Take it off! Take it off!
This week's best telly includes the return of some January favourites, including Silent Witness, Ant & Dec's Limitless Win and The Masked Singer as we prepare to spend our Saturday night's screaming "Take it off!" at the telly.
Elsewhere, Netflix take a deep dive into The Jerry Springer Show for a new two-part documentary and ITV1 and Channel 4 are both serving up their first big new dramas of the year.
Here are 7 TV shows you can't miss this week...
1
RETURNING ENTERTAINMENT SHOW
THE MASKED SINGER UK
Saturday 4th January at 7pm on ITV1
Take it off! Take it off! That's right, The Masked Singer is back and this year, Maya Jama joins the panel alongside Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall and Mo Gilligan as they play the ultimate guessing game in their celebrity detective roles.
Once again, Joel Dommett returns as host as a fresh batch of famous faces don a line-up of extraordinary and elaborate costumes in a bid to disguise their identities as they sing in front of a studio audience and our celebrity judging panel.
8 EPISODES CONTINUES WEEKLY
STREAM ON ITVX
2
RETURNING QUIZ SHOW
ANT & DEC'S LIMITLESS WIN
Saturday 4th at 8.30pm & Sunday 5th January at 8pm on ITV1
Ant & Dec are back with a fourth series of Limitless Win, as a new group of contestants prepare to take on the limitless ladder and climb their way to a fortune. And after a life-changing £1 million win last year, just how far up that ladder and how deep into that limitless pot of cash will the year's contestants go?
First up to face those stack of fiendish questions, the answers to which are all numbers are brother and sister-in-law Joe and Jo who have been prepping by going round the supermarket measuring things with a tape measure. But will their hard work pay off and can they cash out before they crash out?
Then it’s the turn of stepfather and son-in-law Steve and Jordan who reckon their generation gap is going to help them cover a broad range of knowledge. But will it help them climb high enough up the Limitless Ladder to find themselves among truly life-changing sums of money?
On Sunday, husband and wife team Richard and Lorna face the Limitless Ladder looking to win some major money and they've been doing some proper homework, with Lorna compiling her very own Limitless Win spreadsheet, packed full of facts and figures. But can they translate that hard work into hard cash as they take on the never-ending money ladder and try to win truly life-changing money?
6 EPISODES CONTINUES WEEKLY
STREAM ON ITVX
3
BRAND NEW DRAMA
PLAYING NICE
Sunday 5th & Monday 6th January at 9pm on ITV1
ITV1 are kicking 2025 with a brand new psychological thriller, Playing Nice, which is based on JP Delaney's best-selling novel and has been adapted by Grace Ofori-Attah and stars James Norton, Niamh Algar, James McArdle and Jessica Brown Findlay.
Set against a sweeping Cornish landscape, two couples discover that their toddlers were switched at birth in a hospital mix-up and face a horrifying dilemma: do they keep the sons they have raised and loved or reclaim their biological child?
Living a waking nightmare, Pete and Maddie, played by Norton and Algar, are jettisoned into the world of the other couple Miles and Lucy, played by McArdle and Brown Findlay. At first it seems all four are agreed on a solution, but it soon becomes clear that hidden motives are at play - how far can each couple trust the real parents of their child or even each other?
As Pete and Maddie are stretched to breaking point, they realise that they will stop at nothing to keep their family together.
EPISODES CONTINUES WEEKLY
STREAM ON ITVX ALL EPISODES AVAILABLE
4
RETURNING DRAMA
SILENT WITNESS
Monday 6th & Tuesday 7th January at 9pm on BBC One
Silent Witness returns this week for its 28th series as two new team members join The Lyell Centre and try and find their feet as they join Dr. Nikki Alexander, played by Emilia Fox, and Jack Hodgson, played by David Caves.
Maggie Steed plays Harriet Maven, the new Head of The Lyell Centre, while Francesca Mills will play Kit Brooks, a Crime Analyst who works with Jack.
In the first episode, the body of an elderly woman found in a cave presents a disturbing mystery for the Lyell who ask what drives a person to murder someone so vulnerable.
Meanwhile, Jack is apprehensive about the arrival of new boss as he’s heard she’s difficult. And she proves to be so as she proceeds to quickly rub Jack up the wrong way.
Francesca Mills who joins this series is one of my '9 TV Stars of Tomorrow for 2025'. Read the full list here.
10 EPISODES CONTINUES WEEKLY
STREAM ON BBC IPLAYER
5
BRAND NEW DOCUMENTARY
JERRY SPRINGER:
FIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION
Tuesday 7th January on Netflix
Netflix's jaw-dropping two-part series, Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action will tell the story of The Jerry Springer Show as it’s never been told before.
Packed with extraordinary first-hand testimony and revelations from show insiders, the series explores how this daytime talk show became one of the biggest and most outrageous TV hits of the nineties. But behind the entertaining facade lay some darker truths.
As we hear from the producers and ex-guests of The Jerry Springer Show, a murkier picture begins to emerge of the destruction it caused, raising renewed questions about who was responsible, and how far things should go in the name of entertainment.
2 EPISODES
STREAM ON NETFLIX ALL EPISODES AVAILABLE
6
BRAND NEW FACTUAL ENTERTAINMENT
PETE WICKS: FOR DOGS' SAKE
Tuesday 7th January at 9pm on U&W
Strictly favourite Pete Wicks returns to our screens this week with For Dogs' Sake which sees Pete immerse himself in the heart-warming and emotional world of dog care at Basildon’s Dogs Trust rehoming centre.
Across one life-changing summer, Pete learns first-hand the dedication and hard work it takes to rescue, rehabilitate and re-home dogs in need. The show captures the highs and lows of animal welfare, including rehabilitating pregnant dogs seized at the border, nursing a neverending stream of puppies abandoned in carrier bags and cardboard boxes and saving stray dogs found on the streets.
Along the way, viewers will witness uplifting moments of rehoming and the irresistible charm of adorable puppies getting the second chance they deserve. Packed with emotional moments, Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake offers a behind-the-scenes look at the realities of animal rescue, shining a light on the vital work of Dogs Trust.
4 EPISODES CONTINUES WEEKLY
STREAM ON U ALL EPISODES AVAILABLE
7
BRAND NEW DRAMA
PATIENCE
Wednesday 8th & Thursday 9th January at 9pm on Channel 4
Channel 4's new six-part police crime drama, Patience, centres around Patience Evans, a neuro-divergent woman, played by Ella Maisy Purvis, who works in the criminal records department of Yorkshire Police, cataloguing and filing the evidence produced during major cases.
As a young autistic woman, she craves routine and order and relishes the solitude and structure her job provides but yearns for more. Described as a brilliant, self-taught criminologist, Patience has an instinctive eye for crime scenes and a passion for problem-solving.
Laura Fraser stars as Detective Bea Metcalf who is the first person to spot and utilise her talent, which opens a door into a whole new world for Patience. Patience attends a regular support group for autistic adults where they discuss the barriers inoperating in a neuro-typical world and how best to navigate it.
Lead actor Ella Maisy Purvis is one of my '9 TV Stars of Tomorrow for 2025'. Read the full list here.
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