Channel 5

Lockdown left its mark on TV coverage of the arts: Sky Arts went free-to-air, while Channel 4 scored a zeitgeist hit with Grayson’s Art Club and the BBC gave us its Culture in Quarantine initiative.

Below Deck Mediterranean

Monday

E4, 9.00pm

A totally new but equally unruly crew join Captain Sandy Yawn and bosun Malia White aboard the Lady Michelle, a new 180-foot mega yacht, on their return to Croatia.

There must be something in the water at Channel 5. In 2020, it won Channel of the Year at both the RTS Programme Awards and the Broadcast Awards. The RTS’s judges remarked that it was “a confident broadcaster reaping the rewards of years of steady growth and development – a channel that increasingly now both surprises and delights”.

That momentum careered into 2021, as The Drowning – the four-parter about a mother who befriends a child she believes is her missing son – became its most-watched drama to date. A record 5.1 million tuned in for the first episode.

Who Do You Think You Are?

Monday 12^th October

BBC One, 9pm

The genealogy documentary series returns, with Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who) tracing her Yorkshire family tree in this opening episode.

The four-part drama, written by Lisa McGee, tells a story of betrayal, lust and lies.  

It follows Ophelia (Emily Reid) a student who embarks on a dangerous affair with her professor Dr Michael Callaghan (Emmett J. Scanlan).

Things take a turn for the worse when Callaghan’s wife, Roisin (Catherine Walker), is killed in a house fire, but Ophelia starts to doubt if she really is dead and that she actually may still be alive.

21 channels will simultaneously broadcast the film, entitled Our Stories, that showcases their contributions to the daily lives of many across the UK.

Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive of ITV, said: “Our mission is to tell stories that reflect the diversity of life today in our nations and regions.

The guidelines will allow productions to get up and running again, with the emphasis on the safety and well-being of employees.

The guide will be applicable to a broad range and scale of TV programmes of all genres and have been created with the collaboration of industry experts and the external expertise of Dr Paul Litchfield CBE.

Broadcasters have liaised with union representatives and the Health and Safety Executive and worked with First Option safety consultants to the media and entertainment industry.

They say that good things come in threes. When Channel 5 won Channel of the Year at March’s RTS Programme Awards, beating Sky Atlantic and BBC Three, the accolade followed identical wins at February’s Broadcast Awards and the 2018 Edinburgh TV Awards.

“It was thrilling to win Channel of the Year,” says the station’s director of programmes, Ben Frow, looking dapper in a dark T-shirt. “We’ve won each one once; we’ve finally got them all. I wouldn’t actually enter another channel of the year [competition].

The series stars Jill Halfpenny (Liar) as Jodie, a mother still recovering from the loss of her son who went missing eight years ago.

When she encounters Daniel (Cody Molko), she is convinced he is her son. But her fixation threatens to collapse the life she’s painstakingly rebuilt, as it leads her down a dangerous and morally dubious path.

In Jodie’s way stands Daniel’s impassive and protective father, Mark (Rupert-Penry-Jones).