TV Times top picks for today
What’s on telly tonight? Here the TV Times team of expert reviewers highlight the best shows on Friday 23rd March
Sport Relief, 7.00pm, BBC1 & BBC2
Davina McCall, Ore Oduba and Gary Lineker are among your hosts as the energetic charity extravaganza gets under way live from Salford. While the Clash of the Channels Boat Race and Celebrity Boxing will have us cheering along, there’s plenty of fun to be had, too, from a Strictly special with footballing greats, to John Bishop attempting to revive the mood of 1966 with the England football team. And Rob Brydon joins Jim Carter and Daniel Mays for a spot of synchronised swimming! Deserving causes at home and overseas will benefit from your donations, so please dig deep. Rating: *****
Gardeners’ World, times vary, BBC2
After years in the doldrums, the dahlia has become popular again. Not before time, reckons Monty Don, who praises its variety, long flowering season and adaptability. It even makes a great cut flower. At Longmeadow, Monty shows us how to get dahlias and other tender perennials under way for the summer, while Adam Frost heads to Dorset to meet a tropical-plant enthusiast with a garden full of exotic and unusual specimens. Rating: ****
Britain’s Favourite Food, 8.00pm, C4
The 1970s were the golden era of convenience foods, the decade when the likes of Angel Delight, Smash Instant Mash and Findus Crispy Pancakes revolutionised our dinner times – all sold to us by the power of television advertising. This nostalgic two-parter sees chef and Strictly star Simon Rimmer look back with rose-tinted glasses to the time when chicken Kievs were thought of as ‘exotic’ and the nation enjoyed a glass of Blue Nun or Piat d’Or on a Saturday night. There’s also a wistful glimpse of a few of our favourite ads from the era, including the classic Thunderbirds commercial for Fab ice lollies. Rating: ****
More previews tomorrow
