The annual special of The Great British Bake Off will once again see Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith put 20 famous faces through their paces. Usual hosts Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding will also return to present the proceedings — and pester the contestants.
The celebrities will enter the tent in groups. First up is actor Jodie Whittaker (Time) with singer Paloma Faith, satirist Munya Chawawa and broadcaster Spencer Matthews.
Lenny Henry recently paid tribute to the Windrush Generation in his new heartfelt ITV period drama Three Little Birds, but now it's time for the one-off entertainer himself to be championed by colleagues, friends and family in a one-off documentary.
Corby, a town in Northamptonshire, experienced one of the biggest child poisoning cases the UK has ever seen, after it was exposed to a high volume of toxic waste in the 1980s and 90s.
Children born in this period were three times more likely to have birth defects than the rest of the UK.
In Toxic Town, Jack Thorne (Best Interests) will focus on three mothers who fought on the frontlines for justice, battling in court for recognition of Corby’s mistreatment.
The new series will not be a following on from the first, which starred Sean Bean and Stephen Graham as prisoner and guard, but will follow a new female-led storyline. Only Siobhan Finneran (Happy Valley) will be reprising her role as Marie-Louise, the humane and compassionate prison chaplain.
Written by Jimmy McGovern (Broken), the first series of Time stars Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) and Stephen Graham (Boiling Point) and focuses on inmate Mark’s (Bean) life in prison after he accidentally kills an innocent man. Graham took the role of a prison guard trapped in a decision between his morals and his family's safety.
Having taken the helm of the show in 2017, Chibnall made the history-making decision to cast Whittaker as the first-ever female Doctor. He also brought together Tosin Cole (Ryan), Mandip Gill (Yaz) and Bradley Walsh (Graham) as the new ‘fam’ of adventurous space-exploring sidekicks.
With a six-part Event Serial already announced for this autumn, Chibnall and Whittaker will bow out of Doctor Who with three specials in 2022, including a final feature-length adventure to mark the BBC’s Centenary celebrations, before the Doctor regenerates once more.
Rather than the usual eleven-episode run, the upcoming series will have eight episodes due to the added protocols to ensure the safety of all cast and crew.
The genealogy documentary series returns, with Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who) tracing her Yorkshire family tree in this opening episode.
(Credit: BBC)
With no Christmas special on Christmas Day, Series 12 of Doctor Who kicks off on New Year’s Day.
The two British TV icons have landed major roles in what showrunner Chris Chibnall has called “one of [Doctor Who’s] biggest ever stories to kick off the new series”.
As for whether Fry and Henry will play friends or enemies remains under wraps.
Reprising her role as the Thirteenth Doctor at the helm of the TARDIS will be Jodie Whittaker, alongside her usual time-travelling team with Tosin Cole as Ryan, Mandip Gill as Yaz and Bradley Walsh as Graham.
