Tales from the Coast with Robson Green (ITV, 8pm)

ONE of the North-East's best-known actors meets people who share his passion for the British coast, beginning with north Devon, a 90-mile stretch of shoreline that holds fond childhood memories for him. Green starts his adventures by visiting the popular seaside resort of Ilfracombe, a town that stills attracts thousands of visitors every summer, to experience the classic British day out by the sea.

After spending a night under canvas, he takes a boat ride to the port of Clovelly, a village that evokes the character and atmosphere of a bygone age, and visits the island of Lundy.

"Throughout my life, I've always felt happiest when near the sea," he explains. "I grew up close to the coast, and I've swam or fished off the shores of more than a 100 different countries. Now I want to explore the very edges of Britain."

The actor and presenter travels to four very different stretches of coastline, and meets people who share his passion for our shores.

"There are parts of North Devon that make you feel like you're stepping back in time,"says Green. "So I'm hoping this journey will help me understand just how and why our love affair with the coast began."

Our Victorian ancestors' desire to be beside the seaside was so great, they would often go to extraordinary lengths to access the best places to soak up the sun. Privately owned tidal pools, with steep cliffs offered the perfect shelter for bathing, but they could only be accessed by boat, so almost 200 years ago, hundreds of Welsh miners were tasked with carving a network of tunnels through the cliffs, to open the pools up to the public.

Aside from investigating a Victorian invention designed to avoid embarrassing swimwear mishaps while changing, Green also sees how the high tidal ranges and craggy rocks make the perfect habitat for marine life.

Clovelly has featured in film versions of Sense and Sensibility and Treasure Island. However, after arriving in this quiet seaside village, Robson is involved in a true life drama and a real rescue mission.

Later, he visits Lundy, a dozen miles off the North Devon coast; it's one of the UK's most wild and unspoiled islands.

However, just getting there proves to be a struggle, partly thanks to the Bristol Channel whose choppy waters leave the star a little green around the gills.

With feet back on terra firma, he's soon suspended precariously over it as he scales the sea cliff on the west side of the island known as the Devil's Slide. At 400-feet in length, it's the largest slab of granite in Europe.

How to Lose Weight Well (Channel 4, 8pm)

DIET crashers Emma and Kaye have ten days to slim down for a day at the races, and Emma has found an unusual method she hopes will work for her – she's on the baby food diet, consuming up to 14 jars of it a day. Meanwhile, Eve and Kate go on six-week dieting plans before their holidays, with Eve trying out a bland diet designed to minimise gut irritation with low-fibre and low-fat foods, while Kate is given the champagne diet and can indulge in one glass of bubbly per day, accompanied by strictly calorie-controlled meals. Last in the series.

Sugar Free Farm (ITV, 9pm)

IT'S the final stage of the latest celebrity weight loss challenge, but those famous faces aren't out of the woods yet. Joe Pasquale visits the village fair where he attempts to avoid beloved sweet distractions, while Peter Davison hopes he can resist cupcakes. Meanwhile, Gemma Collins attempts to come to terms with farmwork, and it seems the absence of sugar has had a positive effect on Alison Hammond's tastebuds. Plus, last year's famous farmhand Jennifer Ellison shares her experience, and a final weigh-in reveals if the celebrity labourers have won their battle of the bulge. Will the likes of Stavros Flatley and Ann Widdecombe achieve their ideal weight, or has temptation proved too great?

Viv Hardwick