Relationships crumble in reality show The Ultimatum, a detective with an inbuilt polygraph goes on the run in Poker Face, and a new set of seamsters enter the sewing room in The Great British Sewing Bee.
Maryland
Monday
ITV, 9.00pm
A new drama, led and created by Gentleman Jack star Suranne Jones, sees two semi-estranged sisters, Becca (Jones) and Rosaline (Eve Best), live separate lives in London and Manchester, until they are forced to reunite when their mother’s body is discovered on a beach on the Isle of Man.
Not knowing their mother had any connection to the island, the sisters travel there to unravel her double life, all the while moving through the stages of grief together—but keeping their own secrets.
Jones, who wrote the show collaboratively with Anne-Marie O’Connor (Trollied), drew from her personal experience losing both parents to depict the sisters’ grief.
Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland
Monday
BBC Two, 9.00pm
25 years after the Good Friday Agreement, survivors from across the political spectrum share their memories and experiences of the Troubles.
From a woman who chose to plant firebombs, to the then-teenagers who had family members killed and kidnapped by the IRA. Alongside these first-hand accounts, the docuseries shares archive footage, beginning in the late 1960s as the Troubles began, and moving all the way until peace was achieved in 1998.
The Ultimatum: Queer Love
Wednesday
Netflix
Five queer AFAB couples enter ‘the experiment’, a programme designed to make them realise what they want out of a future partner.
One side of each couple has issued an ultimatum, either to marry them now or break up with them forever. To reach this conclusion, each couple takes the natural and obvious next step – essentially swapping partners with each other and entering into a three week-long sham-marriage with one of the other girlfriends.
In these three weeks they move in together, meet each other’s family and friends, and sometimes even engage in some of the physical activities that come with marriage. After this, they repeat the same process with their original partner, before deciding if they should marry them, seek a relationship with their sham-wife, or choose themselves and leave ‘the experiment’ single.
American Born Chinese
Wednesday
Disney +
This action-comedy drifts into fantasy-adventure as Chinese American Jin Wang (Ben Wang) unwittingly makes friends with the son of the 'Monkey King'.
Jin was hoping his upcoming school year would be different, but he knows it will be the same when his teacher asks him to look after foreign student Wei-Chen Sun (Jim Liu).
However, it soon becomes clear Wei-Chen is no ordinary boy and has been sent to the human world by his father the Monkey King, a deity who can shapeshift into 72 forms, to prevent an uprising from figures of Chinese Mythology. As the line between heaven and earth continues to blur, can Jin protect the human world, all the while tackling Chinese American cultural identity and finding himself in the process?
The Great British Sewing Bee
Wednesday
BBC One, 9.00pm
Fashion designers Patrick Grant and Esme Young welcome 12 budding sewers and seamsters into the haberdashery. Every week they will take on a unique set of tasks, all designed to see if they can accurately follow a pattern and create a high-quality garment, but also be inventive, try new methods, and upgrade old clothing to create something in-trend.
Hosted by comedian Sara Pascoe, episode one sees the contestants put their own personal twist on a pencil skirt and blouse, before creating a dress with cut-out details for their live models in the Made to Measure challenge.
Poker Face
Friday
Sky Max
A casino worker on the run turned detective, Charlie Cale has a significant advantage over classic murder mystery solvers like Poirot and Columbo – she has an innate sense for the truth. Following a ‘case-of-the-week’ format, each episode begins with a murder and then follows Charlie, played by Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll), as she can’t help but use her skills to solve it.
Entangling oneself in mysterious deaths and being able to spot liars comes at a cost, and Cale is constantly looking over her shoulder as her past begins to catch up with her.
Starring alongside Lyonne is Adrien Brody (Succession) as the Casino manager who is fascinated and entirely unperturbed by Charlie’s abilities.
