UKTV

Written by Ben Richards and produced by World Productions, The Diplomat sees Laura Simmonds team up with her colleague and friend at the Barcelona Consul Alba Ortiz, to help protect British nationals who get themselves into trouble in the city.

Simmonds and Ortiz take on the roles of lawyer, counsellor and cop as they try to handle the stream of problems they face.

The 12-part series, produced by Whizz Kid Entertainment, features one famous face per episode in which they bring their favourite starter, main and dessert, plus the menu they would want for their last meal on earth.

Once Richman has tucked into their choices, he finds out why the dishes are so important to his guest, before going to find the best ingredients to transform their favourite dish into their ultimate last supper.

The special – produced by Firecracker Films – follows on from last years series, Emma Willis: Delivering Babies, and will show never-before-seen footage of last year’s births at Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Willis meets both the babies and their parents six months after the initial filming and discovers how life has changed for them since leaving the maternity ward. 

Marcus Arthur may be a BBC veteran, but the winds of change blowing through UKTV these past nine months or so have been like no other in his lengthy BBC career.

Last June, he succeeded Darren Childs as the outfit’s CEO. His appointment followed the end of the joint venture with Discovery, which finally gave BBC Studios full control of UKTV and its seven-channel portfolio (its three lifestyle channels were acquired by Discovery as part of the separation) and the online hub, UKTV Play.

According to Ben Wicks, executive producer at Expectation, Geidroyc will be performing “a vital public service: deciding which of Britain’s funniest and most entertaining people are the biggest wrong uns.”

Each week Geidroyc will invite three celebrity sinners to a group confessional, to find out who’s committed the most ‘unforgivable’ sins. In other words, the worst behaviour wins.

Leading the proceedings, Geidroyc will share some of her own shameful secrets to ensure her guests don’t hold back when it comes to sharing theirs.

The series, co-written by Phil Bowker and Samson Kayo (Timewasters), will be extended to six episodes.

Sliced follows the hilarious, unlikely encounters of Joshua (Kayo) and Ricky (Theo Barklem Biggs), two mischievous pizza delivery drivers in south London.

Kayo commented: “We go again! I’m so excited to be back on Dave with series two. Last series was just a taster, now it’s go time!

“I’m looking forward to creating some more explosively funny and authentic stories with this amazingly talented team."

In one way, the career of David Abraham has come full circle. He began his working life in advertising – and, in his latest role, ­running his own company, Wonderhood Studios, he is once again involved in producing TV commercials, as well as making TV programmes. With his trademark heavy-rimmed glasses and carefully judged wardrobe, Abraham still looks like he might have stepped out of the pages of ad bible Campaign at its 1980s’ peak.

Bullmore burst onto screens almost 30 years ago as the gutsy Steph Barnes in Coronation Street and has gone on to star in I’m Alan Partridge, Happy Valley and Scott and Bailey, which she also wrote for.

She finds being both an actress and a writer allows her to always find inspiration for storytelling. 

Created and written by comedian Alex Horne, the series stars Greg Davies as the Taskmaster, with Horne acting as Davies’ assistant and umpire during the tasks.

Each series, five contestants compete each week to score the highest mark on the bizarre tasks set by the Taskmaster.

Taskmaster originally aired on Dave, but will make the move to Channel 4 in 2020 following a new six series deal. 

With over 200 tasks to date so far, here is a roundup of some of our favourites.