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

SATURDAY

How God Made the English (BBC Two, 8pm)

Some people have always thought the English had an over-inflated sense of their own importance, but isn’t making a series called How God Made the English taking it a little too far?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The series will take viewers on a journey from the Dark Ages to the present day, taking in the Reformation, the British Empire, the abolition of slavery and modern multiculturalism along the way.

History boffin and presenter Diarmaid MacCulloch says: “Now that Great Britain is so radically questioning its future, it’s all the more important to find out who the English really are. A

“What we’ve discovered as we’ve gone looking will surprise many: Christianity created Englishness, and there was an English Church before there was England.”

Sunday

The Falklands’ Most Daring Raid (Channel 4, 8pm)

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The extraordinary story of how a crumbling Cold War-era Vulcan flew the then-longest-range bombing mission in history and how a Second World War vintage bomb changed the outcome of the Falklands War.

From start to finish, the seemingly impossible mission was a comedy of errors, held together by pluck and ingenuity.

Don’t miss this tale of derring-do and overcoming the odds.

Monday

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Little Paris Kitchen: Cooking With Rachel Khoo (BBC Two, 8.30pm)

Rachel Khoo isn’t famous yet, but if the first edition of her TV debut is anything to go by, she’s about to become a household name.

Her Malay-Chinese-Austrian heritage influences her recipes, although it’s her adopted home of Paris that inspires this Croydon-born ‘food creative’ the most.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

During the next six weeks, she will introduce us to Paris’s chic bistros, its ethnic street markets and impressive roster of home cooks in what promises to be a mouth-watering experience.

Tuesday

Hit the Road Jack (Channel 4, 10pm)

Jack Whitehall is out prove to everybody he’s not afraid to take the silver spoon out of his mouth, get his hands a bit grubby and get involved with the little people.

He’s off on a comedy tour of the country, to find the best that Britain has to offer, joined along the way by celebrities and comedians.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

First up, he’s in Cardiff and joined by special guests, actress and writer Ruth Jones and singer Lethal Bizzle – and tackling some special challenges before he goes on stage.

Wednesday

The Apprentice (BBC One, 9pm)

Get ready to think outside the box, get out of your comfort zone, and give it 110 per cent, as The Apprentice is back for a new series.

This year’s intake of self-styled entrepreneurs will be out to impress from the very start as boys take on girls, buying goods they can then customise and sell on the streets of London.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The challenge, of course, will be to find just one of the assembled hopefuls who you could bear to share a shift with, or even worse, work for

Thursday

John Bishop’s Sport Relief Hell (BBC One, 9pm)

The Scouse comedian cycles, rows and runs 290 miles from Paris to London in five days for Sport Relief 2012. Celebrity mates Dermot O’Leary, Frank Skinner, Greg James and Robbie Savage provide much-needed support.

Friday

Sport Relief 2012 (BBC One, 7pm)

Heaps of celebrities from the sporting and media worlds come together in an attempt to raise as much money as possible for charity.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Among the highlights will be award-winning comedian Miranda Hart’s special Sport Relief edition of her much-loved sitcom and the return of Outnumbered. There will also be special Sport Relief episodes of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, 2012, 8 out of 10 cats, Mock the Week and A Question of Sport.

Footage from Helen Skelton, David Walliams and John Bishop’s epic achievements in support of the cause also appear.