What’s On TV This Week: 8th January – 14th January

What’s On TV This Week: 8th January – 14th January

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Monday, 8th January 2024
The vast ensemble of Gladiators flex for the camera against a cloudy blue/purple backdrop
Gladiators (Credit: Nick Eagle/BBC/Hungry Bear)

The Gladiators reboot brings 1992 to 2024, Dancing on Ice announces a new host for a new year, and series two of Big Boys journeys back to 2014.

Criminal Record

Wednesday

Apple TV+

From the mind of Vera creator Paul Rutman comes Criminal Record, a stern detective drama focusing on the effects of institutional errors, centring around an old ‘solved’ murder case.

Cush Jumbo (The Good Fight) stars as a young detective, June. When she receives an anonymous call stating that a man was wrongfully imprisoned in an old case, June finds herself battling senior detective DCI Daniel Hagerty (Peter Capaldi, Doctor Who) who wants to keep her as far away from the case as possible. June questions: is Hagerty simply trying to protect his spotless legacy from being tarnished by an incorrect conviction? Or does he have more involvement in the case than it first appears?

Gladiators

Saturday

BBC One, 5.50pm

The 90s game show classic is back, with new gladiators, new challenges, and old favourites. Filmed in front of a live studio audience, Gladiators sees normal members of the public go up against ‘the gladiators’ - a group of people with extraordinary levels of fitness, all with names like Electro, Phantom, or Bionic.

Although new endurance challenges have been introduced, traditional challenges such as ‘The Eliminator’ obstacle course remain. Other changes include Bradley Walsh and his son Barney replacing Ulrika Jonsson as host; and the gladiators’ hair being (presumably) far less backcombed than it was in 1992.

Dancing On Ice

Sunday

ITV1, 6.30pm


Credit: ITV

Celebrities ready to not only brave the ice, but to dance on it, include comedian Lou Sanders, Love Island contestant turned Broadway star Amber Davies and ski jumper Eddie Edwards, subject of the 2016 film Eddie the Eagle. Jayne Torvill, Christopher Dean, Ashley Banjo and Oti Mabuse return to judge, alongside host Holly Willoughby, who will be joined by new addition Stephen Mulhern (Catchphrase).

Taskmaster: Champion Of Champions

Sunday

Channel 4, 9.00pm


Credit: Simon Webb/Channel 4

The winners of the last five series of Taskmaster return to see if they can win a second trophy (a golden effigy of Taskmaster Greg Davies’ body) which will fit the trophy they won the first time (a golden effigy of Greg Davies’ head).

Dara Ó Briain (Have I Got News For You), Morgana Robinson (Stuck), and stand-up comics Sarah Kendall and Sophie Duker will all engage in whatever tasks Little Alex Horne throws at them. Regrettably, series 15 winner Mae Martin (Feel Good) was unable to compete due to scheduling conflicts, but their place has been taken by Ghosts’ Kiell Smith-Bynoe, who wore a tasteful Mae Martin-themed jumper in the promo shoot.

Big Boys

Sunday

Channel 4, 10.00pm

Jack Rooke’s RTS Award-nominated comedy returns for series two.

Derry Girls' Dylan Llewellyn plays the half-fictionalised Jack Rooke, recounting Rooke’s experiences both dealing with the grief of losing his father and exploring his sexuality at university. Smothered’s Jon Pointing plays Jack’s unexpected friend and flatmate Danny, a 25-year-old ‘mature’ student keen on parties and girls but hiding hidden depths.

Series two will see the pair enter their second year, with the period piece moving its sights to a 2014 university experience. Jack has just come out the closet, Danny is trying to take his mental health more seriously, and some of the students swap partying for work experience.

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The Gladiators reboot brings 1992 to 2024, Dancing on Ice announces a new host for a new year, and series two of Big Boys journeys back to 2014.