Celebrities heat up the kitchen, race across the world and uncover their family history!
This week's best telly includes the return of three celebrity juggernauts; Celebrity MasterChef, Celebrity Race Across the World and Who Do You Think You Are?
Elsewhere, David Morrisey and Aimee Lou Wood team up for BBC Three's newest comedy Daddy Issues and Paramout+ launch their latest UK drama, STAGS.
Here are 5 TV shows you can't miss this week...
1. Celebrity MasterChef
Tuesday 13th and Thursday 15th at 8pm and Friday 16th August at 9pm on BBC One
RETURNING COMPETITION
It's time to roll out the red carpet as Celebrity MasterChef returns for its 19th series and famous faces from the worlds of music, comedy, drama, sport and show business will each compete to become Celebrity MasterChef champion 2024.
The next six weeks will see 20 famous faces throw themselves into the biggest culinary challenge of their lives, with MasterChef judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace putting their own taste buds through a sensory assault course as they discover which celebrities have the palate and skill to chop, slice and sizzle their way to lifting the iconic trophy.
The first five celebrities donning gleaming MasterChef aprons this week are TV and radio presenter Craig Doyle, reality star and influencer Charlotte Crosby, TV and radio presenter Edith Bowman, pop star Ian ‘H’ Watkins and TV and radio presenter Snoochie Shy.
John and Gregg waste no time in setting the first task for the hopefuls, Under the Cloche. Taking it in turns, the celebrities pick a gleaming cloche. Using the hidden ingredient they reveal, it’s then down to them to deliver a dish that gives that ingredient real superstar status.
Next, it’s time for an insight into what these celebs cook for their mates, as they are each tasked with producing two dinner party dishes that would wow the most demanding house guests. And the celebrities work furiously in a last attempt to prove themselves to the judges, because, at the end of this test, the one who fails to shine will be going home.
1-3/ Contines weekly
2. Celebrity Race Across the World
Wednesday 14th August at 9pm on BBC One
RETURNING REALITY TV
Following the success of last year's celebrity version and four regular series, the BBC have today revealed the famous faces taking part in the second series of Celebrity Race Across the World.
The four new famous faces embarking on an epic 12,500 km race of a lifetime are: broadcaster Jeff Brazier and his son, Freddy; actor Kola Bokinni and his cousin, Mary Ellen; broadcaster Kelly Brook and her husband, Jeremy and Radio 2 host Scott Mills and his husband (then fiancé), Sam.
Their journey begins in Belém, Northern Brazil - the gateway to the Amazon - and will pass through five checkpoints across the length of South America, to reach the finish line in the Andes, Frutillar in Southern Chile.
The four familiar faces will say goodbye to lavish transport, smartphones and bank cards and instead must rely on their skills, cunning and ingenuity as well as the kindness of strangers.
Once again, joining the celebrities will be their nearest and dearest, providing a unique insight into people we thought we knew, through the eyes of those who know them best.
1/6 Continues weekly
3. STAGS
Thursday 15th August on Paramount+
BRAND NEW DRAMA
New Paramount+ drama STAGS, follows groom-to-be Stu, played by Nico Mirallegro, and his friends on his stag do in South America. What was meant to be a week of drink, debauchery and fun takes a dark turn. Instead of boarding a flight back to the UK, the stags are sent to a lawless prison island run by two warring siblings.
Quickly it becomes clear that the stags need to pick a side to have any chance of survival. Friendships are tested and life-long loyalty is sacrificed as Stu and his mates begin to question who will make it home alive.
The series also stars Charlie Cooper, Asim Chaudhry, Corin Silva, Sophie Lenglinger, Paul Forman, Jojo Macari, Cavan Clerkin, Paulina Galvez and Oscar Foronda.
1/6 Continues weekly
4. Who Do You Think You Are?
Thursday 15th August at 9pm on BBC One
RETURNING FACTUAL
As Who Do You Think You Are? returns for its 21st series, Vicky McClure goes on an emotional journey to Taiwan to find out what happened when her great-grandfather was captured as a prisoner of war in World War Two.
She starts with her late grandmother on her dad’s side, her Nonna Jean. She knows that Jean was given up by her family when she was a child and wants to find out why. From her birth certificate, Vicky learns that Nonna Jean was born in Grimsby and that her parents were called Ruby Winifred and Thomas Compton.
In Grimsby, Vicky learns that Thomas Compton worked as a steward on a steamship and had three children before Nonna Jean was born. As Vicky examines Thomas’s movements from shipping lists, it becomes clear that he couldn’t have been Nonna Jean’s father, as he was in Canada when she would have been conceived.
The other family story that Vicky wants to get to the bottom of, concerns her mum’s granddad, Vicky’s great-grandfather, Harry Millership. The family knows that Harry died as a Japanese prisoner of war in World War Two. Vicky’s mum, Carol, has a small black and white photo of a wooden cross marking his grave and tells Vicky that she was always told it was somewhere in Japan. Vicky also discovers that Harry was a coal miner in Yorkshire before the war.
Vicky goes to meet former miner Pete Wordsworth at one of the last surviving pits in Yorkshire. Census returns reveal that Harry worked in the mines from the age of 14. Vicky hears about the dark and dangerous conditions that her great-grandfather worked in, and that he was in the pits for about 18 years before the outbreak of World War Two.
1/8 Continues weekly
5. Daddy Issues
Thursday 15th August at 9pm and 9.25pm on BBC Three
BRAND NEW COMEDY
In BBC Three hilarious new comedy Daddy Issues, Aimee Lou Wood plays hedonistic 24 year old Gemma who discovers she's pregnant after a random hook-up and has no choice but to turn to her hapless father Malcolm for support, played by David Morrissey.
Recently divorced from Gemma’s mother (who made off with their joint savings to ‘Eat Pray Love’ her way around the world), Malcolm is unable to load a washing machine, boil an egg or microwave rice without it exploding.
Up until now, he’s been living in squalor with fellow divorcee Derek (David Fynn) but when Gemma’s own flatmate decides to move out, the combination of financial desperation and a desire to not be totally alone makes her resort to the unthinkable: she asks her dad to move in with her. Because what’s the worst that could happen…?
From dating disasters and failed romances through to toxic friendships and messy family dynamics, plus a dangerously sociopathic antenatal teacher, Daddy Issues is an big hearted story about a father and daughter, and the reality of facing up to parenthood - at any stage of life.
1-2/6 Continues weekly. All episodes available on BBC iPlayer at launch
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