It's a strong week of telly with plenty of comedy, drama and reality to enjoy!
This week's best telly includes the return of huge hits Am I Being Unreasonable?, Boarders, G'Wed and The Kardashians as well as the highly anticipated Motherland spin-off Amandaland.
Elsewhere, Keeley Hawes returns to our screens in BBC One's new Sunday night drama Miss Austen and Holly Willoughby teams up with Bear Grylls for Netflix's new reality TV series, Celebrity Bear Hunt.
Here are 7 TV shows you can't miss this week...
1
BRAND NEW DRAMA
MISS AUSTEN
Sunday 2nd February at 9pm on BBC One
Based on Gill Hornby’s novel, Miss Austen re-imagines the story surrounding the burning of Jane Austen’s letters by her surviving sister Cassandra, played by Keeley Hawes.
The series opens in 1840, 23 years after Jane death, with Cassandra travelling back to the village of Kintbury, in Berkshire, where her family's friends, the Fowles, lived. Once at the Fowles’ residence, Cassandra retrieves a batch of long-lost correspondence between Jane and her close friend Eliza Fowle.
As she starts to read through the letters, Cassandra is thrust back into her family’s past, as well as her own. The story flashes back to 1795, when, as a young woman, she had been engaged to marry Tom Fowle. But along with a recounting of their story, Jane’s letters reveal a series of half-hidden truths and tensions that had remained concealed in the Austen circles until now.
4 EPISODES CONTINUES WEEKLY
STREAM ON BBC IPLAYER ALL EPISODES AVAILABLE
2
RETURNING COMEDY DRAMA
BOARDERS
Monday 3rd February at 9pm on BBC Three
It's time to return to St. Gilbert's as Boarders is back for a second series on BBC Three. The hit comedy follows five talented black inner-city teens transported to an alien world, after gaining scholarships to a prestigious British boarding school.
They set out to make the most out of the opportunity, despite their places only being offered as a poorly-disguised PR exercise to improve the reputation of the school.
Series two sees a new era for St Gilbert’s, with headmaster Bernard, who had brought the scholarship students into the school, suspended following a school rebellion. Now acting headmistress Carol Watlington-Geese, who also happens to be the mother of Jaheim’s nemesis, Rupert, is at the helm and she wants them gone.
Series one saw these five outsiders begin to thrive whilst series two asks how much they’re willing to sacrifice just to survive.
6 EPISODES CONTINUES WEEKLY
STREAM ON BBC IPLAYER ALL EPISODES AVAILABLE
3
BRAND NEW REALITY TV
CELEBRITY BEAR HUNT
Wednesday 5th February on Netflix
Netflix's brand new reality series, hosted by Holly Willoughby, Celebrity Bear Hunt, sees a group of unlikely celebrities dropped into the Central American jungle as prey for one of the world's most fearsome predators, Bear Grylls.
Bear believes there’s an action hero inside us all, even the celebs, but how strong is their will to survive?
As Bear puts them through their paces, those who fail to impress will face the dreaded ‘Bear Hunt’ – a brutal game of cat and mouse where they’ll be hunted down by Bear himself and, if captured, face elimination from the show.
The celebrities taking part are 3x Wimbledon champion Boris Becker, ex International Rugby Union player Danny Cipriani, actors Joe Thomas and Kola Bokinni, TV interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, model and TV host Leomie Anderson, model Lottie Moss, Spice Girl Mel B, ballroom champion and TV judge Shirley Ballas, TV presenter and journalist Steph McGovern, singer songwriter Una Healy and TV chef and rapper Zuhair Hassan (AKA Big Zuu).
8 EPISODES
STREAM ON NETFLIX ALL EPISODES AVAILABLE
4
BRAND NEW COMEDY
AMANDALAND
Wednesday 5th February at 9pm on BBC One
If you're a fan of Motherland (who isn't?) then no, your eyes aren't deceiving you. That IS Amanda and Felicity. Why? Because they're back in a brand new spin-off called Amandaland which finds Amanda, once again played by Lucy Punch, post-divorce and in South Harlesden after being forced to downsize.
With both Manus and Georgie now at secondary school, Amanda has to try and get her head around raising teenagers, dealing with modern motherhood horrors like teenage drinking, fake Instagram accounts and eco anxiety. Not even a woman as certain of her parenting as Amanda can deal with these nightmares alone.
Then there’s Amanda’s mother Felicity, played by Joanna Lumley, who is constantly around, and completely in denial that she is, in fact, lonely. Theirs is a slightly unhealthy co-dependent relationship based on backhanded compliments and veiled snipes about her new home.
And after a brief spell of freedom, Anne, played by Philippa Dunne, is sucked back into being Amanda’s minion to help her navigate the social scene with the other parents at the children’s new school. Thank God for Anne.
6 EPISODES CONTINUES WEEKLY
STREAM ON BBC IPLAYER ALL EPISODES AVAILABLE
5
RETURNING COMEDY
AM I BEING UNREASONABLE?
Wednesday 5th February at 9pm on BBC One
Written by and starring Daisy May Cooper and Selin Hizli, Am I Being Unreasonable? was a was a smash hit in 2022 and now the comedy thriller is back with a brand new series, starting from where series one left off... mid panic attack!
Has Nic got away with murder? Quite possibly. Has she raised her son Ollie to follow in her murky footsteps?
Kicked out of the family home for brotherly love, loving the wrong brother, Nic is reduced to sharing a caravan with her not so trustworthy best friend Jen. Nic’s Husband Dan has taken up roller-blading to channel his mid-life crisis.
Shunned at the school gates and cast as the witch at the school re-enactment, Nic is experiencing hallucinations. Or is someone playing tricks on her?
Also back, of course, is Lenny Rush playing Nic’s son Ollie alongside Dustin Demri-Burns, David Fynn, Juliet Cowan, Phil Dunning, Georgie Glenn, Beatie Edney, Amanda Wilkin, Helen Ann Bauer, Marek Larwood and Karla Crome.
6 EPISODES CONTINUES WEEKLY
STREAM ON BBC IPLAYER ALL EPISODES AVAILABLE
6
RETURNING REALITY TV
THE KARDASHIANS
Thursday 6th February on Disney+
The Kardashians is back for its sixth season as the Kardashian-Jenners return with a year full of challenges, milestones, and new adventures.
With uncertain futures and their past returning to haunt them, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, Kendall, Kylie, and Kris will have to rely on each other as they navigate their roles as mums and businesswomen, to overcome the obstacles that come with their increasingly complicated lives.
10 EPISODES CONTINUES WEEKLY
STREAM ON DISNEY+
7
RETURNING COMEDY
G'WED
Thursday 6th February at 10pm on ITV2
ITV's hit comedy G'Wed returns to our screens this week for its second series as the show's Scouse gang navigate new challenges, from age gap relationships and consent to acceptable ways to make money while still in school.
Episode one of the new series, see the late drag queen The Vivienne make a cameo, playing a Liverpool nightclub owner who spots Ted's comedic potential and offers him a spot comparing their drag night.
The episode was filmed last Summer and will be dedicated to The Vivienne, airing with the blessing of the family honouring their special talent.
Read my interview with Jake Kenny-Byrne who plays Christopher, on Thursday.
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