Thank Heavens, "Race Across The World" is Back

Your Worth Watching briefing.

Hello,

Welcome to Worth Watching.

Hope you’re having a good Friday.

Apologies for the shorter emails of late. My Dad is unwell so I can’t work as much as I would like, but hope to get this back to weekly from now on.

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A lot of talk about the tipped line-up for Celebrity Traitors. The names have not yet been formally announced, but are rumoured to include Alan Carr, Stephen Fry, Clare Balding, Nick Mohammed, and Tom Daley.

It’s pretty A-list for a British reality show. A lot of it is down to the fact that how much a hit the main series was, with more than 10 million viewers tuning in (and more than 7 million watching on linear television for the series finale).

I think also part of it is down to the fact that, unlike other reality show formats, there’s a lot of trust in the fact that they are simply playing a game, rather than I’m A Celebrity or Celebrity Big Brother, which is all about us potentially seeing another side to them we don’t typically see.

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Heartstopper is to conclude with a film, rather than a fourth series. This news follows reporting by Deadline that said the ratings for the third series were down roughly 30% compared to the second, although did receive a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

At least it is having an ending, unlike other queer themed shows like Our Flag Means Death and The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself.

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ON TV IN THE NEXT WEEK

• Freddie (Disney+, today) – A new feature length documentary on Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff and the trauma he experienced from his Top Gear crash.

• BBC is to air a BBC News Special on the Funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday, with coverage hosted by Reeta Chakrabarti. Saturday Kitchen is on BBC Two.

• Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes (Disney+, Wednesday) – A new four part drama looking at the innocent murder of a Londoner by the Metropolitan Police officers in the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings.

• The Assembly (ITVX and ITVX, Saturday and Sunday) – The return of the show where autistic, neurodivergent and people with learning difficulties ask celebrities questions. The show was initially a pilot on the BBC.

• Genius Game (ITVX, Wednesday) – New gameshow starring David Tennant.

SHOW OF THE WEEK

Race Across The World (BBC One, Wednesdays 9pm) – The return of the much-loved series where teams of two navigate the world without using a phone or bank cards, all for the cost of the airfare. This time they are racing 14,000k across China and Nepal, before making it to the most southerly tip of India.

A reason why RATW is so good is the fact that it defies your expectations. You learn in the first episode that one of the couples are teenagers and another are a formerly married couple, only for them to both sets to come across as grounded and likeable people on here.

Then there’s the fact that you see territory hardly ever seen in any other travel or lifestyle programme. The show is made by Studio Lambert, behind both Gogglebox and the UK version of The Traitors. British television would be so much poorer at the moment without them.

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