We thought we’d seen the last of her, but a Weatherfield great returns for a one night only appearance in Coronation Street (Monday 7.30/8.30pm, ITV1). Shelley Unwin (the quite simply wonderful Sally Lindsay) pops back to say hi, and if there’s the potential to wipe that smug git grin off Charlie Stubbs’s face, this is it. It won’t take a genius to work out just what piece of cliff-hanging news Shell is going to dump on her bad boy builder ex, and this looks like it could be the beginning of the end of Chuck’s reign of terror from one side of the cobbles to the other.
TV Today’s New Favourite Thing, otherwise known as Spooks (Monday 9pm, BBC1) continues its fifth series apace, and this pleases me no end. After the energetic opening salvo, things don’t let up this week as Zaf goes undercover to infiltrate an al-Qaeda cell. This show never has any problem about offing central characters, as exemplified by last week’s merciless death of lovable geek Colin, and that helps keep the tension taut. For a more sedate alternative, you may want to take safe haven in the arms of Life Begins (Monday 9pm, BBC1).
Oooh, is Lost (Tuesday C4, 10pm) still going? So it would seem, as season two draws to a close with a double bill. I still can’t decide whether Lost is a work of genius or truly ham fisted, but I can’t deny the power of the show’s following, so it must be doing something right. As usual, the climax poses more questions than it asks, ensuring the longevity of the show into a third season and beyond, and does it with considerably more style and verve than its stablemate, Desperate Housewives.
Who Do You Think You Are? (Wednesday 9pm, BBC1) is still proving to be a fun addition to the BBC1 schedules since its move from BBC2, and this welcome episode focuses on rapidly rising star, David Tennant (must not mention that thing with the police box and monsters, must resist). Tennant is officially one of the nicest people in showbiz, and he makes for an affably watchable subject as he heads out on the quest to discover his roots. As always, there are some surprises on the way. One suspects that Who Do You Think You Are? is in for a very long, very successful life…
Another show I regularly forget is still around is The Bill (Wednesday 8pm, ITV1). It just doesn’t seem to have that vibrancy it used to have in spades and almost seems to earn its keep in the schedules by force of habit. Still, a two-part story kicks off tonight that sees popular characters Sam Nixon and Phil Hunter assigned to busting a people trafficking ring in Romania. It’s slicker, and certain passions that have brewing between the good-looking detectives recently well and truly come boiling over. Entertainingly patchy.
After surprising myself and laughing like a drain at last week’s Extras (Thursday 9pm, BBC2), a little bit of magic touches the series this week with an appearance by Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe, alongside a conveyor belt of other cameos, from Diana Rigg to Richard and Judy. What this series has over the first is a much more natural sense of how to invoke those cringing moments of dread that have you almost changing channel to avoid them. The second run has much more of an identity, getting over that tricky Office-lite phase it hit during series one. It would be a shame if Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant decided not to do any more, just when Extras has well and truly found its feet.
The Sopranos (Thursday 10pm, More4) snuck in under the radar somewhat for its final series, but remains rewarding nevertheless. If you haven’t succumbed to its dark heart by now, you might do better than to seek out The Sopranos on DVD or wait for a repeat run from the start.
Friday provides you with two choices in the drama stakes. Lenny Henry stars in Berry’s Way (Friday 9pm, BBC1), part of the strand of original one-off dramas to have graced BBC1 for the last few weeks. The modern day Lenny Henry frequently falls flat in the comedy stakes, but here he reminds us what a good actor he is (anybody remember the overlooked Hope and Glory?). Berry Cottrell’s life has gone off the rails a little. He’s a single father, his dad’s in a nursing home and his dry cleaning business is far from sparkling. Will his decision to start an Open University degree change his fortunes? Erm… what do you think?
And finally we have Rebus (Friday 9pm, ITV1). I’ve waxed lyrical of late on my love for Ian Rankin’s dour Edinburgh detective and where the shortcomings in these TV adaptations lie (Let It Bleed, this week’s outing is a prime example), so I won’t bore you. But, I’m a little confused as to why ITV is showing these now. In a couple of week’s, Rankin’s supposedly penultimate Rebus novel, The Naming of the Dead, is released, and will sell somewhere in the region of the right side of a million copies, along with a storm of publicity. There’s no publicity like free publicity, and in ITV’s case, this is nothing like free publicity. Oh well. Here’s hoping for more of Ken Stott in the role.
But, if none of this week’s recommendations appeal, I strongly suggest (and I always will) that you take the trouble to turn the dial of your radio in the direction of Ambridge for The Archers (Monday-Friday, Sunday, 7pm, R4). It’s by far the best soap out there, and if you’re in any doubt, I’m writing this with a straight face.
