Top TV picks for the week ahead

Saturday 17/02/18

Troy: Fall of a City (BBC1, 9.10pm)

How do you put a new twist on a story that has been around for three millennia?

Well, if you're David Farr, the man who previously turned John Le Carre's The Night Manager into one of the most acclaimed BBC dramas of recent years, you do it by re-telling the story of the fall of Troy from the perspective of the Trojans rather than, as Homer chose to in The Iliad, the Greeks.

The writer told The Guardian: "I wanted to tell the other side because we know the Greek story so well - it's been beautifully told by Homer and on stage in the Greek tragedies and in films.

"If you look at the story from the Trojan point of view it becomes a very different tale. The Greeks are a western force on an eastern shore demanding justice and retribution, and I think that resonates particularly strongly with a modern audience."

By focusing on the Trojans, Farr also gets a chance to put the relationship between Helen and Paris, the lovers' whose relationship triggers the war, at the centre of the action, whereas in most versions, they are side lined following their elopement.

But if that sounds like Farr and the BBC are playing fast and loose with the classics, don't worry too much - Troy: Fall of a City will still be an epic tale of gods and mortals, with plenty of swords and sandals to go round.

The story begins in the traditional manner as handsome young herdsman Paris (Louis Hunter) is asked to judge which of the three goddesses Hera (Inge Beckmann), Athena (Shamilla Miller) and Aphrodite (Lex King) is the fairest, which would put him in an awkward spot even if they didn't have divine powers.

Rather than go for the diplomatic option of insisting they are all gorgeous in their own way, he picks Aphrodite, who tells him that as a reward he can have the love of the most beautiful woman in the world - and in the process, seals his fate.

Following this unusual encounter, Paris finds himself at the Troy city games, where he makes a surprising discovery about his origins, which leads to him being invited to Sparta as a guest of Menelaus (Jonas Armstrong).

There, Paris meets the beautiful Helen (Bella Dayne, who has the slightly daunting task of being 'the face that launched a thousand ships'). As promised, she falls in love with him, despite being married to Menelaus - but their relationship will have far-reaching consequences.

With a cast that also includes David Threlfall, Frances O'Connor and Joseph Mawle, Troy: Fall of a City should make for stirring Saturday night viewing, and will probably draw a few comparisons to another much-loved epic tale, Game of Thrones (although Farr is keen to play down the comparisons).

And given that it is told from the Trojan point of view, it may finally answer a question that has been bugging people for 3,000 years - why weren't they more suspicious when the Greeks gave them that giant wooden horse?

Sunday 18/02/18

British Academy Film Awards 2018 (BBC One, 9pm)

The king is dead, long live the queen.

Well, sort of - Stephen Fry, so often the face of the British Academy Film Awards, announced in January he was stepping down as host, leaving the way clear for Joanna Lumley to take over.

Will she be able to replicate his wit and repartee? Can she get away with poking fun at the great and good of Hollywood in quite the same way?

Lumley may struggle with the former (she's an amusing raconteur, but whether she can come up with one-liners off the cuff remains to be seen), but the latter? Yes, we reckon so - those dulcet tones will win them over every time.

She describes Fry as "staggering and unbeatable and matchless," as a host, before adding her own feelings about taking over: "Honestly, how exciting is this? It's just so unbelievably thrilling. Who thought I'd turn into Stephen Fry? I want to thank Bafta so much for asking me to do this. I said yes indecently quickly."

To those who have followed Lumley's career, she may seem an odd choice. Although a very familiar face in the UK as an actress, it's for her TV work that she's best known - she hasn't been as successful on film. She would probably prefer to forget her early appearance in Hammer's Satanic Rites of Dracula, and she has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it role in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Her later big screen career has been more impressive - recent projects include The Wolf of Wall Street and Paddington 2.

Lumley's co-star from the latter, Hugh Grant, is in the running for Best Supporting Actor thanks to a wildly funny turn as the villain of the piece. The movie is also nominated for Best British Film and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro's offbeat fantasy romance, has the most nominations with 12 in total, while Darkest Hour and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri come second with nine each; Blade Runner 2049 and Dunkirk both have eight.

Those are the films expected to dominate proceedings at the Royal Albert Hall, but there may be a few surprises along the way; although the smart money is on Gary Oldman to take home the Best Actor gong, those of a sentimental nature may hope that Daniel Day-Lewis wins for what is reputedly his final big screen role in Phantom Thread.

Other big names in the running for various trophies include Jamie Bell, Woody Harrelson, Margot Robbie, Frances McDormand, Kristin Scott Thomas and Christopher Plummer.

While the vast majority of those involved in the evening have no idea whether or not they have a chance of winning, there is one man who is guaranteed to be taking home a trophy - film-maker Ridley Scott, who will be rewarded for his fine body of work with a Bafta Fellowship.

He said: "It is a privilege to have been able to make a career for myself in this industry and to be honoured for my body of work is indeed very gratifying."

Who knows, perhaps some of tonight's other winners will follow in his footsteps in years to come.

Monday 19/02/18

Marcella (ITV, 9pm)

You might be well-apprised of the police procedural format by now; typically, our hero detectives are broody rebels touched by crime-solving genius.

In ITV's Twitter-storming 2016 'London Noir' thriller Marcella, the heroine had bigger issues than a meddling DCI or an unhealthy relationship with booze - plagued by dissociative fugues, DS Marcella Backland suffered periodical black-outs, and while she appeared to function normally during these moments, she was later unable to remember anything she had done during these episodes.

This proved incredibly problematic when her cheating husband's mistress suddenly turned up dead - and Marcella wasn't able to say with any confidence whether this was the work of a fugitive serial killer, or her own misdeed.

Naturally, this issue became the core of the show's appeal, and the fact wasn't lost on actress Anna Friel: "It's a study of a woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown whilst holding down a really full on job.".

Just like it's ITV crime-drama stablemate Broadchurch, Marcella gave its female lead a highly personal stake in catching the killer, and the idea carries over to the second series. In the words of writer Hans Rosenfeldt: "Marcella is a show that is just as much about Marcella being Marcella as it is about her being a police officer. So, it works best when the case she is working on is connected to her personal life in some way."

This time around, we catch up with her following a grim discovery inside a wall. The body of a child is found, clothed in a school blazer and surrounded by soft toys, and Marcella is devastated when she realises the tragic victim is Leo Priestley, a boy who was abducted a few years earlier - and one who had been friends with her own son Edward.

As a result, work follows Marcella back home once again. Not only must she protect her own children from a deadly predator, but she also has to help her son come to terms with the death of a schoolmate. And it seems her efforts might not quite hit the mark.

"Marcella has thoughts on whether she deserves to be a mother or not," states Friel. "She seems to try her best but maybe that's not enough."

Considering the demands of playing a character whose life falls apart on a routine basis, it must be hard for the ex-Brookside star to get back into Marcella's head-space. Not so, claims Friel: "As soon as the fringe was cut back in and my hair was pulled back into the ponytail, I was like 'oooh, she's back'".

For some, though, the mark of a great Scandi-style thriller heroine rests solely on her wardrobe.

Danish actress Sarah Lund famously jump-started a knitwear revolution with her Faroe Isle jumper in The Killing, and back in 2016, high-street retailers struggled to keep up with demand for replicas of Marcella's own fur-trimmed casual parka. So does the coat make a reappearance this series?

"Last time we started off in the deepest winter, so the coat was reflective of that," smiles Friel. "In series two we start off in the summer."

Marcella's now rocking a new jacket designed specifically for the show, but recognising that the parka has its fans too, the actress threw the old garment a lifeline: "You never know though, the coat might make an appearance!"

Tuesday 20/02/18

Mum (BBC Two, 10pm)

Is 2018 the year of Lesley Manville?

It may well be.

For so long, the Brighton-born actress (she would never describe herself as a star) was one of those faces you knew, but probably couldn't name. But, it seems, those days are gone.

How will Manville cope with everybody knowing who she is? That remains to be seen, but as she's now a mature 61 years of age, it's unlikely she's about to go off the rails - something her ex-husband, Gary Oldman, could be accused of doing when he left her holding their baby son to follow his Hollywood dreams in 1989.

Both he and Manville are in the running for Oscars this year; Oldman for Best Actor for his stunning performance as Winston Churchill in The Darkest Hour, and she for Best Supporting Actress in Phantom Thread, which is reputedly Daniel Day-Lewis' movie swansong.

Manville plays the sister of Day-Lewis' character, and while his supposed retirement has dominated chat about the film, it's Manville who deserves more credit; she is sharp-tongued and electrifying, providing a strength the story might otherwise have lacked.

Whether she wins the little golden man or not, it's a triumphant performance - but it isn't her only one we can see this year.

Manville is currently appearing alongside Jeremy Irons in an acclaimed West End revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night; critics are already predicting her performance will win her a second Olivier Award.

But, not content with conquering the theatre and the big screen, Manville is back on TV with the second series of her acclaimed sitcom Mum.

For those who didn't catch the first run in 2016, it focuses on Cathy, a middle-aged woman who, at the start of the series, had just lost her husband. Her efforts to deal with her loss were then charted across the course of a year, during which we got to know her hapless son Jason - who was planning to emigrate to Australia with his dim but well-meaning girlfriend Kelly - her brother Derek and his self-centred partner Pauline.

The only person capable of offering Cathy any kind of comfort - not to mention a port in a storm - was her friend Michael, who was clearly carrying a torch for her.

Cathy wasn't ready to start another relationship, but perhaps now she and Michael will finally get together. A third series has, however, already been commissioned, so even if they don't make it this time around, they have plenty of time to sort themselves out.

Few details have been released about what we can expect from the second series, although the BBC has revealed that Cathy will start to find her own feet again and begin looking to the future.

"Mum is a truly special series, combining microscopic observation of human behaviour with a heart the size of Cathy's wheelie bin," says Shane Allen, the BBC's comedy commissioning controller. "It's a privilege to be able to bring another series to BBC Two and we can't wait to see what's in store."

Whatever it is, with Manville centre stage, it's sure to be worth watching.

Wednesday 21/02/18

The Brit Awards 2018 (ITV, 8pm)

The all-conquering Ed Sheeran may have dominated the charts on both sides of the Atlantic over the past 12 months, but tonight he could well be upstaged by a 22-year-old breakthrough pop star from London.

Dua Lipa, who scored a huge summer hit with New Rules, has earned the most nominations at the 2018 Brit awards, receiving nods in the British Female Solo Artist, Breakthrough Act, Single and Video categories, along with the night's biggest award, British Album Of The Year.

The singer, who is of Kosovar Albanian heritage, has been the slow-burn success story of the year.

Although her debut single Be the One reached the Top 10 in 2015, follow-up singles Hotter Than Hell and Blow Your Mind didn't match its success.

But after her track with Dutch EDM producer Martin Garrix, Scared to Be Lonely, spent 16 weeks in the Top 40, she released New Rules, an irrepressible song on which she sassily dispensed relationship advice with the chorus: "If you're under him, you ain't getting over him".

The single quickly ascended to No.1, spent 10 weeks in the top five and its video has now been viewed over 800 million times on YouTube.

Nevertheless, it could still be Sheeran's night at London's O2. The Halifax-born singer-songwriter has four nominations - for British Male Solo Artist, Video and Single (each for Shape of You), and the Album award for Divide, the biggest-selling LP of 2017.

He is up against a strong field for Male Solo Artist though, with Liam Gallagher, Stormzy, Loyle Carner and Rag'n'Bone Man all vying for the award.

The third-biggest seller of 2017 however, Sam Smith's The Thrill of it All, was completely shut out of the nominations.

But as the November release date of his album means he is also eligible for 2019's awards, expect him to feature heavily this time next year.

The good news for his fans is that he is still confirmed to perform at the ceremony, as are the likes of Foo Fighters, giving their first Brits performance in their 24-year history, Justin Timberlake and Rita Ora.

Another interesting Brits story, relates to One Direction.

All five former members of the massively successful boy band put out solo material last year, but only three have been nominated: Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Liam Payne.

The trio will be going head-to-head in the British Artist Video of the Year category, which is voted for by fans.

Finally, we will all be looking forward to seeing how the new host gets on.

In 2017, the Brits organisers played it safe and handed presenting duties to Dermot O'leary and Emma Willis after Michael Buble was sadly unable to attend.

This year, Jack Whitehall has been brought in to inject some of risque humour and organised chaos to proceedings.

He is of course no stranger to fronting big live shows, having previously presented the Royal Variety Performance and he has become a household name in recent years thanks to his laddish banter with James Corden and co on a certain Sky One quiz show.

So how will Whitehall go down with the crowd tonight and, more importantly, which popstar - Sheeran or Lipa - will be in A League Of Their Own?

Thursday 22/02/18

Death in Paradise (BBC1, 9pm)

It seems like landing a job on Death in Paradise should be every actor's dream. Not only do you get to be part of a hugely popular primetime show, but you'll be going to work in Guadeloupe, which stands in for the fictional island of Saint Marie.

So, the biggest mystery surrounding this detective drama may be why it has gone through so many leading men. The original star, Ben Miller, who played the very British detective Richard Poole, left after two series, while his replacement, Kris Marshall, aka DI Humphrey Goodman, managed three and a half before bowing out to spend more time with his family.

However, when the latest incumbent, Ardal O'Hanlon, joined the cast as DI Jack Mooney during season six, he seemed less concerned about dealing with homesickness and more nervous about the pressures of being part of such a high-profile programme.

The former Father Ted actor told the Radio Times: "For me the real pleasure is just being there and working with great actors, great directors and interpreting scripts and trying to work out the best way of doing it. Whatever happens after that terrifies me.

"Are people going to like it? Are people going to hate my character? Are people going to continue to watch it? I'm so aware that it's a big show and people love it and you don't want to do anything to let the side down or to let the viewers down."

Luckily, it seems he needn't have worried - as the seventh series concludes tonight, the ratings remain strong, and it's already been confirmed that Mooney will be back for an eighth season.

But there's tonight case to deal with first, which sees Mooney straying into Jonathan Creek territory as he tackles a locked-room mystery.

Sauce magnate Levi Roots guest stars as Billy Springer, a guitarist who is found dead in his dressing room moments after playing a 30-year reunion gig with his legendary reggae band Leon and the Rangers.

There's a gun in his hand and the door has been locked from the inside, which would point to suicide if wasn't for the fact that Billy had contacted the Commissioner (Don Warrington) earlier that day to say he had found new evidence concerning the unsolved murder of his wife 30 years earlier.

Working on the theory that Billy was shot to stop him revealing the truth about his wife's killer, the cops turn their attention to the victim's bandmates and his son, Kai (Akemnji Ndifornyen), but with all of them denying the allegations, they make little progress.

Can Jack solve the cold case that has haunted the Commissioner for years and work out what really happened to Billy? And just why is the detective is so obsessed with a fork found at the scene of the crime?

Meanwhile, Dwayne (Danny John-Jules) needs the team's help when his dad (Ram John Holder) pays a surprise visit.

Friday 23/02/18

An Island Parish: After the Hurricane (BBC Two, 9pm)

In September last year, Hurricane Irma, the strongest Atlantic storm observed in terms of maximum sustained winds since Wilma in 2005, hit the Caribbean, inflicting catastrophic damage to several islands.

The British Overseas Territory of Anguilla saw the eye of the storm pass over it on September 6. Many homes and schools were completely destroyed, and the island's only hospital was badly damaged.

The devastation was particularly severe in East End, where the winds uprooted scores of trees and power poles and demolished a number of houses.

In The Valley, the island's capital, the hurricane blew out the windows of government buildings, while rough seas inflicted heavy damage upon several bays and harbours, and seaside restaurants were completely eradicated.

About 90 per cent of Anguilla's roads were left impassable, and the island's air traffic control tower was damaged, exacerbating the already poor communication with the island.

One death was reported, and it was estimated that the Anguillan economy was set to lose in excess of $190 million from the hurricane.

A year after the Island Parish series celebrated the close church community and relaxed way of life on the idyllic Caribbean island, cameras return to Anguilla in the aftermath of one of the most powerful hurricanes in recorded history.

It's one month on from the storm and the islanders are still coming to terms with the devastation.

When Simone Connor and her father Neville return to their restaurant and leisure complex on a beautiful sand bank, they discover that everything, from kitchen appliances to palm trees and the buildings themselves have been blown away, never to be seen again.

Dr Linda Banks, a longstanding pillar of Anguillian society, is entering her fifth week without power, meaning the only way she can get water to her house is via a bucket.

And it's not just the human population that is struggling in the wake of Irma.

The Caribbean island is a popular breeding and foraging habitat for turtles, but when conservationists Jan and Farah look for nests buried before the hurricane, they find that most have been destroyed.

As narrator Sophie Okonedo explains, life on Anguilla has certainly changed dramatically and to make matters worse, most holidaymakers, on whom Anguilla's small economy depends, have cancelled their reservations.

Doing what he can to help the island through the crisis is Anguilla's new British Governor, Tim Foy, who arrived just two weeks before Irma struck.

He has the massive task of co-ordinating the UK's response to the hurricane, helping to restore power and rebuild the ferry port and airport, both badly damaged in the storm.

Such is the extent of the devastation, it would be easy to give up.

However, Anguilla's motto is "Strength and endurance" and the islanders remain typically positive and stoic, thanks in part to Bishop Errol Brooks and Father Menes Hodge of the Anglican Church, who do their utmost to preserve their parishioner's strong and unerring faith.