Ready, Steady, Cook Tuesday 4.30pm, BBC2)
Denise Van Outen and John Barrowman bring a bag of shopping for Ainsley’s chefs to have a crack at making into something edible. Is there anything that John Barrowman won’t appear on?
Waking the Dead (Tuesday 9pm, BBC1)
Part two of the usual entertaining nonsense courtesy of Superintendent Boyd and his team of cold case sleuths. These days, you could probably mix and match episodes of Waking the Dead and you’d still be able to make a plot that’s probably more comprehensible. As always with the second part of a WTD tale, time is usually running out for the team to prevent another murder connected to a more recent murder connected to a murder from two decades ago. Is this long-running BBC big hitter starting to run out of steam? Perhaps, and for the next series I’m wondering what can be done to inject some more energy into proceedings…
Battlestar Galactica (Tuesday 9pm, Sky One)
Unless you’re watching the other shows we’ve recommended, there’s only place to be on Tuesday nights at 9. Battlestar Galactica: still great, still bonkers, still loving it!
Deadliest Catch (Tuesday 9pm, Discovery)
Documentaries might just fall outside the remit of TV Today, but Deadliest Catch could easily be a TV drama. This fly on the wall account of the crab fisherman working the treacherous Bering Sea has been running long enough now that the men crewing the trawlers have become like favourite soap characters. It might be the same thing week in week out - they cast out the traps and then haul them back in, but there’s always a thrill when your favoured captain is suddenly “on the crab!”. A very entertaining and addictive show.
Child of Our Time (Wednesday 8pm, BBC1)
The annual update on the lives of the group of children Sir Robert Winston has been following since their birth back in 2000. There’s nothing startling on display in how the children are growing up, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
The British Soap Awards (Wednesday 8pm, ITV1)
With EastEnders back on decent form after a couple of years in the wilderness, and teen soap Hollyoaks running some good, hard-hitting storylines of late, there could be some surprises along the way in tonight’s annual celebration of all things soap (of course, we know the results already, but for the sake of suspense, I won’t tell if you don’t). Certainly Coronation Street seems to be out in the wilderness on some nominations this year, which is a surprise, but you know what they say, there’s nowt so queer as soap. Or something. Phillip Schofield and Fern Britton are on hosting duties.
The Apprentice (Wednesday 9pm, BBC1)
This series just gets better and better, but I do have that uncomfortable feeling watching The Apprentice that much of its success is based on displays of human cruelty. Last week’s attack on Sara was fascinating to watch, but also gut-wrenching for the pack mentality it illustrated. But good on Raef for stepping up to the plate and showing he’s more than just a chinless wonder by gamely defending Sara. This week sees the pack of entertaining human tedium heading to Marakesh to bargain their little hearts out in the market and bring some wonga for Sir A.
Heroes (Thursday 9pm, BBC2)
Oh yawn, this sometimes-entertaining American drama really has lost me in this second series as it meanders through too many plotlines concerning too many characters. The first season of Heroes had a top-heavy cast as it was - can somebody entertain the virtue of introducing yet more super-powered types? Less showing, more doing please!
The Invisibles (Thursday 9pm, BBC1)
Maurice and Syd are blackmailed by a copper from their past into doing a job for him or he’ll turn them in. From the trailers, I was expecting The Invisibles to be slick, funny piece of character led TV. Instead it’s just a fairly ordinary piece of work that ends up being a bit dull. Shame, as the cast are great but the scripts just don’t sparkle as much as they should.
Midnight Man (Thursday 9pm, ITV1)
A promising if clichéd drama starring James Nesbitt as down at heel journalist Max Raban. A phobia means he can’t go out during the hours of daylight, so he’s reduced to trawling through rubbish bins in the dead of the night to find his stories and pay the bills. Looking into the death of two Iranian cousins, Max is on the verge of uncovering a conspiracy that implicates top-level politicians and Rupert Graves’ dodgy businessman Daniel Cosgrave. Midnight Man is fairly run of the mill stuff, but Nesbitt has that ability to raise mundane fare out of the doldrums, and an appearance from the legendary Alan “It’s Jim Robinson!” Dale is also good value.
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