Sir David Attenborough's Mammals and Abba Night: TV highlights this week

Abba Night (Saturday 06/04/24 BBC2, from 8.35pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

My my, in 1974 at Brighton Dome, Britain did surrender to the charms of Abba.

Yes, it’s 50 years today since the Swedish group scored a historic victory at the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo. It may have been a worthy winner – and incredibly catchy – but there were probably quite a few UK viewers who imagined that would be the first and last they saw of Agnetha, Anni-Frid, Benny and Björn.

Instead, it turned out that Abba had plenty more pop classics where that came from as they went onto become global pop sensations.

So, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision triumph that helped pave the way for world domination, BBC2 is turning the schedules over to much-loved quartet.

The evening begins with More Abba at the BBC, which rounds up their appearances on everything from The Mike Yarwood Christmas Show to the The Late, Late Breakfast Show. The most intriguing clip though is a rare 1974 performance of So Long, which was missing from the archives and believed to be lost forever until a Top of the Pops fan unearthed a home recording. It’s now been restored, and this will be first broadcast in 50 years.

If that wasn’t an exciting enough prospect for fans, the programme is followed by the new documentary When Abba Came to Britain, which explores the group’s special relationship with the UK, one which has been going for longer than you might think.

Mark Robinson of production company Wise Owl Films says: “There can be fewer bands, if any, who have straddled generations of British music fans in a more impressive way than Abba. Their original fans might now be in their fifties and sixties, but their children, and even their grandchildren, will be just as familiar with their biggest hits thanks to the likes of Mamma Mia! and Voyage.

“This film shows the enduring and often emotional impact that Abba have left on British fans and musicians across the decades, but we will also chart the key role that Britain played in the band’s history – from the music of groups like The Beatles to playing host to defining moments in their career”.

As well as exploring Abba’s British influences, the documentary takes in a wealth of archive footage, including what was thought to be their last ever TV appearance, and their decision to stage their virtual comeback, Abba Voyage, in London.

Contributors include musicians who performed with the band, tour manager Thomas Johansson, a superfan who travelled across the country at age 14 to meet them, the British Eurovision judge who scored them nul points, and a now-famous member of the children’s choir which accompanied ABBA at their Wembley Arena concerts in 1979.

The documentary is followed by more Abba programes, including the compilation Abba at the BBC, the 1979 special Abba in Switzerland, which was recorded on location in the Alps and features guest appearance from Kate Bush and Roxy Music, and the documentary The Joy of Abba, which charts their rise to fame.

Mammals (Sunday 07/04/24, BBC1, 7pm)

Rachael Popow

Working on the BBC’s new nature series Mammals would be a dream job for many people, and not just because it means they get to meet broadcasting legend Sir David Attenborough.

As Lydia Baines, who produced this second episode The New Wild, explains, there’s also the chance to go to some incredible locations and film some remarkable creatures.

She says: “Mammals are everyone’s favourite, aren’t they? Everyone loves a mammal. Also, this production is global. The scope is huge. Working on this series gives you the ability to film some of the most loved animals on this planet.

“People adore mammals because we have a natural affinity with them – some of them even look like us! They also act like us. There’s a lot of us that we can see in mammals, which I think makes them particularly appealing.”

However, as her episode makes clear, while humans may have an affinity with other mammals, the feeling isn’t necessarily mutual.

It’s only two decades since Sir David looked at the Life of Mammals for a previous series, but in that time the issues facing them have grown and grown, with many species now on the brink of extinction.

The New Wild explores how other creatures have adapted to living alongside perhaps the most successful mammals of all – humans.

Lydia explains: “The backbone to all of my different sequences is about how these habitats are changing and what mammals are doing in response. Obviously, some are doing well off the back of it, and others aren’t. The episode tries to give us a balanced view, but also to highlight the incredible behaviour that we’re starting to see. We are seeing evolution in action.”

The results can sometimes be unsettling. Lydia says: “One of the sequences we filmed was in a palm oil plantation in Malaysia. Obviously, a lot of primary forest is being cut down to make way for palm oil plantations, which is bad for the majority of wildlife there. But one troop of pig-tailed macaques has started to take advantage of it.

“The plantation gets overrun with rats, and these monkeys that used to be predominantly vegetarian have started coming into these plantations, and they’ve learned how to catch and feed on rats. Gruesome, but incredible.”

And some animals have seemingly managed to make a home where humans fear to tread.

Lydia says: “We filmed a pack of Indian wolves living on the Golan Heights on the border between Israel and Syria. They live in landmine fields. So, historically, and even today, wolves have been hugely shot in that area.

“One of their last strongholds is in these landmine fields on the Golan Heights. They’re able to live there fairly undisturbed because humans just won’t venture into the minefields. That’s never been filmed for broadcast television before, probably because no one’s thought it was a good idea to film wolves in fields of landmines!”

Lydia and her team decided to take the plunge with the help of a local guide who believes that, in another example of mammals adjusting to their environments, the wolves have learned to smell landmines.

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The Cuckoo (Monday 08/04/24, Channel 5, 9pm)

Words by Sarah Morgan

Another week, another gripping four-part drama heads our way courtesy of Channel 5.

Alongside a myriad of documentaries about air fryers (who knew there was so much to say about them?), such programmes have become a mainstay of the broadcaster’s schedule in recent months. They’ve been backed by the station’s parent company, Paramount, and the latest looks very promising indeed.

“We’re thrilled to be teaming up again with (production company) Clapperboard to bring this tense and twisty series to our viewers,” says Sebastian Cardwell, Deputy Chief Content Officer, UK at Paramount. “Equipped with a gripping script and household names Jill Halfpenny, Lee Ingleby, Claire Goose and Marjorie Yates as our lead cast, The Cuckoo is another brilliant addition to our expanding drama slate.”

Suzi McIntosh, Senior Executive Producer at Clapperboard, agrees: “I could not be more excited to be gathering such a fantastic and dynamic cast and crew to make this thriller that will keep us on the edge of our seats throughout. Watch this space, we are all in for a treat.”

Having already appeared in Channel 5’s The Drowning and The Holiday, Halfpenny should feel right at home here. She’s certainly a fan of the genre.

“That’s the fun of watching a thriller,” she claims, after being asked why we can’t get enough of them. “Nobody wants to be with the person who’s like, ‘I know exactly what happens’. The fun of it is, ‘It’s them. Oh, it’s her’. I think that’s why, as a nation, we’ve really – certainly in the last 10 years – become obsessed with thrillers.”

The star, who first came to the nation’s attention as a teenager in Byker Grove before appearing in EastEnders and Coronation Street and winning the second series of Strictly Come Dancing, loves acting in them too, although she admits they have their drawbacks.

“It’s always nice to play something that is a bit more psychologically dark. But while thrillers are fun, they’re also quite exhausting because the characters that you’re playing are usually consistently tense. You come home and you’re like, ‘Why are my shoulders by my ears?’

“You’re always holding something in energetically, trying to keep a lid on things, and that’s really, really fun to play – but it’s quite exhausting to have that lid on for 11 hours a day!”

Here, Halfpenny plays Sian, who lodges with a family struggling to make ends meet after they relocate to the countryside. She seems to be the perfect housemate, but it soon becomes clear she has a dark side.

It’s just one project in a busy year for the thespian. Her memoir, A Life Reimagined, will be published in June; it looks back on her life and details how she’s dealing with the grief of losing her partner in 2017. Until next Saturday she can also be seen starring in a revival of Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey at Manchester’s Royal Exchange.

As she recently told The Stage: “Every actor wants variety.” It seems, then, that she’s living the dream.

Aldi’s Next Big Thing (Tuesday 09/04/24, Channel 4, 8pm)

Words by Richard Jones

While inflation is on the way down (according to the government and Bank of England, anyway), food and drink prices continue to be sky high, and as a result, we’re all still having to carefully watch what we’re slinging in our trolleys during the weekly shop.

So what are supermarkets doing to get their prices down and offer some much-needed assistance to their beleaguered customers?

Discount retailers’ tried-and-trusted approach tends to be doing things in bulk – making large quantities of the products so that costs are kept to a minimum and savings can be passed on at the checkouts.

Every year, Britain’s fourth largest supermarket Aldi commissions dozens of new products before getting the people and companies making them to scale up and provide hundreds of thousands of units for their stores.

The first series of Aldi’s Next Big Thing went out in Autumn 2022, and it followed 36 artisan food-and-drink producers as they all bid for a life-changing opportunity to stock their products in Aldi’s 1,000 stores.

A mash-up of MasterChef, Dragons’ Den, The Apprentice and Inside the Factory, it saw presenters Anita Rani and Chris Bavin meet a host of creative and ambitious British suppliers with products ranging from edible bugs and camel milk to Yorkshire pudding beer and rum cake.

But securing this monumental contract and a spot in store isn’t easy, and each item has to meet the extremely high standards of Aldi’s Managing Director of Buying, Julie Ashfield.

Aldi’s Next Big Thing returned for a second run last week, and such was the success of the first season, Julie wasn’t surprised it was recommissioned.

“The response to the first series of Aldi’s Next Big Thing was overwhelming,” she says.

“We’ve had such positive feedback on showing shoppers behind the scenes, from tasting and developing products, to seeing them land on shelves.

“We are 100-per-cent committed to supporting British businesses and thanks to Aldi’s Next Big Thing, the British public can be a part of that too.

“I can’t wait to see what lands on our plates this series.”

Last week’s first programme focused on the dinnertime category, with Stormzy’s personal chef, an event caterer and two sibling butchers coming up with ideas on ready meals, multicoloured burgers and an ‘unholy trinity’ of meats.

Tonight, it’s bakery week, and a father-and-daughter duo are hoping to bowl Julie over with their novelty-shaped bread, while a couple think edible raw cookie dough is the future.

Plus, there’s a father and son with a very flaky Jamaican pastry, a foraging obsessive who pitches a ‘whoopie pie’, and a baking enthusiast who brings in a unique filled brioche.

However, only one new bakery product will be chosen to be stocked in Aldi’s stores, changing the lives of the people behind it.

If you’re unsure of the effect being Aldi’s Next Big Thing can have, Laurie Fermor, co-founder of Freddie’s Farm, which gained a listing in series one for its Fruit Shapes, explains.

“Winning Aldi’s Next Big Thing has been absolutely life-changing for us as a company and as a family,” she says.

“It’s like winning the lottery for a small business.”

Stacey Solomon’s Renovation Rescue (Wednesday 10/04/24, Channel 4, 9pm)

Words by Sarah Morgan

They may create great shows for us to watch, but TV executives don’t always get everything right.

Take Stacey Solomon’s latest venture, for instance. It’s got a strong format and a wonderful presenter, but the title… Well, it’s a bit ‘meh’, as the kids might say.

It was originally meant to be called Bricking It which, quite frankly, is tonnes better, but maybe its American backers didn’t understand the phrase. Yes, while the production may have been made for British TV, the company behind it – Hello Sunshine – is run by Oscar-winning star Reese Witherspoon, no less.

The firm’s Executive Vice President, Sarah Lazenby, says of the project: “Anyone who follows Stacey online knows that when it comes to making DIY demos joyous, she has it nailed.

“Her genuine passion is both impressive and infectious, and we’re delighted to be partnering with her and Channel 4 to bring that invaluable knowledge to the nation at a time when we could all do with more skills that save money.”

In each episode, the former X Factor finalist meets folk whose hopes of turning their properties into the kind of homes they have always dreamed of have been dashed by unforeseen problems, including handymen and builders who have disappeared, leaving them out of pocket and living in largely empty shells.

Solomon wants to help them sort out these issues for themselves, by revealing a few simple tricks of the trade – from brick laying to basic plumbing, roof-tiling to mastering hacksaws – that may get these unfortunate souls back on an even keel. She hopes that in doing so, she will prove how satisfying picking up a power tool can be, while inspiring viewers to try such things for themselves. She’s also on hand to offer her own design tips to those in need.

“From an early age, my dad taught me DIY and the importance of fixing things yourself where you can,” explains the much-loved singer-turned-presenter and organisational guru. “I still find it so satisfying to build or repair around the house and it saves loads of money. I am beyond excited to work with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine on their first ever UK project. They are all about empowering women, and what could be more empowering than a power tool?!

“It’s a dream come true to share my DIY hacks with everyone at home.”

“Stacey has a natural talent for making a house a home,” adds Clemency Green, Channel 4’s Senior Commissioning Editor. “She is perfectly placed to show all of us that with a few clever tips we can all have a go at DIY and make our homes beautiful on a budget.”

With this and Sort Your Life Out over on BBC One, Solomon has pretty much cornered the market in helping viewers make their lives easier and more comfortable, and it’s all done with a smile on her face. With that in mind, who cares about the title – the content is, after all, king, and long may this Queen of domestic bliss reign.

Taskmaster (Thursday 11/04/10, Channel 4, 9pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

When Taskmaster first aired on Dave back in 2015, some viewers may have wondered if it would have a limited shelf-life.

Admittedly, the format was hugely entertaining, the Taskmaster himself, Greg Davies, was perfectly cast and his sidekick (and the show’s creator) Alex Horne had done an impressive job in dreaming up weird, wonderful and occasionally deceptively simple challenges for the contestant to have a go at.

But wasn’t there a danger that the show’s makers would eventually run out of ideas for tasks and comedians willing to sign up for an entire series?

Luckily, the answer to both those questions was no. Taskmaster returned a couple of weeks ago for its 17th series (with a few one-off Champion of Champions and New Year Specials dotted in there too) and is showing no signs of running out of steam.

And if the producers were ever struggling to fill out the line-up, it seems Alex might be the perfect contestant, as according to Greg, he’s a man who will do what he’s told.

Greg says: “I do think that one of Alex’s most endearing characteristics in life is that if you ask him to do something, he will do it. And that’s outside of the show as well. Especially after a drink, he really is compliant. I haven’t really taken advantage of it enough yet, but I think I made you eat a pat of butter once.

He adds: “We got told off in the Groucho Club because [comedian] Rosie Jones told him to go and get her a stuffed owl in a glass case from the bar so she could see it. Alex immediately stood up and went and got it, and then the staff all went mental.

“If you ever bump into Alex on a night out, you can get him to do stuff.”

Tonight though, Alex will be sticking to his more traditional role of giving orders – or at least, handing the contestants a piece of paper with a task on it and then, when they ask follow-up questions, reminding them that all the information is on the task.

The latest line-up consists of Steve Pemberton, Sophie Willan, John Robbins, Nick Mohammed and Joanne McNally, who in theory should have known what they are letting themselves in for.

However, Taskmaster has a way of showing unexpected sides to the nation’s comedians, and by this third episode, we should be starting to get a feel for who approaches the tasks with ruthless efficiency, who is the best at lateral thinking, and who is so incredibly impractical that they frustrate their fellow contestants on team tasks. (Unless of course it’s like the last series, which was one of the most charming in Taskmaster history, partly because no one seemed that bothered about winning.)

There are still some unanswered questions though which this episode should answer, including will Steve Pemberton’s no-vowels gamble pay off, and why is Joanne McNally sniffing Little Alex Horne’s beard?

Late Night Lycett (Friday 12/04/24, Channel 4, 10pm)

Words by Richard Jones

The late great Peter Ustinov once said: “Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.”

And there’s no doubt that when it is used correctly, humour can play a vital role in addressing important social issues.

Of all the comedians currently on the British circuit, Joe Lycett is arguably doing more to tackle political injustices than anyone else.

The artist formerly known as Hugo Boss is well known for taking on people of authority with his viral PR stunts, calling out politicians, taking on oil companies and pretending to shred £10,000 in protest of David Beckham’s work with World Cup host Qatar.

In 2020, Joe changed his name by deed poll to Hugo Boss, in protest of the fashion brand’s treatment of small businesses, while a couple of months ago, he looked into the mind-boggling quantities of untreated sewage that are discharged into our rivers and seas.

In a recent interview with the News Agents podcast, the comic and campaigner said comedy is going in the right direction.

“I think it’s just that we’ve got more interesting as an industry, and started doing more interesting things,” he said.

Although he is no ordinary comedian, the 35-year-old Brummie’s show Late Night Lycett is actually a chat show (albeit with a few twists), a tried-and-tested vehicle for many comics down the years .

The second series of the entertainment extravaganza begins tonight (just an hour after the conclusion of Travel Man), as Joe returns to his home town Birmingham.

In the first run, some of the biggest names in the showbiz world came to Digbeth to meet the host, with guests including Dame Joan Collins, Dame Joanna Lumley, Richard E Grant, Rob Delaney, Jonathan Ross, Judi Love, Alan Carr, Rosie Jones, Gemma Collins, Joel Dommett, Alison Hammond, Munroe Bergdof, David Harewood, Greg James and Daisy May Cooper.

We saw Natalie Cassidy and Paul Chuckle running riot in Joe’s local corner shop, a new national sweetheart was created in the form of production trainee Linda Biscuits, and controversial straight-talking newsreader Richard Yewtree challenged the woke agenda.

“The first series of Late Night Lycett was the most fun I’ve ever had making TV,” Joe said.

“From Paul Chuckle destroying my local corner shop to Katherine Ryan being trapped on a floating barge, the whole thing feels like a crazed fever dream.

“I can’t wait to go bigger and wilder in Series 2.”

He also tweeted: “I begged them to move it to London (Birmingham is SO grey and DULL) but they insisted it ticks a load of ‘regional boxes’ and will give them ‘a leg to stand on if a drunk culture sec writes a think piece about us being London-centric.’

Meanwhile, Steve Handley, Commissioning Editor for Entertainment at Channel 4 added: “I’m utterly thrilled we are returning to Digbeth and can’t wait to see the unpredictable mayhem Joe has planned to top the first series.

“Will Richard Yewtree return, or will it ‘finally have been proved’? Will Hardev finally remember which celeb is running his shop? Will Linda Biscuits behave? What will Joe do to top giving away his actual car? Anything can happen and I can’t wait to find out.”