TV tonight: Anna Torv returns in classy drama The Newsreader


The Newsreader

9pm, BBC Two

Anna Torv is back with the second season of this classy Australian newsroom drama, and it’s now 1987 – with the country preparing for a general election. News hosts Helen (Torv) and Dale (Sam Reid) – partners both on and off screen – are under pressure what with having to fill six hours of uninterrupted air time on election night, an ordeal that’s intensified by an old face making a comeback on a rival network. Hollie Richardson

Stacey Dooley: Inside the Undertakers

9pm, BBC One

Dooley thinks death is “completely terrifying”. So, naturally, she has decided to face the fear head on by spending time at a family-run Nottingham undertakers. Will seeing what happens to us when we die, and thinking about her own funeral, help her come to terms with the inevitable? HR

Taskmaster

9pm, Channel 4

On we go with series 16 of a comedy challenge show that apparently doesn’t know how to do a bad episode. This bunch of contestants have a lovely air of mischief about them. Highlights include Sue Perkins tossing her head like a lion, and mass confusion caused by a secret task and a special hat. Jack Seale

Cobra: Rebellion

9pm, Sky Max

Prime Minister Robert Sutherland (Robert Carlyle, left) with Anna Marshall (Victoria Hamilton) in Cobra: Rebellion

A half-inch “smart mortar” presents a dire crisis for PM Robert Sutherland (Robert Carlyle) as the political thriller continues. Led by a traumatised Dan Goddard (Anthony Flanagan), some rather miffed ex-soldiers are threatening to launch an attack if their ransom demands aren’t met – but while Cobra debates, Bob stands firm … until a warning shot is fired. Time is running out. Ali Catterall

Hullraisers

10pm, Channel 4

Lucy Beaumont, Caroline Moran and Anne-Marie O’Connor’s comedy about three thirtysomething women in Hull returns – and they’re navigating issues such as miscarriage, menopause and failure with humour and heart. Toni is obsessed with her mother-in-law’s new fella, Rana is scared of being an invisible woman and Paula won’t stop doing DIY. HR

Brassic

10pm, Sky Max

Typically for a show that is a lot less crass than it might superficially seem, this episode’s focus on lovable idiot Cardi involves him trying to steal a rabbit from a golf club raffle – and this somehow incorporates a lacerating analysis of passive Cardi’s marriage to super-assertive Carol. When the emotion peaks, she breaks into song. It works! JS


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