Celebrity Masterchef (BBC1, 9pm)

THE annual hunt returns with John Torode and Gregg Wallace seeking a replacement for the delectable actress Sophie Thompson who last year beat fellow finalists Charley Boorman and Jodie Kidd.

This summer's sizzling line-up, celebrating the show's tenth anniversary, features 20 apron-clad celebrities. Actors Scott Maslen, Tish Potter, Craig Gazey, Amanda Donohoe and actor and presenter Sheree Murphy; soul singer and presenter Mica Paris; former Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding; Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt; The Wanted singer Tom Parker; singer-songwriter Chesney Hawkes; one half of TV presenter duo Sam and Mark, Sam Nixon; presenters Keith Chegwin, Andy Akinwolere, Most Haunted host Yvette Fielding, TV presenter and singer Rylan Clark; comedian Syd Little; choreographer Arlene Phillips; journalist, writer and broadcaster Samira Ahmed; professional dancer Natalie Lowe and British Paralympian world-record-holder Danny Crates.

Executive producer for the BBC, Carla-Maria Lawson, says: "This year's intake of celebrities are among the most skilled to brave the MasterChef challenge. Their culinary journey makes for a thoroughly entertaining and thrilling ride."

The first four weeks concentrate on whittling down the celebrities, and testing their abilities until the final eight go through to the fifth and semi-final week.

This first episode sees Harding, Hawkes, Fielding, Murphy and "Tish" Potter face the infamous invention test.

Then, Tish and Yvette are thrown in at the deep end at Asian cuisine specialists, Novikov, while the other three are sent to award-winning Sixtyone in Marylebone.

Back at MasterChef HQ, the contestants prepare a two-course menu of their own choosing before John and Gregg make their decisions.

"That's as ugly as sin," Torode tells one contestant while Wallace chips in about another meal: "Honey and wild mushrooms is a combination not to be tasted again."

And you'll have to wait to hear which one of the five blubs: "It's torture. It's horrendous."

Two celebrities from each heat week make it through to the semi-finals, where they must endure even more nerve-racking culinary trials, before the sixth and final week sees the remaining, and now hopefully impressive cooks, draw on all the skills they have learnt, when they face not only Torode's fiendishly tricky Palate Test, but also the notorious restaurant critics in the terrifying Critic's Test.

After this, they return to MC HQ and cook their best three-course meal for John and Gregg, before the judges decide who is the true cooking star worthy of following in the footsteps of previous winners Thompson, Ade Edmondson, Emma Kennedy, Phil Vickery, Lisa Faulkner, Jayne Middlemiss, Liz McClarnon, Nadia Sawalha and Matt Dawson.

Executive producers for media company Shine: Soho, Karen Ross and David Ambler, say: "This year's Celebrity MasterChef sees more catastrophes, competitiveness, disasters and edge-of-seat moments than we have ever come across before."

Dogs: Their Secret Lives (Channel 4, 8pm)

ONE in four British households own a dog, so some of the issues raised in this series hosted by Mark Evans affect quite a lot of us. Tonight, surveillance footage reveals how chihuahua Marley has become territorial, leaving a smelly urine trail around his house, and destroying the furniture. Meanwhile, alsatian sisters Tasha and Kes have forced their owners to lead separate lives. Mark Evans and the experts are on hand to give their views on this and other canine behaviour, and investigate whether dogs can feel emotions such as jealousy and guilt.

Hoff the Record (David, 9pm)

DAVID Hasselhoff proves that not only does he have a wicked sense of humour, he also has worldwide star quality – after all, who else can say they've had a TV channel renamed in their honour? As Dave changes to "David" (albeit briefly), this semi-improvised comedy series based on the Hoff's surreal life sees a fictionalised version of the man himself – complete with a previously unknown German son, a hopeless manager and an oddball entourage- trying to reignite his flagging career, by any means necessary.

Viv Hardwick