Wednesday’s best TV: Man Down, The Apprentice, Gino’s Italian Coastal Escape (original) (raw)

Gino’s Italian Coastal Escape

8pm, ITV

Debut of a new eight-part Italian travelogue by chef Gino D’Acampo. As the title suggests, this time he is sticking to the shoreline of his homeland, and he saves the best till first – the Amalfi coast, a jewel of such brilliance that it is just about worth the terrifying, vertiginous cliffside drive to get there. D’Acampo visits his three favourite Amalfi towns – Minori, Cetera, Positano – and samples the cuisine of each. A_ndrew Mueller_

Ugly House to Lovely House with George Clarke

8pm, Channel 4

Martyn and Sally live in an upside-down house. Which wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if it weren’t for the house also having a topsy-turvy layout – to get to the garden from the kitchen you have to go through the master bedroom. Enter architect Greg Blee, who has lately been working on lavishly funded projects in the Caribbean. What can he do on a house remodelling where the budget is a more modest £65,000? Jonathan Wright

The Apprentice

9pm, BBC1

Fourteen candidates with a strong urge to work together while simultaneously undermining each other remain in the competition. After last week’s high-end corporate entertainment task, this week it gets personal. Lord Sugar might look as if he has endured many thousand lifetimes on his slow simmer of anger and disappointment; in fact, he is a sprightly 70. Honouring him, tonight the teams must find nine items commemorating his life and career milestones. John Robinson

Doc Martin

9pm, ITV

The curse of the penultimate episode in a comedy-drama season: setting up the big storyline that will power the finale means there is too much dramatic legwork and not enough comic relief. The supporting players in this show are too good, however, for there to be no pleasure. Everything John Marquez says as dumb copper Joe Penhale is funny, so pressing him into service as an umpire-commentator for Portwenn’s annual, injury-plagued gig race is gold. Jack Seale

Ray Donovan

9pm, Sky Atlantic

It is extraordinary that this series has rumbled on for five long seasons without Liev Schreiber’s Ray and his father Mickey (Jon Voigt) reaching the sort of loggerheads they did in last week’s penultimate episode, but here they are. The last time we saw Mickey he was in custody calling his son, promising he would get him; this week, he tries to turn the tables on Ray. Meanwhile, Ray himself, ever the fixer, tries to arrange a surgery that might save Smitty. David Stubbs

Man Down

10pm, Channel 4

It is hard to believe that Greg Davies’s buffoon of a character Dan is about to become a father, but at least it means there will be a whole new raft of slapstick ways he can mess things up. In his desperation to provide for his family, Dan reluctantly ponders a move back to teaching as he tries to convince Jeany Spark’s Emma that he has the perfect family setup. And Jo (Roisin Conaty, who is never understated but always hilarious) turns her hand to freeganism. Hannah Verdier

Positive Energy: Europe

10pm, National Geographic

Dirt, according to anthropologist Mary Douglas’s famous maxim, is just matter out of place. In the same way, bio-bean CEO Arthur Kay believes “there’s no such thing as waste – just resources in the wrong place”. In the final episode of the eco-show, Dallas and Kari meet Kay in London to discover his plans to turn used coffee grounds into a range of energy products. Elsewhere, they check out electric planes and a hydrogen fuel cell car. Ali Catterall

Film choice

Mrs Brown (John Madden, 1997) 9pm, BBC4

This engrossing account of Queen Victoria and plain-speaking Scottish horseman John Brown, who coaxed her out of mourning her beloved Albert, examines the balance of private life and public duty, but is at heart a resonant love story. Judi Dench’s Victoria is fiercely regal, and also a woman in pain; Billy Connolly subdues his wilder antics as the loyal and loving Brown, and there’s a real frisson between the two. Paul Howlett

Live sport

International T20 Cricket: India v New Zealand 2pm, Sky Sports Main Event. The opening game in a three-match series from Delhi.

Champions League Football: Tottenham Hotspur v Real Madrid 7pm, BT Sport 2. The formidable Spaniards visit Wembley Stadium.

Championship Football: Preston North End v Aston Villa 7.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event. A second-tier clash at Deepdale.