PICKS OF THE WEEK: 09-15 MARCH 2026, WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK

Our picks of what to watch during the week ahead.

THE FINISH LINE

Monday, BBC One

New series of the daytime quiz hosted by Roman Kemp and Sarah Greene. In each episode, players will compete across a series of qualifiers and head-to-head races for the chance to win a cash prize. The aim of the game is simple - make it to the finish line before your rivals. Knowledge and speed combine for gripping racing action with nail-biting finishes and plenty of tension.

 STACEY SOLOMON'S SORT YOUR LIFE OUT

Tuesday, BBC One

Stacey will be joined by a crack team of expert friends. Together they’ll makeover Britain’s cluttered homes by first stripping them bare, then laying all their possessions out in a giant warehouse resembling an art installation of their entire lives, before asking the families to let go of thousands of their possessions. Emotions will run high as the families must decide what to keep and what to let go of. The items that the families’ part with will be recycled, donated or sold.

 ELLIS

Tuesday, 5

Fresh from her victories in series one, DCI Ellis is once again parachuted into failing cases across the north of England. With Harper at her side, she faces a new wave of fractured communities and suspicious deaths that test not only her forensic brilliance but her resilience.

The series takes them from a rural village, where the suspicious death of a beloved community leader exposes long-nursed resentments, to the industrial shadow of a stone works, where the death of a young woman reveals a hidden network of coercion and exploitation. Every case peels back layers of silence, ambition, and betrayal.

 A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE

Wednesday, Channel 4

Based on the best-selling novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford OBE, A Woman of Substance is an epic drama spanning six decades, charting the rise of Emma Harte from penniless Yorkshire maid in the early 1900s to powerful 1970s business mogul. 

Betrayed by her aristocratic lover and cast out when she becomes pregnant, young Emma vows a lifelong revenge on the family she once worked for and who underestimated her. Through love, loss, war, and unrelenting ambition, Emma amasses power, outwits rivals, and shapes her own destiny. 

 THE CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN SHOW

Friday, BBC One

For her first show on 13 March, Claudia is joined by Hollywood giant, Jeff Goldblum, best known for starring in Jurassic Park and Wicked but on the couch to talk about his band, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. Actress Vanessa Williams, will be talking about her turn in the West End smash hit, The Devil Wears Prada, national treasure Jennifer Saunders talks about her new film, The Magic Faraway Tree and comedian Tom Allen will be discussing his new book, Common Decency.

 THE OTHER BENNET SISTER

Sunday, BBC One The Other Bennet Sister is a fresh spin around the ballroom for one of Jane Austen’s most unassuming characters: Mary Bennet – the seemingly unremarkable and overlooked middle sister in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The series takes as its premise that - when it comes to the Bennet sisters - while we dream of being Lizzy, in reality most us are more like Mary...

Unlike her sisters, Mary isn’t your typical period drama heroine. She is awkward, anxious, preachy, full of facts, a terrible singer… overlooked by her mother and seemingly destined to an empty dance card for the rest of her life… until Mary takes matters into her own hands.

The Other Bennet Sister gives Mary Bennet the epic love story nobody predicted for her, taking her from her family home in Meryton to the soirees of Regency London and the peaks and vales of the Lake District - all in search of independence, romance and, most elusive of all, self-love and acceptance.

 BOARDERS

Sunday, BBC Three

Filmed in Bristol, Boarders series three sees the South London teens back at St. Gilbert’s and the pressure is on. They’ve made it to their final term, exams are looming, and they’re determined to achieve big.

As they dream of life beyond St. Gilbert’s, a neighbouring school - which also happens to be the one Abby is now attending - provokes an intense rivalry causing chaos and jeopardising their futures. With new enemies, love interests and broken friendship, our teens are forced to face a fresh batch of problems which threaten to trip them up at their final hurdle. What will it take for our scholarship kids to come out on top?