Ben Fogle, adventurer, broadcaster, writer … and comedian. You didn’t know that the Castaway winner can crack a joke with the best of them? All is revealed in a new series of Scotland’s Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle (BBC Scotland, Tuesday, 8pm).

In the previous series, Fogle ventured to Shetland and islands in the Inner and Outer Hebrides. The first stop this time is Arran and Holy Isle, which means catching the ferry from Ardrossan to Brodick.

With the fates smiling on him, Fogle strolls on to the ferry like he is walking into his front room. No drama, no delays or cancellations, all tickety-boo. In short, nothing like the experience of many CalMac customers recently.

“If you get your timings right,” says Fogle, “you could [get] from the centre of Glasgow to Brodick in about an hour and a half.”

A nation chortles. Watch out Kevin Bridges.

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Fogle has not been to Arran before, and the bustle of Brodick surprises him. It is not long before he is striding alone (save for the camera crew) through the hills and marvelling at how peaceful it is. “It’s like being in a library. I feel I need to whisper.”

On his travels around the island he meets Donald Currie and his family. Seven generations of the Curries have farmed the land here for 200 years, and the tradition will continue with 18-year-old Donald Jr.

After that it is off to Pirnmill to visit one of the few remaining prefab churches known as “tin kirks”. These simple, corrugated iron structures were made on the mainland and shipped to the islands to serve what were then growing congregations. Now there are too few churchgoers and the place has closed, much to Fogle’s regret. “I’m not a churchgoer but I appreciate a sacred, special space.”

On Holy Isle he visits a Buddhist Peace Centre where he meets Buddhist Monk Karma Zangpo. Back in Arran, he hikes to a mountain loch lying one thousand feet above sea level, before calling in at a beautiful cliff top apothecary garden, where he learns about the ancient links between Celtic beliefs and traditional herbal remedies.

Last stop before the ferry home is the Arran Folk Festival, where he duly does a turn. From the look on Fogle’s face by the end of the hour, his first visit to Arran won’t be the last.

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From the number of genealogy-linked programmes in the schedules you might think everyone and his dog are busy climbing through their family tree. So respect to the producers of DNA Family Secrets (BBC2, Wednesday, 9pm) for finding a new angle on the activity.

Presented by Stacey Dooley, the hour-long programme asks geneticists and genealogists to find answers to family conundrums. Judy from Liverpool, for example, wants to know what happened to the Chinese father who disappeared when the Second World War ended. John, a journalist from Glasgow wants to know where his biological father was from.

John speaks movingly of what it meant to him growing up not to know who his father was, and what it still means to him now he has a family of his own. He’s a natural storyteller and Dooley’s interview skills bring out even more aspects to the tale.

Stand by your beds for we are almost at the halfway point in Soldier (BBC1, Thursday, 9pm). This docuseries set in Catterick, Britain’s biggest army garrison, looks at what it takes to become an infantry soldier today.

The series has been made in a traditional, some might say old-fashioned, way, with the cameras picking out certain individuals to tell the wider tale. With 45 recruits starting the course we can’t follow every youngster’s experience.

This week finds that number down to 34 and the training is becoming tougher. As the ever cool and calm Lieutenant Wahab says, not all the platoon are going to make it through basic training.

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What makes Soldier stand out from the many other fly-on-the-wall docs about service life is the quality of the case studies. The viewer is almost spoiled for choice when it comes to characters. In addition, the series has gone that bit further in bringing families, mothers especially, into the mix.

This week the focus is on Private South, age 20 (going on 50). South used to work on a warehouse and wants to do “something amazing” with his life. He also wears glasses, much to his own astonishment at times. “You never see a guy with glasses in the army.” It’s a sign of how things have changed, ditto the presence of women soldiers on the same course.

We also hear from Private Harte, 20, who worked in a fast food restaurant before signing up. Harte, by his own admission, is a bit of a likely lad but very likeable with it. He always means well, and intends to do the right thing, but somehow the plans go awry.

If this engaging and often surprising series has passed you by it is well worth going back to the start on iPlayer. Just a suggestion, mind, not an order.