitchen and The Apprentice follows talented up and coming chefs as they battle to prove they have both the culinary skills and business brain to win a once-in-a-lifetime prize: the Palm Court restaurant in the exclusive hotel, The Langham, London.

They are overseen by three judges, headed by Langham chef Michel Roux Jr. The son of Albert and nephew of Michel Snr, Roux Jr carries arguably one of the most famous names in European cuisine, but still had to serve his apprenticeship.

He worked his way up to commis de cuisine, training in France and with his father and uncle in Le Gavroche in London, before a stint as commis chef at La Tante Claire in London and at Hong Kong’s Mandarin Hotel.

Michael Jr rejoined his father and uncle’s restaurant empire, working at the Waterside Inn in Bray and their flagship Le Gavroche, and took over their catering business before replacing his father as head chef at the latter when he retired.

Joining Roux Jr is pastry supremo and hospitality consultant Ravneet Gill and leading global restaurateur Mike Reid (who counts Roux Jr among his teachers), while the hopefuls face challenges designed to prove they can deliver five-star cuisine and turn a profit while running a restaurant business at the very highest level.

Initially, the chefs were drawn from a wide range of professional backgrounds, and each had their own, unique vision for the restaurant.

Over successive rounds, their numbers have been whittled down, and now it’s the semi-final and the four remaining chefs face their toughest challenges yet.

First, they must present an opulent centrepiece designed to attract groups of diners who are keen to splash the cash on a special occasion.

The pressure mounts in the kitchen as the hopefuls are next required to cater an exclusive banquet for 100 VIP guests, with each chef producing one course – starter, fish, meat and dessert – under the watchful eye of Mike Reid.

There’s the not-so-small matter of the Langham hotel’s reputation at stake, so everyone knows there is zero room for error.

With a place in the grand final on the line, which of the chefs will deliver fine dining, at scale and on time, and whose competition has come to an end?