BBC

“For me, it’s a real issue,” she explains, “because I spend so much time with guests before I interview them making them feel comfortable, going through their story, just letting them know I’ll be there to look after them.”

Such compassion comes as no surprise from a broadcaster who has long used her platform to both sensitively question victims of injustice and forensically interrogate those responsible.

Each hour of television produced leaves a ­carbon footprint of 9.2 tonnes, which is the equivalent of two households’ annual consumption. This startling figure is the average across all genres – quadruple it for drama.

That was the top line given by Roser Canela Mas of Albert, the pan-industry body set up to help make television production sustainable, at an RTS panel discussion, “Producing sustainable TV – myth or reality?”.

I think it’s fair to say that reporting for Newsround is a job like no other in journalism. I know John Craven and all those who’ve followed in his footsteps would agree. This week alone, I’ve gone from explaining the situation in Myanmar to revealing which celebrity was behind the sausage costume on ITV’s The Masked Singer. In case you were wondering, it was Joss Stone… all in a day’s work for a Newsround presenter.

There is already something of a buzz around Richard Sharp, the new BBC Chair, and about what he and Director-­General Tim Davie might achieve together as they navigate the corporation towards what we all hope is a post-Covid world.

Inevitably, not everyone at the BBC was pleased that another money man was chosen as successor to Sir David Clementi – himself a former deputy governor of the Bank of England. But many across the TV sector were relieved that a more controversial candidate was not appointed.

The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer

Tuesday

Channel 4, 8pm

Famous faces don their aprons for another celebrity special of The Great British Bake Off in aid of Stand Up to Cancer.

Inspired by the true events, The Terror offers a fictionalised account of Captain Sir John Franklin’s lost expedition to the Arctic with the Royal Navy.

Attempting to discover the Northwest Passage, the crew face perilous conditions, scarce resources and unchartered territory on their treacherous voyage.

Freezing, isolated and unable to make it back to safety, The Terror shows what happens when a group of men are forced to struggle against the elements and each other in the desperate effort for survival.

Written and created by Arthur Matthews and Matt Berry, the six-part series will follow Steven Toast, a pretentious and quirky actor who moves to Hollywood in an attempt to become a film star and gain the fame and adoration he mistakenly thinks he deserves. 

Berry previously played Toast in three series of Toast Of London and the new series will see new and returning cast. 

From writer Abi Morgan, The Split is set in the world of London’s high end divorce circuit, examining the realities of marriage and the long reaching consequences of divorce.

The Split focuses on the complicated lives of the Defoe sisters, dependable Hannah (Nicola Walker), hedonistic Nina (Annabel Scholey) and free-spirited Rose (Fiona Button), and their tough mother Ruth (Deborah Findlay).

The first series of BBC One’s The Mallorca Files aired at the tail end of 2019 and proved a huge hit with critics and daytime audiences. On the surface, it’s fluff, but it’s also clever, funny, and beautifully shot and acted.

More than anything, The Mallorca Files recalls the wildly successful 1980s comedy drama Moonlighting, in which Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd sleuthed and flirted in equal measure.

Just three days into 2021, the BBC secured its first big hitter of the year: A Perfect Planet, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, drew in 6.2 million viewers. That’s on a par with previous series premieres such as Seven Worlds, One Planet (6.8 million), Dynasties (5.7 million viewers) and Blue Planet II (10.4 million).