This week in TV you can pick from one of three celebrity travel guides to help escape the lockdown, or expand your mind with new documentary series.
Soulmates
Monday 8th February
Amazon Prime
From Black Mirror writer Will Bridges and Ted Lasso writer and star Brett Goldstein, Soulmates asks the question: if there was a test that enabled you to discover your one true soulmate, would you take it?
Set in the near future, the six-part anthology series follows a spectrum of relationships as people learn unescapable truths about their lives and partners. One simple test can reveal your perfect companion, but what if they are already married, better suited as just a friend or have even passed away?
Soulmates boasts an all-star cast, including Kingsley Ben-Adir (High Fidelity), Sarah Snook (Succession), Bill Skarsgård (IT), Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things), and Georgina Campbell (Broadchurch).
The first episode ‘Watershed’ sees Nikki (Sarah Snook) agonise over whether she should take the soulmate test despite her seemingly happy marriage to husband Franklin (Kingsley Ben-Adir), or whether ignorance truly is bliss.
Joanna Lumley's Home Sweet Home - Travels in My Own Land
Monday 8th February
ITV, 10:45pm
Joanna Lumley has spent her whole life travelling the world, but now wants to explore the place she calls home, making it her most personal journey yet.
Lumley starts in Tilbury Docks in Essex before heading North to the cobbles of Coronation Street and the seaside town of Whitby.
Along the way, Lumley will meet inspiring people and discover the hidden gems of the British Isles.
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel
Wednesday 10th February
Netflix
The Cecil Hotel in LA has a dark reputation for being linked to various sudden deaths and housing notorious serial killers.
The true crime docu-series explores the unexplained death of 21-year-old Canadian student Elisa Lam, whose body was found in the water tank on the hotel’s roof.
Despite Lam’s death being ruled as an accidental drowning, over the years internet sleuths have put forward theories such as murder or even paranormal activity.
Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig
Wednesday
Channel 4, 9pm
Sandi Toksvig and her celebrity friends host vicarious escapes to some of the UK’s most luxurious yet hidden holiday homes. There are lighthouse cottages on private islands, tree houses in valleys and the only nature reserve in England you’re allowed to spend the night in.
In the opening episode, the first of the funny and fascinating women joining Toksvig is actor Alison Steadman. Together they visit several of Suffolk’s sanctuaries, from a restored Martello Tower, to an 11th century priory gatehouse.
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World
Thursday 11th February
BBC iPlayer
From Adam Curtis, the creator of the mind-boggling documentary HyperNormalisation, comes a new series of films dissecting the strange, polarised world we live in.
From conspiracy theories and Artificial Intelligence to the history of China and opioids, the film series will explore whether modern culture, despite its extremism, is really part of the new system of power.
Looking at how our feelings and desires are formed by the society around us, Can’t Get You Out Of My Head will offer an epic history of how we made this particular world and how it is paralysing us from envisioning a better future.
Gregg Wallace: Big Weekends Away: Barcelona
Friday
Channel 5, 9pm
Gregg Wallace is off to Barcelona for the first of his European minibreaks, immersing himself in the diverse cultures of the continent.
He will be visiting the hotspots like the Sagrada Família and exploring the art of the city’s famed offspring, Gaudi and Picasso, but the MasterChef judge will also be looking to sniff out the hidden sights and tastes.
