TV Weekly: From Josh Widdicombe and Nish Kumar to Andi Oliver

Telly picks for the coming week…

Josh Widdicombe and Nish Kumar are about to leap back into the weird and wonderful world of local news journalism with Hold the Front Page, as the comedy returns for a second run. And this time, the boys are determined to do a lot better than they did before.

In series two, Josh and Nish will embark on the next leg of their investigative journey around Britain; delving into local mysteries, taking part in unusual events, cover the burning issues of the day and perhaps enlist a celebrity or two to help them out along the way. With very little journalistic experience, and not the best track-record from last series, will they succeed in their quest for a stand-out story to make the front page?

In the first episode of the new series, Josh and Nish head to the Isle of Wight, working for the County Press on the busiest weekend of the year – Cowes Week. Lucy Morgan and Lori Little have been co-editors for just 5 weeks, and they are enlisting Josh and Nish to fill the hole in their social media coverage. There is fierce competition to get the story online first, so the pressure is on. The boys develop a bitter rivalry with a fellow Isle of Wight journalist, meet Princess Anne, Anneka Rice and some controversial nudists, make a splash at a poo museum and get lost at sea in one of the biggest sailing races in the world.

Sky Max, 9pm on Wednesday, April 24th

Instagram’s Worst Con Artist tells the inside story of Belle Gibson, the 21-year-old social influencer who duped millions of followers by claiming she cured her terminal cancer through wellness and healthy eating. Her miraculous story brought her fame and money, with a successful app with Apple, a book deal with Penguin and countless television appearances. But when journalists investigated, they discovered the shocking truth: none of her story was true – she never had the cancer.

She misled her legion of followers – and for some, there were devastating consequences. With access to family and friends who speak on the record for the first time, this series discovers the truth about Belle Gibson. Was she a manipulative, compulsive liar, or a damaged young woman?

Using social media posts and Belle’s own voice from recordings she made, the film tells the story of how Belle’s rise to fame began. She said she had a malignant brain tumour and had six weeks to live but had given up her chemotherapy treatment after it made her sick and instead decided to adopt a wellness and natural living lifestyle. Belle is heard describing how she started to reach out and tap into a community of people who felt ‘uninspired’ and like they wanted to be doing more to help themselves. She started her app ‘The Whole Pantry’, offering recipes and life-style tips and it became an overnight success.

Belle’s followers describe how they found her profile online and were stunned by how well she looked and amazed that she was curing her cancer with her healthy living. Belle’s friends tell the series that she would host lavish charity fundraisers whilst looking amazing and her success meant she was travelling the world in first class and living in a luxury home.

Journalists describe how Belle’s fame and followers grew as she raised more for charity and helped more people. Soon she was mainstream and offered a book deal for a cookbook. Belle is seen on television interviews talking about her business and cancer battle. There are images of her wearing an Apple watch as the company announced plans to pre-load their products with her app and she is seen accepting awards for her work.

However, one of her closest friends, Chanelle McAuliffe, describes how she started to get suspicious when she witnessed Belle have a ‘seizure’ which she then recovered from very quickly when someone suggested calling an ambulance. Shortly after this, Belle made a post letting all her followers know that she had been diagnosed with a third and fourth cancer. Her friends, followers and journalists recall seeing the post and how devastated they were at the news.

Chanelle talks to the film about the moment she and another friend drove to Belle’s house and confronted her. Belle denied any wrong doing but others were starting to smell a rat too and journalist Richard Guilliatt, whose wife had been diagnosed with cancer, describes how he started ringing experts to ask their opinions. As Richard prepared to run his story, he looked into Belle’s background and discovered even more secrets that she was hiding.

ITV1 and STV, 9pm Thursday, April 25th

Andi Oliver’s in Folkestone to help local singer/songwriter Sophia Stutchberry stage a spectacular festival at the old Victorian bandstand, to celebrate the town’s unsung music heritage and rich cultural diversity.

Can Andi devise a feast that takes inspiration from the wide range of international cuisines she encounters, from Polish to Syrian, from Ukrainian to Nepalese? It’s not just food that makes a festival, so can she also pull together a diverse line-up of musicians who’ll draw a crowd, showing Folkestone is a culturally rich town, with a great future?

BBC Two, 8pm Wednesday, April 24th

Southern Italy, two years after the Unification of Italy: a woman, forced to escape from her village, joins a particular group of brigands and she will become one of the most ruthless and strategic leaders. But she is not the only one to choose this life and soon comes into contact with other women like her.

In order to recover the gold of the South and restore hope to the peasants, the various bands of brigands will have no choice but to unite against the common enemy. Brigands against State, but also brigands against brigands, in a struggle where one must be willing to sacrifice even one’s humanity to overcome the oppressors.

Dense forests, immense glades and desolate landscapes create a precise image system in which the characters come into intimate contact with the wilderness, becoming an integral part of it. Confined to the edges of civilization and forced to live like beasts to survive in hostile places, this environment changes them forever and brings out their darker, more primitive side.

A little bit Robin Hood, a little bit Pirates, the bandits protagonists acquire wealth and power to replace the State. A violent criminality is born where the only option to survive is to become an unscrupulous outlaw.

Netflix from 8am on Tuesday, April 23rd