TV guide: 12 of the best new shows to watch

Taskmaster: Champion of Champions 2024

Sunday, Channel 4, 9pm

You think Gladiators is tough? Wait till you take on the surreal challenges set by taskmaster Greg Davies and his wingman Little Alex Horne. I’d like to see the Gladiators bend the laws of physics or make sense of the absurd. In this one-off special, former Taskmaster champions Dara Ó Briain, Morgana Robinson, Sarah Kendall and Sophie Duker will face off for the coveted Champion of Champions title and the prize of a gorgeous golden Greg. They will have to call on their hat-throwing and hand-clapping skills to complete these tasks, but beware: the prize could be snatched away by late contender Kiell Smith-Bynoe.

Big Boys

Sunday, Channel 4, 10pm

Dylan Llewellyn and Jon Pointing in Bug Boys

Dylan Llewellyn and Jon Pointing are back as university students on the pull in the second series of the comedy-drama created by Jack Rooke and loosely based on his own experiences of college life in the 2010s. Jack (Llewellyn) and Danny (Pointing) are in their sophomore year at Brent Univeristy, and Jack is slowly coming out of the closet and getting down to exploring his sexuality. But he’s still coming to terms with the death of his dad, and when the family gather for what would have been his dad’s 60th birthday, old ghosts threaten to resurface. We’re getting two episodes – The Boys Are Back in Town and Strictly Cum Dumping – back to back.

True Detective: Night Country

Monday, Sky Max and Now, 9pm

Jodie Foster and Kali Reis take the baton for the fourth iteration of the popular crime series, playing small-town detectives in Alaska who stumble on something big. When eight researchers mysteriously disappear from their facility, Liz Danvers (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis) must get past their mutual dislike and learn to work together to avoid dying. The snowy Alaskan landscapes will put you in mind of Fargo, and Foster’s steely presence could have echoes of Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs. Fiona Shaw and Christopher Eccleston are among the cast.

The Last Priests in Ireland

Monday, RTÉ1, 9.35pm

As Fr Dougal Maguire, Ardal O’Hanlon gently took the mickey out of the priesthood, but in this documentary the actor takes a serious look at the decline of the priesthood in Ireland, as scandals have rocked the church, vocations have fallen away and increasing secularisation has seen the role of priests in Irish life diminish. O’Hanlon was raised a devout Catholic, and here he looks at both the positive and negative influence the church has had on Irish society, and wonders if something may be lost if priests become an extinct species. Could there still be a role for priests in Ireland’s bright new future, and will we still need them to be on hand for the big life events of “hatching, matching and dispatching”?

Tuesday, UTV, 9pm

The new year opens with war raging in Gaza, continued Russian assault on Ukraine and the possibility of Donald Trump returning to the White House in November. As the US heads into a fraught election year, award-winning news correspondent Robert Moore gauges the mood stateside as polls show Trump widening his lead against Joe Biden in as the country prepares for what is increasingly looking like a presidential election rematch between the two. Moore and his camera crew were there when the Trump-supporting mob stormed the Capitol in January 2021, and he knows what’s at stake in this upcoming battle for democracy itself.

The Last Nuns in Ireland

Tuesday, RTÉ1, 10.15pm

Following Ardal O’Hanlon’s exploration of the Irish priesthood in The Last Priests in Ireland, Dearbhail McDonald takes herself to a convent to find out how nuns have shaped Irish life, and looks at the roles women have played in a church that excludes them from the priesthood and its upper echelons. McDonald, like many Irish women, was convent-educated, and felt the strong presence of nuns in her life growing up. But revelations about mother and baby homes and institutionalised abuse have changed Irish people’s view of the religious sisters, and with nuns now having an average age of 80, and few young novices taking up vocations, they are seen as a dying breed. But will we miss them when they’re gone?

Neven’s Portuguese Food Trails

Wednesday, RTÉ1, 8pm

Chef Neven Maguire last visited Portugal in 2022 as part of his popular Food Trails series, and he’s delighted to be making a return trip to the sunny Iberian land for this latest series. He’s got an interesting itinerary planned for this seven-part series, including a cable car trip to a tropical fruit farm, a tasting session at a distillery run by steam power and a visit to a banana museum. He’ll also do some cooking with some of the chefs he meets along the way. Episode one brings him to the historic northern city of Porto, where he climbs the famous Clérigos Tower, stops in for French toast and port at a 100-year-old cafe and learns why Portuguese Christmas cake is eaten all year round.

Tithe Cois Uisce

Wednesday, TG4, 8.30pm

Presenter Síle Nic Chonaonaigh meets people who like to be beside the seaside – or the lakes and rivers – in this new series focusing on how people are influenced and inspired by their proximity to water. In the first episode she meets Galway artist Donnacha Quilty, who paints vivid landscapes of Galway Bay and Connemara. She also meets masseuse Veronica Lydon at her coastal wellness retreat in Letterard, Co Galway, then drops in to Tracey’s Farmhouse Kitchen in Newtownards, Co Down, where paddleboarding is also on the agenda.

Dragons’ Den

Thursday, BBC1, 8pm

Another batch of entrepreneurs are brought before the dragons – Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones. Touker Suleyman, Sara Davies and Steven Bartlett – to pitch their business ideas and hopefully bag a big cash investment in their project. Among this week’s hopefuls is a former professional footballer who is hoping to score with his sporting memorabilia business. But he’s got to impress another former professional footballer – special guest dragon Gary Neville. Also laying out their wares are a Welsh husband and wife who reckon they’ve found the optimal way to watch movies, and a guy who reckons his natural drink will oust coffee as the world’s most popular beverage.

Nuclear Armageddon: How Close Are We?

Thursday, BBC2, 9pm

As we lurch in to a new year of rising global conflict and increasing threats to democracy, it’s time to really scare ourselves and dare to peek at the Doomsday Clock and see how close the world has got to midnight – zero hour as far as the human race is concerned. Jane Corbin conducts this nerve-rattling investigation into the proliferation of nuclear weapons around the globe, and the growing power of those willing to deploy them. Corbin visits the nuclear lab at Los Alamos, the site of Oppenheimer’s Manhattan Project, and looks at the UK’s nuclear deterrent strategy in a world where global agreements and safeguards are starting to crumble.

The Traitors

Friday, BBC1, 9pm

Nothing like a bit of betrayal to get you in the mood for the weekend, and there’s treachery aplenty in store as the second series of the reality show approaches its climax. Things are getting rather fraught at the cabin, and the dwindling band of contestants are in a race against the clock to unmask the traitors and survive long enough to bag the £8,000 prize. As the remaining group gathers for breakfast, they’re served up with the news that there’s been another murder, and the stakes are notched up even higher. Claudia Winkleman hosts.

I Literally Just Told You

Friday, Channel 4, 10pm

Usually in quizshows you have to recall stuff that has been stored in your brain for ages. But in this quizshow, hosted by Jimmy Carr, contestants have to remember everything that’s just happened in the last few minutes – not as easy as it sounds. As the show progresses, the contestants will have to pay close attention as freshly written questions are fired at them – and their knowledge of famous people, capital cities and historic events will be of no use to them. Whoever is best at keeping track of what’s been said during the show is in with a chance to win £25,000.