Alan Dee’s guide to the pick of the week’s TV

Pointless Celebrities (BBC One, 6.15pm)

For a show that prides itself on celebrating obscurity, tea-time quiz Pointless has been gaining rather a lot of attention lately.

Not only did it make the move from BBC Two to BBC One last year, but its best-rated episode attracted more than five million viewers and, now the programme is about to make even more of a splash as it gets an all-star Saturday night edition.

If you haven’t seen regular, non-famous Pointless before, imagine a sort of reverse Family Fortunes. Host Alexander Armstrong gives the contestants a category or question that has been previously put to 100 people, but they have to come up with the answers that the least number of people knew to be in with a chance of winning the jackpot.

Will the celeb contestants, who include Christopher Biggins and Lesley Joseph, have that all-important pointless knowledge?

Sunday

Homeland (Channel 4, 9pm)

Homeland focuses on the idea of what might happen if a US serviceman returned home after seeing action, having been brainwashed into believing that the terrorists he was sent to find were right after all.

In this second offering, post-traumatic stress sufferer Brody is still having a hard time at home with his family. He’s plagued by violent nightmares and hallucinations, and resists media pressure to play the role of the returning war hero.

Monday

Empire (BBC One, 9pm)

A five-part look at the British Empire that sees Jeremy Paxman travelling around the world to India, Canada, Asia and Africa to find out how the empire began.

The Newsnight veteran begins by heading to India, where local soldiers and maharajahs helped a handful of British traders to take over vast areas of land.

Tuesday

Supersize vs Superskinny (Channel 4, 8pm)

Everyone’s favourite GP Christian Jessen returns to challenge people from opposite ends of the extreme-eating spectrum – the Supersize and Superskinny of the title – to swap diets and lives for five days.

It seems like a bad idea to begin with, but it always comes good in the end as both people realise that there is a healthy middle ground to be found.

This time around, the series introduces new strands which highlight the nation’s dysfunctional relationship with food. Dr Jessen begins by heading stateside to ‘America’s fattest city’ - Evansville, Indiana - where a staggering 38 percent of the population is classed as obese.

Wednesday

NCIS (Channel 5, 9pm)

Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and the Naval crime busters face another tricky case when a body is found, and the deceased is connected to a Royal Navy ship.

Thursday

Make Bradford British (Channel 4, 9pm)

After being given a chance to debate their own ideas about citizenship, eight Bradford people –who range from a pub landlady to a former magistrate – were paired up and encouraged to swap lives.

Despite the fact they are still in the same city, for many of them it was the chance to explore a whole new world, whether it was going to a mosque for the first time, or attending a traditional dinner party.

Friday

The Mad Bad Ad Show (Channel 4, 10pm)

Mark Dolan hosts episode three of the comedy entertainment series which promises to go beyond the traditional question and answer games of the common or garden panel show.

TMBAS brings together an original mix of challenges, comic banter from the guests and a bit of ad land insight.

Each week team captains Mark Watson and Micky Flanagan are joined by a familiar face and an advertising industry insider to be questioned about much loved ads from the past, present and overseas.

The team captains are also challenged to shoot their own adverts, with the studio audience voting for the best.

This week’s show centres on toys, and Miles Jupp is among the guests taking part.

Look Out For: Sean Lock, the comic who has become a household name in recent years thanks to his work on 8 Out of 10 Cats. He is no stranger to the ad industry; last year he appeared in a five minute advert for Shelter, raising awareness of the dangers posed by dubious private landlords.

When asked why he never advertises banks, Sean says: “I don’t want people coming up to me in the street complaining about how rubbish their bank account is.”

Ends

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