EastEnders (Friday 8pm, BBC1)
Tonight’s the night that psycho Stella Crawford meets her end down Walford way after the revelations over her abuse of lil’ Ben Mitchell. It’s always touch and go whether Enders will get a dramatic climax to a storyline right or not, but this is just about on the money. It’s a real return to form for Phil who suddenly seems to find himself, and the events are nicely played. The action carries on into next week’s episodes.
Jericho (Friday 8pm, Hallmark)
The show that received a last minute reprieve of seven more episodes to be broadcast later this year ends its first season tonight, and well worth a look it is too. It’s easy to see why such a fervent following hooked into this show, being an incredibly detailed depiction of the world following a nuclear attack. Watch out for Britain’s own Lennie James and the line that sparked the peanut symbol of a resurrection campaign.
The Shield (Friday 11pm, Five)
Alongside The Wire, this is one of the most-feted cop shows on US TV in recent years. Tonight, Vic is off the hook with Internal Affairs, but he still has Captain Wyms on his case still as she tries to force him into retirement. And they used to be such good friends. Actually, scratch that, nobody has friends in this show.
A Very British Sex Scandal (Saturday 9pm, C4)
Channel 4 opens its much-trumpeted (and rightly so) season to mark the 40th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality. This drama, centring on a landmark 1954 court case concerning Daily Mail journalist Peter Wildeblood and Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, is a little clunky in places. But the mix of real-life testimony with dramatised moments, despite a stiff-upper lip Britishness to proceedings, ends up as an effective highlight of how this marked the slow change of social attitudes in Britain.
Jekyll (Saturday 9pm, BBC1)
The penultimate episode of Steven Moffat’s crazy (but incredibly watchable) drama goes off in a whole new direction as Hyde is now in the driving seat of the body he shares with Jackman. But now, the boot is on the other foot as he’s plagued with visions of Jackman’s life. Payback must be sweet! Just when you think you know where you are with this, we then get flashbacks to 1886 when Dr Jekyll meets Robert Louis Stevenson. Audaciously brilliant.
Smallville (Sunday 9pm, E4)
A return for this always-enjoyable superhero yarn focussing on the early years of Superman. Clarke’s still trapped in the Phantom Zone, the not very nice place built by his Kryptonian father. Don’t take it too seriously and this will always be an entertaining romp for a Sunday night.
Clapham Junction (Sunday 10pm, C4)
A compelling piece of drama that continues the season begun with last night’s A Very British Sex Scandal. Through a series of vignettes, a group of gay men’s lives interconnect during a 36-hour period. The preview tapes hadn’t arrived as of this morning, but the cast, featuring James Wilby and Rupert Graves, is clearly top-flight, and writer Kevin Elyot previously penned My Night with Reg, so the subject matter will be sensitively and poignantly handled.
Dexter (Sunday 10pm, FX)
I started to find the tone of this unique drama series a little too perky last week. It’s a natural side effect of the fact we have to find our murderous lead character likeable, so he runs around grinning cheekily and wise-cracking, then goes and offs somebody in gruesome fashion. It’s quite jarring really – Dexter comes over like a children’s TV presenter who beheads his audience every 20 minutes. Still, there’s a lot going on and there’s nothing like it on TV. Thank God.
