The best of the rest: The future’s bright?

Sometimes a couple of things pop up on your telly screens that just lift your spirits. This week sees the arrival of A Year To Fall In Love, and the return of Adam Hills’ The Last Leg. How’s that for positive thinking with a large dollop of humour?

A Year To Fall In Love follows twenty single people across the UK filming every moment, marking the dating app explosions, the raw fallouts, hopes and nail-bitingly true courage – because that’s what it can take to step out into that dating pool sometime.

Is there anything more hopeful and brave than looking for love? A real leap of faith in the goodness of humanity that there is someone that chance happens to pass your way who will treat your precious heart in a kind and considerate way. What are the odds? And – here’s the thing – do your chances improve with the likes of Tinder and Match.com or are the old ways the best? It’s one of the oldest quests to go on, but with new questions arriving with technology and attitudes, this promises to be a revealing show to viewers – singletons and matched up alike.

Is there anything more hopeful and brave than looking for love?

Friday night is blessed once again with The Last Leg, with hosts Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker joined by guests from entertainment and politics to discuss the week’s events. Despite this being the show’s fourteenth series at its heart it remains fresh, due in no small part to the combination of the hosts’ fast thinking humour and their live social media feed. Still working with the hashtag that emerged way back when with their Special Olympics coverage, #isitok encourages free discourse in a way that lets the stupid questions be asked – rather than let the stupid ideas fester through fear of asking. A simple and enduring concept. Plus, Papa Hills’ monologues giving gravitas and voice to real frustration at the state of the nation are frequently so on point they’re a favourite on social media shares the next day.

So here’s to hope this week – for true love and free communication to work together. Isn’t that nice?

A Year To Fall In Love; Tuesday; Channel 4, 10pm
The Last Leg; Friday; Channel 4, 10pm