Gladiators final and The Banksy Story is back: What’s coming up this week
This week, Gladiators and contenders gear up as the grand final of the competition takes place on BBC One.
But that’s not all the week has in store.
The Banksy Story is here for a second season, Doctor Who is back on our screens, new game South of Midnight is released, and Black Mirror makes a timely return.
Read on for what’s coming up this week…
The race to be Gladiators champion
After 10 weeks of intense competition, the grand final of the Gladiators is almost upon us.
Finalist Zavia Hill has been forced to pull out due to an injury. It means the fastest female runner-up from the semi-finals, Aneila Afsar, will take her place – having already made history as the first contender to appear on Gladiators wearing a hijab.
She will compete alongside Amanda Wah, while Joe Fishburn and Mus Dumbuya complete the line-up.
Co-hosts Bradley and Barney Walsh promised it would be a “nail-biting final”, with some “thrilling moments” which you won’t want to miss.
The BBC resurrected the hit 1990s show last year, introducing a whole new set of fans to the joy of foam fingers, Lycra-clad combatants and tense showdowns on the Travelator.
Watch all the action on Saturday from 5.50pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
When Banksy comes to town
What actually happens when a Banksy original appears on the wall of your house?
That’s what superfan James Peak is investigating in season two of The Banksy Story.
Across the five-part series, James follows two Banksy homeowners in two different seaside towns, Margate and Lowestoft.
He looks at the circus that can ensue when you wake up to find a Banksy spray-painted on your walls, and the strange and sometimes unexpected consequences for residents, fans and the art world.
James told me he loved being back on the trail of the elusive street artist.
“I learnt an awful lot more about his modus operandi – and got some more insights into how he continues to not get caught,” he said.
The Banksy Story: When Banksy Comes to Town begins on Monday on BBC Radio 4, with the full boxset available now on BBC Sounds.
The Doctor is back
Fans of Saturday night TV have a lot in store this week, as Doctor Who is also on its way back to our screens.
Ncuti Gatwa is playing the Doctor for a second series, alongside Millie Gibson who’s back as Ruby Sunday. They’ll be joined on their adventures by Varada Sethu, who plays his companion, Belinda Chandra.
Varada, who’s 32, told my colleagues in Asian Network that when she first told her family she wanted to be an actress, there wasn’t immediate support.
But she persevered and now says inspiring young girls to follow their dreams is one of her big goals.
EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis, who won Strictly Come Dancing as the show’s first ever deaf contestant in 2021, will also be appearing as a special guest this season.
A timely return of Black Mirror
By Emma Saunders, entertainment reporter
With recent news about the upcoming release of Nintendo’s Switch 2 and AI generated video hitting the headlines in Hollywood (again), the return of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror couldn’t be more timely.
Series seven of the popular dystopian anthology series drops on Thursday on Netflix, and as usual, there’s no shortage of A-list stars on the roster, including Emma Corrin, Chris O’Dowd, Awkwafina, Paul Giamatti, Issa Rae, Peter Capaldi, Harriet Walter, Will Poulter and Asim Chaudhry.
Remember the interactive Black Mirror film Bandersnatch where Chaudhry and Poulter played a games company boss and a developer? The pair are now reprising their roles from the 2018 interactive movie in a new episode called Plaything.
Scottish actor Lewis Gribben, who is soon to star in the highly anticipated TV series Bladerunner 2099, plays a loner obsessed with a videogame released in the 90s.
He told the BBC he was also a bit of a gamer himself but had more of a handle on it than his Black Mirror character.
“When you have a day off… I can spend a good solid 10 hours [on video games]. But I like to think most people game in moderation or just have binger game sessions. It’s more like a relaxation thing,” he said.
Loss and healing in South of Midnight
By Tom Richardson, Newsbeat reporter
America’s Deep South, with its rich, troubled history and deep wells of folklore, is a curiously underused setting for video games.
Action adventure South of Midnight (Xbox, PC) on the other hand, actively embraces it.
The game follows Hazel Flood, a young woman on a mission to find her mother after their trailer is swept away in a storm.
Along the way, she visits strange and mystical worlds packed with nods to Southern Gothic motifs and the complicated, real-life history of the region.
Her quest is ultimately one of healing, as she pieces together emotional tales of loss and tragedy in an attempt to repair past traumas.
It might sound heavy, but reviewers have praised the game’s charming presentation, stop-motion-style animations, performances and music, even if most found the gameplay repetitive.
But at a lean 10 to 12 hours to complete, most agreed it’s worth checking out when it drops on Microsoft’s Game Pass service from Tuesday.
