What to watch on TV tonight: Taskmaster returns, while Jessica Ennis-Hill discovers her ancestry in Who Do You Think You Are

By Susan Brett | Thu Sep 12 2024

Jack Dee and Rosie Jones are among the new faces trying to impress the Taskmaster tonight, as Jessica Ennis-Hill travels to Jamaica in a search for clues as to her heritage

Credit: BBC Studios

Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby

BBC Two, 8pm

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti are back with a new series about the world’s most remarkable hotels. The Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland in China took 12 years to build, costing 200 million pounds. It is the world’s first “earthscraper” hotel - meaning it is built downwards into a quarry, rather than upwards like a skyscraper. Building the hotel was such a unique experience that 41 new engineering methods were patented during the process. The hotel also houses 13 giant tanks of fish, which require 40kg of food a day and a team of nine people to feed them.

Credit: BBC/Wall to Wall/Stephen Perry

Who Do You Think You Are

BBC One, 9pm

Olympic Gold Medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill is the latest celebrity to get the lowdown on their unique ancestry. The athlete heads to her home city of Sheffield to start her search for answers, where she learns about a decades-missing family member. Exploring her paternal side, Ennis-Hill travels to Jamaica, where dad Vinnie was born, to reconnect with family there. Her visit is a fruitful one, as she traces her family back six generations from enslavement to land ownership.

Credit: Channel 4

Taskmaster

Channel 4, 9pm

The mammoth comedy hit returns with five new contestants, Andy Zaltzman, Babátúndé Aléshé, Emma Sidi, Jack Dee and Rosie Jones. As usual, these unwitting comedians have a big job on their hands: impress the Taskmaster (otherwise known as Greg Davies). In episode one, they attempt to find a seal, cause mayhem in a theme park and feed Greg’s loyal assistant Alex Horne a bowl of bubblegum.

Unbelievable Moments Caught on Camera

ITV1, 9pm

The programme showcasing incredible real-life footage taken by members of the public returns for an eighth series. In episode one, we see extraordinary video of a barber saving a man from a burning car in Las Vegas, a family fleeing a sinking ship in Greece, and a kayaker stuck in a waterfall in Mexico. Cycling champion Gee Atherton also explains a harrowing accident in Wales in a special guest appearance.

Credit: Channel 5

Yorkshire Great and Small with Dan and Helen

Channel 5, 8pm

Grassington, which doubles as the fictional Darrowby from Channel 5’s All Creatures Great and Small, is one of several hidden Yorkshire gems visited by Dan Walker and Helen Skelton in this brand new series. The pair's first adventure begins in Malham, where they explore Malham Cove, which formed during the last Ice Age. They next visit the Ribblehead Viaduct, which first opened in 1875. Ingleborough, Appletreewick and the River Wharf are also on the agenda.

Credit: Netflix

Emily in Paris Part 2

Netflix

Forget Paris, as part two of the Netflix hit drama drops, Emily is jet setting, with trips to the Alps and Rome on her to-do list. While the end of part one saw Emily happily together with Gabriel, could a dreamy Italian man rock the boat? In what's sure to be an awkward conversation, Camille still hasn't told Gabriel that she was never actually pregnant with his baby. Elsewhere, Mindy is prepping for Eurovision and Sylvie faces the fallout from speaking out about her abusive former boss Louis de Leon.

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