Leonard and Hungry Paul<\/p>\n
10pm, BBC Two
Julia Roberts narrates an endearing comedy drama based on R\u00f3n\u00e1n Hession\u2019s novel. Leonard (Alex Lawther) is a thirtysomething oddball who lives with his doting mother. But when she suddenly dies, Leonard finds himself looking for more from his quiet life. Joining him is his best friend, Hungry Paul (Laurie Kynaston). Might a new extrovert colleague, played by Jamie-Lee O\u2019Donnell, be the key to opening up Leonard\u2019s world? Hollie Richardson<\/p>\n
The Race to Build 1.5 Million Homes<\/p>\n
8pm, BBC One
Although, arguably, the more important questions are what sort of houses they\u2019ll be and who will own them, the government\u2019s pledge that 1.5m new homes will be built in England by 2029 is a major logistical challenge in itself. Anita Rani and Justin Rowlatt travel the country to investigate everything from the planning system to brick manufacture. Jack Seale<\/p>\n
Joe Swash: Forgotten Young Dads<\/p>\n
8pm, BBC Three
Joe Swash was 25 when he first became a father: \u201cI was scared, young, vulnerable \u2026 I don\u2019t remember any baby groups for dads.\u201d In this candid and sweet documentary, he speaks with dads in their teens and 20s \u2013 a group he says is misunderstood and under-researched \u2013 who want to smash the stereotypes and be good parents. HR<\/p>\n
Blue Lights<\/p>\n
9pm, BBC One<\/p>\n
Traumatised \u2026 Aisling (Dearbh\u00e1ile McKinney) in Blue Lights. Photograph: BBC\/Two Cities Television<\/p>\n
The Belfast cop show is lighter on laughs this week, as the peelers face some of their toughest personal moments. Annie is burying her mother, Grace remembers her childhood, and Tommy is forced to take action on traumatised Aisling. All the while, plans are being made in the city\u2019s drug underworld. HR<\/p>\n
The Secret Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots<\/p>\n
9pm, BBC Two
This documentary juxtaposes the tale of three amateur codebreakers, who collaborated across continents to decipher a mysterious cache of coded letters from the 1570s and 1580s, with the story of the person they discovered to have been their author. We\u2019re given insights into the turbulent life of Mary, as well as the ingenuity needed to disguise her missives\u2019 contents. Alexi Duggins<\/p>\n
The Forsytes<\/p>\n
9pm, Channel 5
This new adaptation of John Galsworthy\u2019s generation-spanning novels finds the late-Victorian family once again torn between duty and the pursuit of personal happiness. Jolyon\u2019s stable marriage is threatened by the reappearance of an old flame, while his cousin, Soames, falls for the beautiful, highly unsuitable Irene. Ellen E Jones<\/p>\n
Live sport<\/p>\n
Premier League football: West Ham United v Brentford, 6.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event Leeds v West Ham is on Friday at 7.30pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leonard and Hungry Paul 10pm, BBC TwoJulia Roberts narrates an endearing comedy drama based on R\u00f3n\u00e1n Hession\u2019s novel.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-90135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}