Friday's TV tips
Vin Diesel and Paul Walker lead a reunion of returning all-stars from every chapter of the explosive franchise built on speed in Fast Five.
In this instalment, additional returning favourites Jordana Brewster, Chris Ludacris Bridges, and Tyrese Gibson, assemble for a high-stakes race that places an unlikely alliance of cops and racers in from Rio de Janeiro.
In Brazil they must defeat a corrupt businessman who wants them all dead. Dwayne Johnson joins the cast as the dogged federal agent whose strike team tears through South America in hot pursuit, but soon has a difficult time determining the good men from the bad.
Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jordana Brewster, TyreseGibson
Spring actually sprung a couple of weeks ago, but rather than broadcasting the ever-popular nature programme then, the Beeb chose to hold on until Good Friday - perhaps the powers that be felt more people would be in the mood for telly viewing having had a day off work.
Anyway, whatever the reason, it makes a welcome return tonight, and hopefully there will be plenty to see. After all, this is the season of rebirth, when things begin to look a little more colourful as flowers start to poke their heads through the earth.
The breeding season is well under way too, so we can expect to see some cute-as-a-button newborn creatures making their debut.
As ever, Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan host, and they will be looking for eggs at one of the UK’s largest seabird colonies while keeping an eye on reports from Suffolk and the Inner Hebrides by Martin Hughes-Games and Simon King.
Forget I’m a Celebrity – if you really want to see famous folk being pushed to their limits, this is the show to watch.
Each week, Bear Grylls has set a group of celebs incredibly difficult challenges, often leaving them exhausted and at their wit’s end. It’s certainly a far cry from the image of West End parties and living in the lap of luxury that we tend to picture them enjoying.
Only three still remain in the competition, and the hardiest of them will be crowned the winner tonight.
But first, Bear puts them through their paces again. Here they must work alone for the first time as they abseil down a 300ft waterfall, swim in the lake below and provide their own firewood, shelter and food.
It would be a tricky task for even the most experienced survivalist, so it should be interesting to see how the celebs get on.
Bank Holidays just wouldn’t be the same without a Carry On film. But this Easter, ITV3 isn’t just content to wheel out Carry On Camping for the umpteenth time – instead, they are bringing us a brand new documentary looking back at the iconic franchise.
Over the course of three episodes, it will bring us rare behind-the-scenes footage and on-set photos, interviews with the surviving stars, and trips to some of the films’ locations.
It will also look at what the evolution of Carry On tells us about changing tastes and attitudes, in what the documentary’s narrator Martin Clunes describes as "a weird, saucy social history".
But the first episode goes back to Pinewood Studios to explore the origins of the franchise, looking at how producer Peter Rogers and director Gerald Thomas found a hit formula almost by accident.
Shirley Eaton, Liz Fraser, Rosalind Knight, Bernard Cribbins and Juliet Mills are among those sharing their memories.
It’s time to make your mind up – will you be watching this programme or not?
The Eurovision Song Contest is, of course, a competition that divides viewers - people tend to either love or hate it, while the songs are very rarely classics, Abba’s Waterloo and, at a push, Sandie Shaw’s Puppet on a String being the exceptions to that rule.
Who will win when the contest takes place in Austria this year is anybody’s guess, but it should be a real humdinger of a show, and not just because Australia has been allowed to join the fun – Eurovision is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2015, so we can expect all sorts of shenanigans on the night.
Before that, the Hammersmith Apollo hosts this shindig, presented by Graham Norton and Sweden’s Petra Mede. It features performances from the great and good of Eurovision’s past, including reigning champion Conchita Wurst, Austria’s first victor since 1966.
Others on the bill include Finland’s hard-rockers Lordi, Israel’s Dana International, Brotherhood of Man and, of course, our own Johnny Logan, the only person to have won three times, who performs a medley of his hits.
Always strike while the iron is hot – and one person who seems to live by that old adage is Clare Balding.
Before the London Olympics of 2012, she was just another likeable TV presenter, but thanks to her sterling work on the show, she became a British national treasure almost overnight, and suddenly, she was in demand everywhere.
Balding has popped up with shows for a variety of broadcasters, as well as presenting a weekly programme for BBC Radio 2. But, until now, she hasn’t had the chance to front her own TV programme, which is something of a surprise for somebody so popular.
That all changes this evening with the debut of The Clare Balding Show, which takes her back to her roots as a sports presenter.
Each week will see her chat to some of the biggest sporting names around, and she kicks it off by welcoming diver Tom Daley and cricketer Charlotte Edwards into the studio.
The Second World War is raging, but the tide is turning increasingly in favour of the Allies, and a number of senior German officers believe Adolf Hitler must be removed from power and the conflict brought to an end.
Recruited into this secret group is Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a young and well-respected war hero who has grown disillusioned with Hitler and the insidious reach of the SS.
The charismatic soldier is pushed to the forefront of the plan to assassinate Hitler, but you don’t need a historian to tell you that his mission doesn’t go quite to plan.
Tom Cruise is solid in the lead, though a little more of his usual charm wouldn’t have gone amiss as he seems to be playing it a little low-key as the historically charismatic Stauffenberg.
English thespians Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson easily convince as high-ranking German officers.
Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Izzard
Twelve-year-old Meena strikes up an unlikely friendship with blonde teenage tearaway Anita. Despite their ethnic and social differences, the girls manage to support each other through difficult times while their families cope with life’s problems.
Based on the novel by Meera Syal, this comedy drama is a little gem, beautifully made by a talented cast. It really is a film with something for everyone.
Chandeep Uppal, Anna Brewster, Max Beesley, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kathy Burke, Lynn Redgrave, Ayesha Dharker.
Based on Elmore Leonard’s novel Rum Punch, Quentin Tarantino’s gritty crime drama centres on the eponymous air hostess and small-time crook, who’s arrested and pressured into an entrapment scam.
What the hapless police don’t know is she intends to give them the runaround and frame her gun-smuggling boss in the process.
The star-studded cast are on top form; Pam Grier is a sight to behold in the title role, and it’s great to see Robert Forster given the high-profile role of Max Cherry after years in the acting wilderness.
Pam Grier, Robert Forster, Robert De Niro, Samuel L Jackson, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton
