Telly Today: Comedy, investigations and Wonder Woman

March 8, 2018

ATV Today Editor Doug Lambert picks his telly highlights for Thursday March 8th.

One to Watch: Still Game, 9.30pm, BBC One

Still Game returns for another hilarious six-part series, following the adventures of lifelong friends Jack Jarvis and Victor McDade as they cope with everything modern life throws at them. In this first episode, Winston appeals to his friends for help as asbestos forces him out of his flat. However, with nobody keen to take him in, Winston stumbles on an alternative – and inspired – living arrangements of his own.

Isa’s birthday is on the horizon and she’s on a mission to find out who’s throwing her a surprise party. Navid tells her she’s impossible to surprise and no-one would dare to attempt it, but she is sceptical and starts to spy on the others, in hope of spotting signs of a secret party.

Later, Jack and Victor head to The Clansman and encounter a flustered Tam. To their dismay, they discover Boabby’s trendy ambitions for the pub, which mean their sort won’t be welcome anymore. With The Clansman regulars turfed out and Winston in need of a roof over his head, a new hangout is soon discovered – with perks for all the pensioner pals.

This hotly anticipated new series sees the welcome return of series favourites including Isa the gossip, one-legged Winston, tight-fisted Tam, Boabby the barman, Navid the shopkeeper, as well as last year’s toothy new sensation, Methadone Mick played by Scott Reid.

Rachel Nickell: The Untold Story, ITV, including STV and UTV, 9pm

Rachel Nickell: The Untold Story is the latest programme in ITV’s Crime and Punishment Season. During her 26 years working as a news reporter and presenter, Fiona Bruce has covered some of UK’s most shocking crimes, but the murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common in July 1992 is one that has stayed with her more than most.

This programme sees Fiona revisit the crime. Speaking to key figures involved in the case, she uncovers what went wrong in the original inquiry, how the case was solved and why the human impact of this crime lingers even now.In July 1992, the horror of a 23-year-old mother being savagely murdered in broad daylight within a popular London park, in front of her infant son, was one that appalled the nation. The case garnered huge coverage in the press and news media, placing enormous pressure on the police investigation that followed.

In the programme, Fiona meets key figures whose lives and careers have been affected by this controversial case including Colin Stagg, who was charged and acquitted of Rachel’s murder. Stagg talks about what it was like to be pursued by police for a brutal murder that he did not commit and how he has struggled, over the last 25 years, not to allow what happened on Wimbledon Common in 1992 to define him and his future. The production aims to take an in-depth look at an appalling and tragic case that has changed lives, ended careers, tarnished reputations and ultimately changed policing.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, E4, 9pm

As the fifth series of the stateside comedy about a group of New York City police detectives begins, Peralta and Diaz adjust to their new lives behind bars but are coping in very different ways.

Peralta bonds with his cellmate Caleb (guest star Tim Meadows), but is forced to join a prison gang led by notorious inmate Romero (guest star Lou Diamond Phillips) to gain his protection. In the women’s prison, Diaz puts her visitors, Captain Holt and Sergeant Jeffords, to the test by making them complete outrageous lists of chores for her.

Meanwhile, back at the precinct, Santiago and Boyle are doing everything they can to get their jailed colleagues exonerated.

Women Day, Sky Cinema, across today

Wonder Woman is part of the celebration of the greatest females in cinema, on this International Women’s Day.

The thrilling and spectacular superhero adventure comes to Sky Cinema in serious style, as Gal Gadot suits up for an origins story that overfloweth with screwball fun and throwback charm.

Gadot reprises her role as Diana Prince, although instead of palling around with Supes and the Caped Crusader she’s living peacefully on the hidden island of Themyscira. She and her tribe of Amazonian warrior women – including mum Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) and aunt Antiope (Robin Wright) – are oblivious to the Great War raging in the world of men, but all that changes when dashing US pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) comes crashing into their lives. Time to break out the Lasso of Truth…

That’s not all, though. Sky Cinema Drama is also getting in on the fun, celebrating International Women’s Day with the likes of Erin Brockovich, Hidden Figures and Andrea Arnold’s dizzying road-trip drama American Honey.

Crufts, Channel 4, 8pm

Clare Balding presents continued live coverage of Crufts 2018.

The judging this evening includes the Working and Pastoral groups, and there are highlights from the ever-popular Agility and Flyball competitions, with Agility, like TV legend Peter Purves, celebrating 40 years at Crufts this year. Plus, there’s lots more canine tales and guests.

Ladies First, Netflix, from today

Ladies First, tells the inspirational story of Deepika Kumari who, as a girl born on the roadside to abject poverty in rural India, went in search of food, stumbled upon archery, and within four years became the number one archer in the World.