This week on BBC iPlayer (13 – 20 April), we’re back in Belfast for a new series of crime drama Blue Lights, up in Glasgow for new comedy Dinosaur, and in Cardiff for new comedy Mammoth.
We’re also heading further afield, to Norway for a new series of crime noir Wisting, and making a pilgrimage to Mecca with chef and rapper Big Zuu with Big Zuu Goes to Mecca.
There are also incredible true stories, including a visceral account of the days surrounding Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s death in Kurt Cobain: Moments That Shook Music, and the Academy Award-winning feature length documentary Free Solo.
What’s coming new to BBC iPlayer this week?
Blue Lights
Grace, Annie and Tommy are growing up fast as police officers, but nothing can prepare them for the turmoil they face every day. It’s a year since the fall of the McIntyre crime gang and the vacuum has been filled by rival gangs, all competing for dominance.
As a young loyalist threatens to take over the city, the officers face a major gangland feud – culminating in a violent and devastating confrontation.
Dinosaur
New comedy set and filmed in Glasgow, about Nina, an autistic woman in her 30s, who was happy in her world, but when her best friend and sister Evie delivers some news, she realises everything is going to change. However, this isn’t the only change coming Nina’s way.
Mammoth
New comedy starring Mike Bubbins. PE teacher Tony Mammoth, presumed dead in an avalanche in 1979, is miraculously brought back to life in the present day. He’s got his old job back, and he determined he’ll approach it the same way as in the 1970s, including parents’ evening. Along the way, he finds out he has a lot more in common with a pupil’s mum than he thought.
Wisting
Moody Scandi thriller. Norwegian detective Wisting tackles grisly cold cases, seemingly unconnected murders, conspiracies and a rising body count.
The new series begins with Wisting investigating the disappearance of six-year-old Clifford Greenwood from the hotel owned by his grandfather. The Greenwood family is shocked, but Wisting discovers they have secrets of their own.
Big Zuu Goes to Mecca
Chef and rapper Big Zuu makes a pilgrimage to Mecca on a personal spiritual journey to try and understand more about his faith and what it means to be ‘a good Muslim’.
Kurt Cobain: Moments That Shook Music
Marking the 30th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, this documentary uses powerful and unseen archive footage to demystify the tragic moment when the Nirvana frontman took his own life.
One of musical history’s most shocking stories is told as never before, as footage captured by local fans in Seattle and raw material from news crews reporting at the time are woven together to create a picture of the events that unfolded as they happened.
Free Solo
Academy Award-winning documentary. An intimate and unflinching portrait of free solo climber Alex Honnold as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream – scaling the famous 3,200ft vertical rock formation El Capitan.
What’s new to watch on BBC iPlayer now?
Race Across The World
The much-loved and hugely successful Bafta-winning series Race Across the World returns.
Five teams of intrepid Brits will battle it out in a breath-taking 15,000 kilometres race across Eastern Asia through some of the world’s most populous regions and some of its most unexplored. The teams will race from northernmost Japan; crossing six seas and eight borders, skirting the path of the volcanic ring of fire – the most geologically unstable region on the planet to reach the finish line in Lombok, an idyllic Indonesian island paradise.
Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make Up Star
Get ready to be dazzled as Glow Up returns, hosted by the fabulous Leomie Anderson.
Each week, eight of the most talented aspiring make-up artists will be judged on their creativity and ability to thrive under pressure, in intense Professional Assignments, from pop star led social campaigns to global gaming body painting, West End theatre looks to mastering gory TV special effects. The stakes have never been higher in the world of make-up artistry.
The MUAs compete to be crowned Britian’s Next Make-Up Star, and for a career changing prize – assisting some of the best MUAs in the world.
Meet the Roman Emperor with Mary Beard
The Roman Emperor was the ultimate symbol of power and authority in the ancient world – a measure against which dictators are still compared today. But with absolute power comes absolute paranoia…
In this new one-hour documentary, renowned classicist Mary Beard lifts the curtain on the emperors of Rome, exploring their ruthless use of power and how it was matched only by their greatest fear – that the power could be snatched away at any moment by the people closest to them.
Big Little Crimes
Big Little Crimes tells the gobsmacking stories of ordinary beat coppers who stumble upon a key piece of evidence, a haul of stolen goods or a suspect on the run, and bring a major criminal to justice.
Ministry of Evil: The Twisted Cult of Tony Alamo
In the 1960s, preachers Susan and Tony Alamo recruit vulnerable young people to join their cult promoting personal salvation. Over time the group faces allegations of abuse.
This Town
Set in a world of family ties, teenage kicks and the exhilarating music of a generation, This Town tells the story of a band’s formation against a backdrop of violence, capturing how creative genius can emerge from a time of madness.
Both a high octane thriller and a family saga, This Town opens in 1981 at a moment of huge social tensions and unrest. Against this backdrop, it tells the story of a group of young people fighting to choose their own paths in life, and each in need of the second chance that music offers.
Traces
In the second series of the Dundee crime drama, lab assistant Emma Hedges is now training to be a forensic chemist and is on the cusp of seeing her mother’s murder case finally resolved in the eyes of the law.
Daniel is to give evidence against his father in the High Court. Will Emma and Daniel’s relationship withstand the pressure? Will justice be served?
Avoidance
Jonathan is back and he’s reinvented himself. He may have a new body, a new hobby, and a lot of lycra, but he’s still stuck avoiding conflict and all the mess that causes…
MasterChef
The MasterChef arena opens its doors for the first of five heats, welcoming 58 amateurs from all over the UK to take on the challenge.
The series begins with first six hopefuls arriving with their sights set on one goal: to win one of the four exclusive MasterChef aprons that secure their place in the competition. Those that make it will head straight back into battle, as only the best reach the quarter-final.
Mammals
Mammals are found on every continent and in every ocean, from the coldest wildernesses to the hottest deserts, from the densest jungles to the darkest depths, this group of animals has evolved to master almost every habitat on our planet.
This definitive series with Sir David Attenborough offers fascinating insights into the most successful animal group in the world.
Stable: The Boxing Game
Every fight can be make or break. Take a ringside seat at the McGuigans’ boxing stable – where discipline, dedication and determination are the route to the top.
Head coach Shane McGuigan and his team prepare for Lawrence Okolie’s world title defence, while two of his younger prospects, the Azim Brothers, climb the professional ranks. Adam Azim catches the eyes of the boxing world with his impressive skill set, but his brother Hassan has more to prove. As Adam’s fame grows, we see the difficulties involved in keeping young people’s feet on the ground. Shane grew up as the son of a famous boxer, Barry McGuigan, and although it wasn’t easy to carve his own identity, the wisdom and experience have undoubtedly been transferred down a generation.
Tish
Mother, fighter and visionary photographer – Tish Murtha emerged from the north east in Thatcher’s Britain to expose the struggles and triumphs of her local community.
Tish’s daughter, Ella, uncovers her poignant story in this heartfelt documentary, piecing together a portrait of a woman who wielded her camera as a tool to celebrate overlooked working-class lives and to strive for social change.
Tragically, Tish died aged 56, her work relatively unknown, but now, Ella unlocks the doors to her mother’s long-hidden archive. Inside, a treasure trove of unseen images, personal artefacts, letters and diaries awaits, revealing the true essence of this enigmatic artist.
The Assembly
The Assembly sees a cast of thirty-five interviewers who are autistic, neurodivergent or learning disabled, question an A-list celebrity for one extraordinary TV interview.
In this half-hour special to celebrate Autism Acceptance Week, it’s multi-award-winning actor and director, Michael Sheen, who faces the grilling of a lifetime from the unique collective. No subject is out of bounds, no question is off the table.
Wreck
A new series of the comedy slasher – where not everyone will make it out alive.
The new series begins with Jamie and Vivian back on dry land, fighting hard to expose Velorum. But the walls are closing in, and they’re forced to take desperate measures. In a deadly gamble, they set their sights on Velorum’s newest venture – an exclusive ‘wellness’ festival in Slovenia.
Mandy
The nation’s hero of the zero-hours economy Mandy returns for another series of micro-aggressive adventures, in which she battles her own personal cost-of-living crisis in a number of short-lived, ill-thought-through and poorly-paid jobs. Comedy with Diane Morgan.
The Famous Five
Enid Blyton’s classics have been brought to life by Nicholas Winding Refn with a new and fresh reimagining of the iconic stories.
Following on from the first episode at Christmas, the second episode, Peril On The Night Train, is a cross-country thriller involving Quentin’s invention of a state-of-the-art proto-computer dubbed ‘the Algebra Engine’. With war on the horizon, the contraption is critical for the country’s counter intelligence efforts and it’s a race against time to prevent the machine falling into enemy hands.
Big Gay Wedding with Tom Allen
2023 marked the 10th anniversary of same sex marriage being legalised in England and Wales, and March 2024 is exactly a decade since the first wedding took place.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, comedian, presenter and writer Tom Allen is pulling out all the stops to arrange a dream wedding for one gay couple.
Pilgrimage: The Road Through North Wales
Seven well known personalities, of differing faiths and beliefs, take a personal and emotional journey as they tackle a modern-day pilgrimage, this time along the North Wales Pilgrim’s Way.
Immersing themselves on this spiritual journey are: wild life presenter Michaela Strachan who places her faith in the natural world; Spencer Matthews, a former ‘Made in Chelsea’ reality star, who was christened Church of England but is still searching for answers to life’s big questions; Sonali Shah, a journalist and TV presenter who grew up in a Jain family; comedian Eshaan Akbar, a lapsed Muslim; Amanda Lovett, a practicing Catholic, who catapulted into the public eye in the first series of Traitors; actor Tom Rosenthal of Friday Night Dinner fame, who is areligious; and TV personality and former model Christine McGuinness, who is spiritual but doesn’t practice one particular faith.
The Idaho Murders: Trial by TikTok
When four University of Idaho students were murdered by an unknown attacker in November 2022, Zara McDermott first read about it on social media. The small American college town of Moscow is home to just 25,000 people, most of them students, and hasn’t seen a homicide in seven years. For six weeks, the police said they had no suspects, no motive, no weapon, and had found no signs of forced entry into the house.
The students, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen, had all been stabbed to death. Zara, like millions of people all over the world, became obsessed with the case and scoured social media looking for clues and theories as to what happened; as days turned in to weeks, global interest in the case snowballed, racking up nearly two billion views on TikTok worldwide.
Zara heads to Moscow, Idaho to find out about the tragic murders and the global online manhunt that followed their deaths.
Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr
Meet the ten novice interior designers embarking on the ultimate crash course in interior design. Host Alan Carr sends them off to a former convent in Norfolk, where they must transform nuns’ cells into single bed B&B bedrooms, demonstrating their signature style.
Judges Michelle Ogundehin and Abigail Ahern will decide who wins Stand-Out Space and who will be the first to leave.
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