Starting on
BBC Entertainment in February, 2009:
The Worst Week Of My Life 2Premiere date: Monday, 2 February 2009 at 20h00
Season 2 follows the same premise as the first: for Howard Steel, anything that can go wrong, will.
The show covers a week in the life of Howard and his long-suffering wife Mel, with each episode following one day, running from Monday to Sunday.
Howard and Mel are amazingly still together after the trials of their wedding and Mel is now perilously close to giving birth to their first child. As the week hurtles headlong towards the birth, Howard has to guard a family secret and cope with allegations at work his father-in-law's status at being honoured with a CBE.
The cast:
Ben Miller... as Howard
Sarah Alexander... as Mel
Alison Steadman... as Angela
Geoffrey Whitehead... as Dick
Janine Duvitski... as Eve
Silent Witness 11Premiere date: Monday, 2 February 2009 at 20h30
Runs Mondays and Tuesdays, starting Tuesday, 3 February 2009
The forensic pathology drama Silent Witness returns with a new batch of crimes for the team to crack.
The team consists of Professor Leo Dalton, a no-nonsense leader with years of experience in pathology, Dr Harry Cunningham, an incisive and logical scientist with a dry sense of humour, and Dr Nikki Alexander, an idealistic expert in palaeontology who wears her heart on her sleeve.
Together, they combine their knowledge and abilities to solve complex crimes, using the latest forensic techniques in order to bring murderers and other violent criminals to justice.
Some cases in the season include the investigation into the deaths of two teenage girls hits a brick wall when the prime suspect is found dead after apparently committing suicide. But Nikki believes the man was actually murdered. The body of a young boy is pulled from a river leading Leo to become obsessed with finding the killer.
And Nikki and Harry are first on the scene following a disaster involving a military helicopter, an accident that the Ministry of Defence seems very keen to cover up. Sinister investigations and gruesome finds will keep you hooked to the very end and will leave you wanting more.
The cast:
William Gaminara... as Professor Leo Dalton
Tom Ward... as Dr Harry Cunningham
Emilia Fox... as Dr Nikki Alexander
Moving Wallpapar/Echo BeachBoth shows premiere on: Friday, 6 February 2009
Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach are two inter-related British television series, created by Tony Jordan.
Moving Wallpaper depicts the behind-the-scenes backbiting at a soap opera, masterminded by a producer played by Ben Miller, who is determined to make it the most talked-about show in Britain.
It is followed immediately by Echo Beach, the soap opera itself, which is set in Cornwall and stars soap veterans Jason Donovan and Martine McCutcheon.
Says Jordan: “You can watch either show independently of the other, but if you like Moving Wallpaper you can see how the jokes feed into Echo Beach.”
Moving Wallpaper Premieres: Friday 6 February at 20h30
Moving Wallpaper is set in the production office of new soap Echo Beach. This is the place where life-changing decisions are made about characters in the show. Will they live? Will they die? Who will be sleeping with who? Producer Jonathan Pope leads his team of writers to create characters and storylines that will make Echo Beach a hit.
Decisions being made in Moving Wallpaper have a direct effect on Echo Beach and the series reveals what the production team think of the characters, the actors and the stories.
The cast:
Ben Miller... as Jonathan Pope
Lucy Liemann... as Sam Phillips
Sarah Hadland... as Gillian McGovern
Elizabeth Berrington... as Mel Debrou
James Lance... as Tom Warren
Raquel Cassidy... as Nancy Weeks
Echo Beach Premieres: Friday 6 February at 21h00
Echo Beach follows the lives of Daniel, Susan and Mark, whose affairs of the heart are played out amongst teenage angst, family loyalties and tested friendships. Events unfold against the backdrop of romantic Cornwall, its rugged coastline, endless beaches and handsome surfers.
Former EastEnders star Martine McCutcheon plays Susan Penwarden, a woman with a dubious past. Full Monty star Hugo Speer plays Mark Penwarden, who will stop at nothing to run Daniel Marrack (singer and soap legend Jason Donovan) out of Polnarren.
The younger members of the cast also feature some of the UK’s new acting talent, including former Hollyoaks heartthrob Marcus Patrick as Ian and Footballers’ Wives’ Susie Amy.
As the drama grows, passionate liaisons start to simmer, and the storylines literally become explosive, viewers of Echo Beach will be able to track the development of both characters and plots with the soap’s post-modern sister show Moving Wallpaper.
The cast:
Jason Donovan... as Daniel Marrack
Martine McCutcheon... as Susan Penwarden
Hugo Speer... as Mark Penwarden
Marcus Patrick... as Ian Brenton
Susie Amy... as Angela Cole
Gavin & Stacey 2Premiere date: Tuesday, 10 February 2009 at 20h00
Season 2 checks in to find out how Gavin and Stacey’s marriage is working out, what is happening in the lives of their respective families, and, more importantly, if their best friends Nessa and Smithy are finally getting along.
Gavin is an ordinary boy from England, Stacey is an ordinary girl from Wales. After speaking on the phone to each other every day at work they finally met, fell in love and got married.
This second season travels back to Barry Island in Wales, and Essex in England to catch up with the two love birds …
Following their honeymoon, the happy couple are living with Gavin’s parents in Essex until they can get a place of their own. While Gavin won’t even consider moving to Barry, Stacey feels bad for leaving her family and wants to be there to support her newly pregnant best friend Nessa. And Nessa has a bombshell of her own when she finally has to tell Smithy that he is the father of the child she is carrying.
Will Smithy be able to cope with the news? While Gavin and Stacey struggle on the rocky road of their fledgling marriage, this ultimately uplifting and warm-hearted comedy and its terrific ensemble cast are sure to win audiences over.
The cast:
Matthew Horne... as Gavin Shipman
Joanna Page... as Stacey West
James Corden... as Smithy
Ruth Jones... as Nessa
Rob Brydon... as Uncle Bryn
Larry Lamb... as Mick Shipman
Alison Steadman... as Pamela Shipman
Melanie Walters... as Gwen West
Not Going OutPremiere date: Thursday, 19 February 2009 at 20h00
Not Going Out is a six-part sitcom created by and starring comedian Lee Mack.
The show revolves around slacker Lee, who drifts from one dead end job to another while his American landlady, Kate, tries to get him to make something of his life.
The title refers to the fact that both of them spend most of their evenings at home, and that they are not ‘going out’ as a couple, though as the series progresses their relationship becomes more complex.
This situation becomes more complicated as Lee’s best mate Tim is also Kate’s ex-boyfriend. Trials faced in this first season include the death of Tim’s grandmother, Lee teaching Kate to drive, and Lee pretending to be Tim for the sake of an Australian visitor. Not Going Out is a traditional sitcom with a refreshingly modern twist and a very high joke count from the two main characters, Lee and Tim.
The cast:
Lee Mack... as Lee
Megan Dodds... as Kate
Tim Vine... as Tim