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HIS NEW SHOW
In his new six-part documentary,
Neill, 72, retraces the route taken
across the Southwest Pacific by
British explorer James Cook 250
years ago. Visiting the likes of Tahiti
and Hawaii, he explores the cultures
of the islands and discusses Cook’s
controversial legacy with local
people. ‘I took a year off acting for
this adventure,’ says Neill, who
lives in New Zealand. ‘I wanted to
understand what Cook’s arrival
meant to indigenous people. It
was very moving for me at times.’
A familiar face
appearing in a new
show this week
Look
Who’s
Back...
Pacific with Sam Neill
NEW Sunday, History HD, 9pm
Sam Neill
Neill’s breakthrough
role was opposite
Judy Davis in My
Brilliant Career
(1980). He played
Damien in The
Final Conflict (1981)
and later auditioned
to play James Bond,
but lost out to Timothy Dalton.
He went on to win leading roles
in the films The Piano and Jurassic
Park (both in 1993). His TV roles
include real-life spy Sidney Reilly in
Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983), C ardinal
Thomas Wolsey in The Tudors
(2007) and cop Chester Campbell
in Peaky Blinders (2013-2014).
Neill visits the
Pacific islands
Karren Brady
joins the
safari tour
1980
fired
All
up!
As Lord Sugar
seeks his new
apprentice, meet
the candidates
heading to
South Africa...
The wheelie cases are packed, CVs
submitted, and trite phrases and
self-important personal statements
rehearsed. It can only mean one
thing... The Apprentice is back!
As the series begins this week,
Lord Alan Sugar gears up to select
a budding entrepreneur worthy
of his £250,000 investment. But
before anyone is hired, the new
candidates must attempt to outdo
each other in a series of tasks – and
avoid being fired in the process.
Keeping Lord Sugar abreast of
proceedings once again are his
closest confidants – eagle-eyed
Karren Brady and Claude Littner.
Here, Littner, 70, shares tales
from the new 12-part series...
Are you excited by the new
series? I’m very keen to watch it.
Obviously I know what happens,
but it’s still a joy to watch. The
editing is genius – the way they
take thousands of hours of film
and manage to encapsulate the
characters and the key points in
every single task is wonderful.
They don’t miss a trick.
The show is filmed in just three
months. Do you find that pretty
stressful? Yes, it’s both stressful
and time-consuming, but we
actually have a few laughs with
the fantastic crew, which is really
welcome. There’s obviously lots
of tension for the candidates,
but not for us. It’s always fun.
How do you and Karren always
seem so calm and unruffled? It’s
just exhaustion, really. After weeks
of getting up at 4am and getting
home at 11pm, everyone’s pretty
much worn out at the end of the
series. But the idea is not to show
the strain. I always think week one
and two are a breeze, but by week
three I’d love to have a lie-in. The
4am starts are worse for Karren,
because she has to get up even
earlier to do her hair. Fortunately
I don’t have that problem.
NEW REALITY
The Apprentice
Wednesday, BBC1 HD, 9pm
This week on TV