Get TV Abroad

With the Olympics taking over our screens for the next couple of weeks there is a need to interject your viewing habits with some ‘normal’ people that aren’t teaming with muscles or leaner than the Tower of Pisa. So, here are couple of TV programmes to look forward to over the next week or so.

First up is the feisty Italian Michela Chiappa with the programme entitled ‘Simply Italian’. It’s ideal for us in the UK that are addicted to Italian food but have no clue how or where to start to make it ourselves. She shows us in her cheeky way how simple it really is and what the main ingredients and special ones are that make an Italian dish really stand out.

Starting on Channel 4 at 8:30pm until 9pm, on Monday 30^th July, Simply Italian starts by taking the viewers on a journey through the typical Italian food that we buy in the supermarkets or go out to eat (which is usually expensive) and shows just how easy and cheap they are to make at home. With special Italian dough, filled pastas, sauces and some super-secret special dishes, we get to find out how easy it is to make pasta from scratch in just a few minutes and how healthy it is compared to freeze-dried, shop-bought ones.

Michela also heads to Bologna and learns how to make an authentic, traditional Bolognese sauce that can be used in so many dishes. It’s certainly going to make your mouth water if you’re an Italian food lover, and with her pretty smile and charm Michela presents the show very well too.

Onto the next Olympic-dodging TV show and shown straight after Simply Italian on Channel 4 on the 30^th July, the hour-long show at 9pm until 10pm follows the spaceship adventure by NASA heading to Mars. In a bid to find out if there really is life on Mars or it could hold life forms, the nuclear-powered space rover explores the terrain. The ultra-clever buggy cost $2.5 billion to develop and is winched onto the Red Planet by a crane from the spaceship. It’s discovers are relayed back to Earth via satellite images and videos, so that scientists can judge what is going on and get a closer look at the planet first hand.

Most of the Mars expeditions end in failure and as a result we’re still not sure about the planet and what it holds. Chief scientists John Grotzinger who developed and designed the whole project discusses what we could see and what is expected from the planet as well as others in the solar system. It’s a remarkable programme and one that will explore unseen parts of our world.

The next TV programme that will help you forget about the Olympics is Vexed. It’s in its second season on BBC2 at 9pm until 10pm on Wednesday 1^st August, and see Jack Armstrong try and charm his new partner Georgina Dixon, who is ‘vexed’ at the detectives lack of care for the job. Being thrown in at the deep end with a suspicious death of a car salesman, the pair work together to fight the case and solve the crime. It’s a love-hate relationship that is addictive to watch and will no doubt develop into a great show to watch.