Today's TV: Comedians baking for charity and Caroline Aherne at the BBC

No offence to any other celebrity challenge show, but Bake Off has a particularly impressive track record when it comes to attracting big names – and for this latest run of specials, it’s really outdone itself. Future episodes will feature James McAvoy, Jade Thirlwall and Dizzee Rascal, but we begin with Star Wars actor Daisy Ridley, comedian Rob Beckett, pop star Alexandra Burke and comedian Tom Allen. In theory, Allen should have an advantage – he co-hosts Bake Off: The Professionals and is a regular on An Extra Slice. But will one of the other celebs impress judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith? One famous face who will be missing is Noel Fielding – he’s on paternity leave, so Matt Lucas is in sole charge.

Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell: Long Lost Family

Long Lost Family: What Happened Next (ITV, 9pm)

It may be What Happened Next, but one of the stories featured in this episode has never been shown before because the search took an unexpected twist. Jean Smith, 67, wanted to find her father, who was in the American Air Force and had been stationed in the UK just after the Second World War. However, just as the Long Lost Family team took up the case, a sister on Jean’s father side reached out to her. Now, Jean tells the rest of her story. The episode also hears from Annie Sims, who was adopted as a baby. The series reunited her with her mother and sister, but she has even more relatives to discover and she goes in search of family on her father’s side.

The Painter And The Thief on Sky Arts

The Painter and the Thief (Sky Arts, 9pm)

This Norwegian documentary, directed by Benjamin Ree, begins with a brazen daylight robbery, as two men are caught by security cameras, breaking into a gallery and stealing two paintings by Barbora Kysilkova. One of the men, Karl Bertil-Nordland, is caught and tried. At the hearing, Barbora works up the courage to speak to him, asking if they can talk, and quickly thereafter asking if she can paint him. As he sits in her apartment, they talk about their lives and Bertil claims to not remember a thing about that day. Over the years, we get to see how the relationship between the artist and her muse developed.

DNA Family Secrets on BBC2 with Stacey Dooley

DNA Family Secrets (BBC2, 9pm)

The fascinating series continues as Stacey Dooley invites more people with some big questions to try to find the answers via DNA test. She meets 31-year-old Duri, who fears she may carry a potentially fatal genetic mutation and wants to find out of if there’s a possibility she could suffer from the same disease as her mother. The presenter also hears the story of a woman who was adopted when she was just six months old. She’s hoping that the latest DNA technology could help her to learn more about her biological family’s background.

Caroline Aherne at the BBC – Caroline Aherne as Denise Best in The Royle Family

Caroline Aherne at the BBC (BBC1, 9pm)

Her last role before her untimely death in 2016 was as the narrator of Channel 4’s Gogglebox, but Caroline Aherne will nevertheless always be associated with the BBC. After starting out on radio in her native Manchester and making a handful of brief TV appearances, she first made her mark as a pensionable mock chat show host in The Mrs Merton Show; the character also had her own all-too-brief sitcom Mrs Merton and Malcolm, alongside Craig Cash. Aherne was a member of The Fast Show cast before she and Cash scored their biggest hit with The Royle Family. In this celebration of her career, her old pal John Thomson introduces clips from them all.

Emma Willis

The Celebrity Circle for Stand Up to Cancer (C4, 9.15pm)

Not only is The Circle oddly addictive, it’s also the perfect reality format for social distancing. No wonder Channel 4 has brought it back for a celebrity special. The series sees Denise van Outen, Duncan James, Lady Leshurr, Saffron Barker, Baga Chipz, Kaye Adams and Nadia Sawalha, Rickie Haywood-Williams and Melvin Odoom, and Sam Thompson and Pete Wicks moving into the block, where they will compete to become popular via a social media app – but not all are being themselves. Emma Willis returns as host, delivering the players some surprises along the way, and comedian Sophie Willan is on voiceover duties.