Friday, 20 October 2017

Must see TV - Week beginning 21/10/2017 - The Return of the Walking Dead


Last week there was no ’Must see’ TV recommendations due to the fact there was little due to be televised that interested me. So the few shows I thought I would review I didn’t but still there was enough to interest me and keep this couch potato happy.

The big treat of the week is the return of the Walking Dead on Monday so Monday night is sorted for me but with a bit of a change. Since the crack down on iffy internet streaming sites, they are hard to find and watch content before I would watch Walking Dead before it was screen on Fox. Now I will have to wait until the 9pm broadcast like everyone else.

Saturday – BBC1 – Gunpowder 9:15 *** New series***

Following the death of Elizabeth I, King James of Scotland claims the English throne, and the country goes to war with Catholic Spain. As a result, English Catholics are persecuted driven into hiding, but after witnessing the brutal means by which the Crown intends to punish his people for practicing their faith, recusant Catholic Robert Catesby devises a treasonous plot to assassinate King James.

However, he must first enlist the aid of stalwart allies, and heads to Brussels to seek the help of a hardened war veteran named Guy Fawkes. Three-part historical drama, starring Kit Harington as Catesby - his own ancestor - alongside Liv Tyler, Mark Gatiss, Derek Riddell, and Tom Cullen.

Sunday – BBC2 - Robot Wars 8pm ***New series***

Its back on our TV screen and it brings the inner child out to play with dreams of remote control madness. As a kid I always wanted to be General Jumbo he who controlled a remote control army. This is the next best thing.

Dara O Briain and Angela Scanlon present a new format for the contest. Among the new twists are a new hazard that fills the arena with fog, Robot Redemption rounds, in which losing teams have a chance to get back into the contest, and the show's biggest ever battle, the Ten Robot Rumble, in which 10 teams battle to the death with no time limit, this I like a lot.

Monday – History Channel - Ice Road Truckers 8pm ***New series***

The drivers are ready for what is forecast to be a cold and busy winter, but the tragic passing of Darrell Ward leaves them wondering who can take his place. What about his partnership with Lisa Kelly.

Alex Debogorski is pulling a trailer packed with snowmobiles destined for the tiny town of Aklavik in the Northwest Territories and has to cross the frozen delta of the Mackenzie River. In Manitoba, Rick Yemm stops his wagon on a blind corner to take a toilet break without leaving Hugh Rowland much room to squeeze by, putting them both in severe danger. You won’t have to wait a week for the next episode this series will run night.

Monday – Fox Channel – The Walking Dead 9pm ***New series***

The post-apocalyptic drama returns, with lots to answer from its last airing as Rick's group bands together with Maggie's Hilltop survivors and the residents of Ezekiel's Kingdom to take the fight to Negan.

Its Season 8 premiere is also its 100th episode, and what I noticed about the end of the last series was the lack of walkers as the battle now turned to the fight between two groups of survivors with the walkers turning more into props. With little in the way of major spoilers, the fight between Rick and Negan could be all consuming. Although of course, the show could shift back at any time.

Tuesday – Channel 4 - The End of the F***king World 10:20pm ***New series***

The End of the F***king World invites viewers into the dark and confusing lives of teen outsiders James (Alex Lawther) and Alyssa (Jessica Barden) as they embark on a road trip to find Alyssa’s father, who left home when she was a child.

James, 17, is pretty sure he’s a psychopath – emotionally detached, cold and disdainful, he’s decided he’s ready to graduate from killing animals. He thinks it might be interesting to kill something bigger…a human. And he’s got the perfect person in mind…

Alyssa, also 17, is new in school – cool and moody, she’s existential angst made flesh. But despite being popular at school, she still feels like she doesn’t belong. Spotting James one day at school, however, she thinks she may have found a soulmate…

When things come to a head at home between Alyssa, her mother and stepdad, she leaves and persuades James to join her in search of her real father. And so begins a journey of discovery that becomes progressively ominous as James’s urge to act on his sociopathic and violent inclinations increase while Alyssa, blinded by young love, remains wilfully ignorant of the consequences that lie at the end of the road. One night, however, the pair find themselves caught up in events that lead them down an ever more menacing and surreal path. First Episode will premiere on Channel 4 with the entire box set going onto All4 at the same time.

Wednesday – Sky One - Bounty Hunters 10pm ***New series***

New action/comedy starring Jack Whitehall & Rosie Perez.
When his antique dealer dad winds up in hospital following a mysterious accident, book-smart Barnaby Walker (Jack Whitehall) takes it upon himself to save the family’s cash-strapped business.

What could possibly go wrong? Well, a dodgy deal masterminded by his dad (Robert Lindsay) leaves Barnaby £50,000 down and lumbered with a looted treasure. He’s determined to reclaim his cash, but to do so he needs help. Big time.

Enter Nina Morales, a tough New Yorker who Barnaby’s sister (Charity Wakefield) met while travelling. Nina and Barnaby couldn’t be more different. She’s a gun-toting, Brooklyn bounty hunter, while he drives a tiny G-Wiz car and lives in Wimbledon. She’s wanted by a dangerous Mexican drug cartel while he’s doing a PhD in Flemish textiles.

Wednesday – Channel 4 – Man Down 10pm ***New series***

This is series 4 for Greg Davies playing Dan a childish idiot trapped in an adult's life, helped along by his uniquely dysfunctional best friends, Jo (Conaty) and Brian (Wozniak).

Walking disaster area Dan (Greg Davies) who also wrote this comedy has quit his job as a teacher to try another more earthy profession. He’s also on an increasingly desperate hunt to find a new home for his soon to be family. Can he finally grow up to become the man he hopes to be?

Thursday - Comedy Central - Takeshi's Castle ***New series***

I remember back in the early days of Sky TV every Sunday morning watching Takeshi’s Castle and the crazy Japanese contestant on this nutty game show. One of my favourite games was the doors one where contestants have to find the right door to safety while evading monsters chasing them.

Revival of the Japanese game show is true to the original in which contestants take on obstacle courses as they attempt to storm the castle. In the original, Craig Charles (Red Dwarf fame) gave an innuendo-filled voiceover in this new series its Jonathan Ross I hope he is as good.

Thursday – Discovery Channel – Alaskan Bush People 9pm ***New series***

A family living off the grid in Alaska building their own community of Brownstown. It might not seem easy but in the end is it worth it! There has been much decision surrounding the series and how real it is.

In the Season 7 premiere, the displaced Browns struggle through a devastating transition, while Ami undergoes testing due to recent health concerns. Later, Brownstown is under the care of a lone protector, as Noah braves the dangers of the wilderness to defend the homestead. There is reported to be plenty of changes and upheaval with in the brown family in this series.

Thursday – Channel 5 - Borderline 11:05pm ***New series***

Borderline is set at a border control department of a fictional Northend Airport, showed that mockumentary remains very funny when done well.

Borderline owed a lot to The Office. The ensemble cast of border agents and baggage handlers contained a put-upon boss, a few grotesques for laughs, and a couple of everyman/women for the eye-rolling reaction shots. Everyone hated his or her job. This led to some good jokes about immigration, almost all of which nestled on the borderline of the title somewhere between near the knuckle and over the top.

Friday – Horror Channel - The Hills Have Eyes II 12:40pm ***Film***

A team of trainees of the National Guard brings supply to the New Mexico Desert for a group of soldiers and scientists that are installing a monitoring system in Sector 16. They do not find anybody in the camp, and they receive a blurred distress signal from the hills. Their sergeant gathers a rescue team, and they are attacked and trapped by deformed cannibals, having to fight to survive.

Little do they know the mutant cannibals lurk in them there hills, have a master plan to kill the men and keep the women as breeders to ensure survival.

No comments:

Post a Comment