TV tonight: our highlights for Thursday 2nd April

Gordon, Gino and Fred: American Road Trip

Gordon, Gino and Fred: American Road Trip is just one of the gems on today...

Gordon, Gino and Fred are back for more cooking and chaos, this time in the US, new comedy Maxxx debuts on E4, and we're learning How To Beat Fat on C4. Here’s what you shouldn’t miss on TV tonight. 

  • Our hand-selected recommendations for what's on TV tonight include five TV shows, a film and the latest trending need-to-binge-on-now box set 
  • For more information about what’s on TV tonight see our TV Guide 

What's on TV tonight 

Our expert TV journalists have picked the best things on TV tonight... 

Best TV shows on TV tonight

Maxxx, 9.30pm, E4/All4

Maxxx

'Do you know who I am?'

O-T Fagbenle is swapping the dystopian future of The Handmaid’s Tale for the trappings of the music biz to star as a washed-up singer in this new comedy, which he also wrote. He plays Maxxx, a former boyband idol trying to get his career back and win over his old flame (supermodel Jourdan Dunn) in a cringe-inducing peek behind the pop world’s curtain at the drugs, sex and narcissism of those within. 

Rating: ★★★★ SMA

Gordon, Gino and Fred: American Road Trip, 9pm, ITV

Gordon, Gino and Fred: American Road Trip

The boys enjoy tequila and wrestling, though not at the same time

In a world where flights are grounded and non-essential travelling off the cards, Gordon Ramsay, Gino D’Acampo and Fred ‘First Dates’ Sirieix’s new four-part series set in North America, is a most welcome bit of escapism. Tonight the lads, clearly unsupervised by loved ones, egg each other on in Mexico. There is tequila tasting, competitive chilli eating, and a quest to find ‘The Best Breakfast in the World’, which, quite frankly, is needed after their tequila exploits. Also on the travel table tonight is the birthplace of the Caesar Salad, a dangerous desert buggy race and, for the finisher, Mexican wrestling! 

Rating: ★★★ ER

How to Beat… Fat, 10pm, C4

How To Beat… Fat

Did anyone say diet?

A recent study has suggested that the average Brit will start and give up 189 diets in their lifetime. So forget the word ‘diet’, maybe ‘making lifestyle changes’ is a better way of losing weight. Kate Quilton and Dr Javid Abdelmoneim test this idea on 10 volunteers, who have all tried and failed the dreaded D word, over six weeks. Will the hopefuls succeed this time? And is losing weight easier when done in a team? Apparently men think so… 

Rating: ★★★ LP

Mark Kermode: Secrets of Cinema, 9pm, BBC4

Mark Kermode: Secrets of Cinema

Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in North By Northwest

In the final part of this short series, Mark Kermode looks at the spy genre in cinema – from tense noir-influenced movies like Pick Up on South Street to the often lighthearted Bond films. (‘You expect me to talk?’ ‘No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die’.) In between are ticking time bombs, spy gadgets, double agents and accidental heroes such as Roger Thornhill in North by Northwest or Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps. You might think that picking apart these films would render them dull, but far from it – as soon as this programme finishes we suspect you’ll want to watch The Ipcress File, Dr No or The Manchurian Candidate… 

Rating: ★★★★★ JP

Secrets of Your Supermarket Food, 8pm, Channel 5

Secrets of Your Supermarket Food

Give peas a chance

We’ve always been told that fresh food is best, but could some of our five-a-day fruit and veg be more nutritious, tastier and cheaper out of the freezer? That’s one of the questions asked by Sian and Stefan this week. We also follow the journey of the humble pea from field to freezer (surely a pitch for a new Pixar film!).

Rating: ★★★ LP

Best box set to watch 

Line of Duty, Series 1-5, iPlayer

Lennie James, Craig Parkinson, Neil Morrissey

Series one, starring Lennie James, got LoD off to a blazing start

After the Sport Relief spoof, it’s a good time to return to the 'real' work of police anti-corruption unit AC-12, led by Superintendent Hastings (Adrian Dunbar). The deep-rooted links to organised crime are apparent from the first series with Lennie James.

Best film to watch on TV tonight

Atomic Blonde, 9pm, Film4

Atomic Blonde

Charlize Theron stars as an MI6 agent

MI6 agent Charlize Theron is in Berlin before the fall of the wall in 1989, hunting for a missing list of spies, but her mission is fiendishly tangled and she can trust no one. Not self-serving MI6 station chief James McAvoy, French spy Sofia Boutella, or Stasi defector Eddie Marsan. A terrific thriller with fantastic, bone-crunching action scenes, and a remarkable Theron – you’ll really believe she can take out a roomful of opponents with just a hose...

If you watch just one thing on TV tonight… 

Don't miss Gordon, Gino and Fred in Mexico on TV tonight – ay caramba!

Not found anything you want to watch on TV tonight? Check out our TV Guide. 

Happy viewing!