TV Times tops picks for tonight
What’s on telly tonight? Here the TV Times team of expert reviewers highlight the best shows on New Year's Day
McMafia, 9.00pm, BBC1
Welcome to your new TV obsession! This compelling and lavish eight-part series kicks 2018 off in style, as the ever-brilliant James Norton [check out our chat with James about the series] plays Alex, an ethical banker living in London, doing everything he can to turn his back on his Russian family’s shady mafia past. But a series of shock events leaves him with no choice but to engage with a world he never wanted to acknowledge… With the global scale of The Night Manager, the intrigue of London Spy and hugely popular Mr Norton thrown in for good measure (we’re a long way from Grantchester!), this is an irresistible thrill. Continues tomorrow. Rating: *****
Mrs Brown’s Boys, 10.00pm, BBC1
Agnes turns crime-fighter for this hilarious New Year’s Day special, in which Mrs Brown joins the local neighbourhood watch scheme – with predictably disastrous (and violent) results! A new series of the chat show All Round to Mrs Brown’s is on its way and is due to hit our screens later in 2018. Rating: ****
The Great Festive Bake Off, 7.40pm, C4
Judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith and hosts Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig return to the tent once more for a Winter Wonderland-themed edition. Joining them are 2016 standouts Benjamina Ebuehi and Rav Bansal, baking alongside Rob Billington and Sandy Docherty in three tasty challenges. Rating: ****
Grandpa’s Great Escape, 6.55pm, BBC1
The beautiful bond between a boy and his grandad is at the heart of this lovely adaptation of David Walliams’s novel. Kindly but confused Grandpa, played delightfully by Sir Tom Courtenay, still thinks he’s living in World War Two when he was a spitfire pilot and his grandson Jack (a promising turn from young Kit Connor) is the only person who can connect with him. David himself appears as Jack’s dad, who reluctantly sends Grandpa to a creepy old people’s home called Twilight Towers, but when Grandpa and Jack realise that the home’s shifty manageress Miss Dandy (played by Jennifer Saunders) is up to no good, they plot a daring escape… Rating: *****
More previews tomorrow
