Survivors ready! That's right the ultimate physical and psychological game is back!
This week's best telly includes the return of Survivor to our screens after a 21-year absence a new lead in BBC One's hit drama Shetland, the return of Jimmy McGovern's Time and a Netflix adaptation of Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, All The Light We Cannot See.
Also, there are two new documentaries gracing our screens this week, with Roman Kemp wanting to improve the mental health of young people in the UK today and Rhod Gilbert confronting his head and neck cancer cancer. Plus Selling Sunset is back, promising new agents and new drama.
Here are 7 TV shows you can't miss this week...
1. Survivor
Saturday 28th at 8.25pm and Sunday 29th October at 8pm on BBC One
Survivor is returning to the UK after 21 years away from our screens and this time Joel Dommett will welcome 18 castaways to the Dominican Republic to play the ultimate physical and psychological game.
Divided into two rival tribes, they will live on remote beaches, build their own shelters, face the elements and battle against each other in epic challenges for reward or immunity. The two tribes are immediately pitted against each other in their first reward challenge, a brutally exhausting clash to retrieve basic supplies. Divisions begin to form and personalities are put to the test as the losing tribe struggles to deal with the harsh environment.
The tribes also compete in their first immunity challenge which is an intense feat of endurance. For the losing tribe, it means a sunset showdown at Tribal Council where they must vote off one of their own.
Which tribe will win the first immunity challenge? And who will become the first person voted out of the game, leaving their dreams of winning £100,000 and the title of Sole Survivor in tatters?
1-2/16 Continues Saturdays and Sundays. Watch Sunday's episode early after Saturday's episode on BBC iPlayer
2. Time
Sunday 29th October at 9pm on BBC One
Following the huge success of the first series of Jimmy McGovern's Time, which starred Stephen Graham and Sean Bean, is returning for a second series, this time written by McGovern and Helen Black, telling an original new story, told through the lens of three very different inmates.
Series two of Time will explore life in a modern British women’s prison and promises to be a moving and high-stakes portrayal of life inside a women’s prison, led by Bella Ramsey, Jodie Whittaker and Tamara Lawrance as Kelsey, Orla and Abi, with Siobhan Finneran reprising her role from series one as Marie-Louise, a prison chaplain.
Arriving at Carlingford Prison on the same day, Kelsey, Orla and Abi are thrown together to face an unfamiliar world. But even with the ever-present threat of violence within its walls, they discover that an unexpected sense of community, and a shared understanding, still might be possible.
1/3 Continues weekly. All episodes available at launch
3. Rhod Gilbert: A Pain in the Neck for SU2C
Monday 30th October at 9pm on BBC One
Comedian Rhod Gilbert was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in June 20222, caused by a virus known as HPV. And now, in an intimate, inspiring and humourous documentary, we follow 18 months of hope and hell for Rhod as he confronts his illness.
The documentary promises to powerfully capture the raw reality of living with a little-known cancer, shedding light on the challenges and raising awareness of the condition as Rhod shares his daunting journey from diagnosis, through initial surgery, to chemotherapy and radiotherapy with remarkable openness.
Through intimate video diaries, we accompany him on all the ups and downs, share in the triumphant moment when he rings the end-of-treatment bell, and then the agonising wait to find out if his treatment has worked as he tries to pull his life back together.
On top of everything he's dealing with, Rhod undertakes a personal challenge, not only to raise awareness of his condition and how it can be prevented in the future but also to raise funds for the cancer hospital that played a pivotal role in saving his life.
And on Friday, Davina McCall, Adam Hills, Joe Lycett and Munya Chawawa come live from London to kick off a night of star-studded fundraising in aid of Stand Up To Cancer.
1/3 Continues weekly
4. Shetland
Wednesday 1st November at 9pm on BBC One
As Shetland returns to BBC One for its 8th series, Ashley Jensen takes over the lead role from Douglas Henshall, playing Met detective Ruth Calder who returns to the Shetland Isles on the trail of a vulnerable witness, teaming up with Tosh on a case that will test their fragile, new partnership.
After thirty years away, Met detective DI Ruth Calder returns to Shetland on the trail of Ellen Quinn – the scared witness to a London gangland murder. In Lerwick, Tosh pauses her investigation into a string of sinister animal deaths to help Calder find Ellen before it’s too late.
Ellen’s family are the influential and notorious Bains, led by dominant matriarch, Grace. Calder and Tosh discover her mother Stella and father Kieran haven’t seen Ellen since she left for London six months ago and are surprised to hear that she’s back in Shetland. Matters are made worse when armed London gangsters - the experienced Howell and volatile Nowak arrive on the Isles on a mission to silence Ellen.
On top of the twists and turns of the case, Calder is faced with figures from her past including her ex-boyfriend Cal Innes and estranged younger brother Alan – now the minister of their late father’s old church. However, these siblings have starkly different views of their shared childhood.
As the case gathers momentum, Calder and Tosh are stunned by news of a brutal murder which has all the hallmarks of organised crime. However, there’s another shock in store for the team.
1/6 Continues weekly
5. Roman Kemp: The Fight for Young Lives
Wednesday 1st November at 9pm on BBC Three
Following his successful first documentary, Our Silent Emergency, which was a candid and personal exploration of mental health and suicide, Roman Kemp is back with a deeper dive into mental health for his follow-up.
On a daily basis, Roman Kemp is contacted by young people who are struggling. With people turning to him for advice, he’s questioning whether or not there is a worsening mental health crisis and asking if these young people should be offered more support in their own communities.
The Fight for Young Lives follows Roman as he immerses himself in schools, youth centres and treatment settings around the country, meets with experts and charities, and visits the Houses of Parliament to try to understand the potential solutions for improving the mental health of young people in the UK today.
1/1
6. All The Light We Cannot See
Thursday 2nd November on Netflix
Steven Knight's new drama All The Light We Cannot See is an adaptation of Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name and follows the story of Marie-Laure, a blind French girl and her father, Daniel LeBlanc, who flee German-occupied Paris with a legendary diamond to keep it from falling into the hands of the Nazis.
Relentlessly pursued by a cruel Gestapo officer who seeks to possess the stone for his own selfish means, Marie-Laure and Daniel soon find refuge in St. Malo, where they take up residence with a reclusive uncle who transmits clandestine radio broadcasts as part of the resistance.
Yet here in this once-idyllic seaside city, Marie-Laure’s path also collides inexorably with the unlikeliest of kindred spirits: Werner, a brilliant teenager enlisted by Hitler’s regime to track down illegal broadcasts, who instead shares a secret connection to Marie-Laure as well as her faith in humanity and the possibility of hope.
Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner over the course of a decade, All The Light We Cannot See tells a story of the extraordinary power of human connection, a beacon of light that can lead us through even the darkest of times.
Directed by Shawn Levy and written by Steven Knight, the four-part limited series introduces newcomers Aria Mia Loberti and Nell Sutton as the older and younger Marie-Laure respectively and stars Mark Ruffalo as Daniel LeBlanc, Hugh Laurie as Uncle Etienne, Louis Hofmann as Werner, Lars Eidinger as Von Rumpel, and Marion Bailey as Madame Manec.
1-4/4
7. Selling Sunset
Friday 3rd November on Netflix
The realtors of The Oppenheim Group are BACK as Selling Sunset returns with a brand new office, sleek penthouse listings, personality clashes and enough shade to cover every cabana in Los Angeles. And this season, new agents mean new drama.
The hit Netflix reality series, set in the world of LA’s high-end real estate, follows seven of the city's most successful female realtors who all work under the same roof at the #1 agency in the Hollywood Hills and the Sunset Strip.
They work hard and play harder, as they compete with the cutthroat LA market and each other. These ladies will do what it takes to make it to the top of their game, all while trying to keep their personal lives intact.
1-11/11 All episodes available at launch
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