Trying

What’s On TV This Week: 20th May – 26th May

The Great British Sewing Bee

Tuesday

BBC One, 9.00pm


Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Esme Young and Patrick Grant (Credit: BBC/Love Productions/James Stack)

The Great British Sewing Bee celebrates its tenth series of welcoming sewers into the haberdashery, to have their designs judged by fashion designers Patrick Grant and Esme Young.

Rafe Spall talks Trying, the pressures of being a parent and the special lesson his dad taught him

Credit: Apple TV+

“Having kids isn’t easy. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, but boy oh boy does it up the stakes,” admitted Spall. 

The rocky road to parenting is explored in Apple TV+ series Trying, which is now in its third series. It tells the story of Jason (Rafe Spall) and Nikki (Esther Smith), a couple in their 30s who are desperate to become parents but are unable to conceive. 

Feel-good is back in fashion

Friends: The Reunion (Credit: HBO Max)

Almost exactly two years ago, I was invited by this magazine to muse on what was then a wave of “sad-coms” or “dramedies”, those shows playing not quite for laughs but more for wry, sympathetic chuckles at the vicissitudes of life. The success of Detectorists, Back to Life, Don’t Forget the Driver, Ricky Gervais’s After Life, Mum and This Country served to prove that small-screen gags would, from now on, be accompanied by gulps in the throat. 

If you liked Normal People, you’ll love…

Run (Credit: Sky) and Love (Credit: Suzanne Hanover / Netflix)

The unique connection between the lead characters Marianne and Connell, played by Paul mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, unfolded over 12 episodes and shows two young people learning how to love.

With the BBC series now over, if you’re missing out on your dose of romance, here are some of the best TV shows to watch next.

Run

Sky Comedy