Heston’s Recipe For Romance (C 4, 9pm)

THERE was the one memorable February 14 when my wife and I finished up at McDonalds because the restaurant we’d booked decided it couldn’t fit us in, but love and a big Mac might be more connected than any of the 16 million UK couples currently planning a romantic Valentine's Day meal realise.

Heston Blumenthal is off in search of the food of love and recruits a team of scientists and psychologists to help put together a menu they hope will affect how people feel about each other.

"It seems people really want to know whether or not there's a specific culinary formula to spice up your love life," explains Heston.

Five couples, at different stages of a relationship, are invited to a dinner that includes chocolate in every course... but the daredevil chef isn’t likely of tempt their palettes with something particularly ordinary.

The Melt My Heart starter features a white chocolate heart with scallops and a caviar pearl. But Mr B admits he’s taken a real gamble with two very hot chilli “apples”; a two-part course inspired by the Garden of Eden, including a live snake as part of the meal. Even if snake is said to taste like chicken it’s pretty obvious that most diners are going to re-coil, so to speak.

Phil and Jackie, one of the oldest couples taking part, have been married for 25 years. They are surprised by the menu, though Phil might need a bunch of flowers to smooth over the fact that he says the couple met when they were 14 and she was "Not the slimmest of girls." Phil’s also bought her a VHS recording of The Fugitive from the petrol station bargain bucket because “she’s difficult to buy for”. What an old romantic.

All of the couples have rated their relationship based on Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love using the components of intimacy, passion and commitment. Sounds positively charming as the five pairs dine in a romantically-themed room made complete with red roses. Of course these are no ordinary flowers. Hidden within is the aperitif to get the party started and a Cupid's cocktail features a scent designed to rekindle romance.

The dessert features Blumenthal’s favourite ingredient of popping candy. Let’s draw a veil over the idea that things will go with a bang. Bizarrely, the chef also has to think of an image and draw it for Chris Cox, a mind and memory expert, who has to guess what it will be.

Richard Wilson on the Road (ITV, 8pm)

FOR the last in the current series of this amiable travel strand, Wilson's off to Oxfordshire in his vintage 1960s Daimler following an ancient Shell Guide which excludes the famous city and concentrates on other sights in the county.

Aside from a trip to Henley on Thames, where Wilson visits one of the world's most famous rowing clubs, the seasoned actor and presenter marvels at Blenheim Palace. Plus, Downton Abbey fans will spot some familiar sights as he calls in to the village of Bampton; one of the filming locations for the hit show.

A Cook Abroad: Tony Singh's India (BBC2, 9pm)

EDINBURGH’S Tony Singh, a classically-trained chef who has been in the restaurant business for 22 years, heads for the state of Punjab to trace his family's roots and find out how authentic his Glaswegian mum's Punjabi cooking is.

During the festival of Diwali, he visits Amritsar, gets an exclusive invitation to eat and cook with a maharajah and meets an order of nomadic Sikh warriors. Singh discovers how the Sikh religion and the Punjab's troubled past have created a unique food and culture. His adventure ends at his ancestral home in New Delhi with his 93-year-old uncle. Chances are this TV natural will land a series of his own before long.