Kolkata with Sue Perkins (BBC1, 9pm)

LIKE me, you might be a little confused by the name Kolkata until you're reminded that Calcutta was renamed in January 2001. So the idea of leading Sue Perkins away from the cake table to immerse herself in the complex life of the city's 4.6 million people and explores the city’s teeming streets makes much more sense and another travelogue opportunity for a quick-minded celeb.

She sees first-hand how Kolkata has evolved from a place notorious for its Black Hole of death dungeon and the dreadful poverty of its street people, to a place re-inventing itself as a vibrant new megacity, with a booming property sector and a reputation for eccentricity, culture and tolerance.

We can trust Perkins to tell it like it is as she explores the lives of its people, from the homeless street kids hustling for a living to the wealthy young entrepreneurs who race their Ferraris and Lamborghinis down the streets of the New Town.

She joins the rickshaw wallahs navigating the chaotic city streets and narrow lanes, thronged with people, and descends into Kolkata's Victorian sewers as part of an epic clean up. She limbers up with the ladies of the Laughing Club and makes an offering to the Goddess in the sacred Kalighat Temple.

No other city tells the remarkable story of India more clearly than the beautiful, crazy, colourful city of Kolkata. Through encounters with people from every strata of society, from the richest to the poorest, Perkins will paint a picture of contemporary India, emerging from a brutal Colonial past to take its place among the most powerful nations on Earth.

None more so than the presenter's attempts to help one little girl with English. "I am very...?" asks Perkins pointing to a storybook. "Old," is the response.

The Great British Bake Off (BBC1, 8pm)

...And it's Perkins again, with a little light relief from Mel Giedroyc, as the eight remaining bakers face recipes with a twist tonight as this week's tasks feature alternatives to commonly-used ingredients. For the signature bake, they must create a variety of sugar-free cakes, and one competitor decides to take an even healthier step by preparing a cake without any traditional form of flour. In the technical challenge, Paul Hollywood sets the bakers to work making gluten-free pittas, and for the showstoppers, they attempt to create dairy-free ice-cream rolls.

You Saw Them Here First: Hall of Fame (ITV, 8pm)

THE show revisiting the debuts of various well-known TV personalities returns to mark ITV's 60th anniversary this month. Ant and Dec, Davina McCall, David Tennant, Holly Willoughby, Jonathan Ross, Judy Finnegan, Richard Madeley, Sarah Lancashire and Sheridan Smith are among those whose earliest appearances are highlighted, and in a twist on the usual format a selection of famous faces are inducted into the "hall of fame" as they relive their first on-screen roles. Bruce Forsyth watches his presenting debut on Sunday Night at the London Palladium back in 1959, Lorraine Kelly is shown her first reports for TVAM in 1984 and Phillip Schofield is transported back to 1994 to revisit his time as host of Talking Telephone Numbers. Plus, actor Kevin Whately recalls his previous job as Kevin the truck driver in Coronation Street back in 1981, and Weatherfield veterans Barbara Knox and Thelma Barlow are reunited to explore their televisual lives before their time in the Kabin.

The Nick (ITV, 9pm)

TV'S obsession with cop shows real and imaginary continues. This time it's a three-part reality documentary, following the daily trials faced by police patrolling the streets of Brighton, one of Britain's most vibrant cities. Attracting more than eight million visitors a year, the East Sussex resort's fun reputation belies the same dark side as most of the nation's cities, and it is up to Division Commander Nev Kemp and his various teams of officers and detectives to maintain law and order. The series begins as officers deal with a prowler who has been breaking into women's bedrooms at night, and conduct a major raid on a drugs den.

Viv Hardwick