The Diary of Anne Frank BBC1/HD Monday-Friday 7pm
Stripped across the whole week, this new adaptation of the well-known story of the family in the Amsterdam attic is the first to be based on teenager Anne Frank’s unabridged diary. Deborah Moggach’s script is brought to life by an excellent cast, including Iain Glen, Ron Cook and the inestimable Lesley Sharp — but it is Ellie Kendrick as Anne and Tamsin Greig as her mother who stand out.
Masterchef BBC2 Monday-Wednesday 8.30pm, Thursday 8pm
A new set of amateur chefs are put through their paces by the shoutiest chefs on television, Gregg Wallace and John Torode.
Oz and James Drink to Britain BBC2, Tuesday 8pm
Their relationship is so fractious that there’s never any doubt that it was constructed purely for televisual entertainment, but James May and Oz Clarke work well together on screen so well that it’s easy to forgive the artifice. After two series of exploring vinoculture in France and the USA, the odd couple take a trek closer to home, looking at the alcoholic beverages brewed, fermented and distilled on home turf. Just don’t try and keep up with their intake if you want to keep your liver.
Dead Set Channel 4/4HD, Tuesday-Thursday 10pm
As Channel 4 and its sister channels throw over so much of their schedules to Celebrity Big Brother, here’s a welcome terrestrial first run for Charlie Brooker’s satirical zombie thriller. As a killer virus turns the nation into zombies, the only people who are safe are coccooned in a house in Borehamwood, unaware that the crowd outside really are baying for blood… Excellent fun, which helped propel Brooker into The Stage’s recent list of the most influential people in British television.
Waterloo Road BBC1, Wednesday 8pm
Effectively Grange Hill in a grown-up timeslot, one of my favourite guilty pleasures returns with a feature-length first episode. A new family of troubled kids (including Casualty’s Luke Bailey) dominate proceedings, especially when one of them brings a gun to school…
Life of Riley BBC1/HD, Thursday 8pm
The Green Green Grass BBC1/HS, Thursday 8.30pm
Caroline Quentin and Neil Dudgeon star in a new studio-based sitcom, Life of Riley, as a newly married couple who each have their own children from previous relationships. So far, so Brady Bunch. Given the calibre of the leading actors, though, it could work. Mind you, I thought that about Celia Imrie and After You’ve Gone, so you never know… Straight afterwards, Only Fools and Horses spin-off The Green Green Grass returns for an inexplicable fourth series.
Hustle BBC1/HD, Thursday 9pm
Adrian Lester returns for the fifth series of the glossy-but-shallow con trick series. He’s badly needed, as both Marc Warren and Jaime Murray have departed, as has series 4’s Ashley Walters. With a team of new recruits, including former EastEnder Matt Di Angelo, Mickey Bricks tries to take down a pair of obnoxious property developers. With a script by Tony Jordan, expect all the usual: winks to camera, audaciously over-complicated con tricks, and a scheme that seems to go completely wrong until the last few minutes. Great fun.
ER More4, Thursday 9pm
Brothers & Sisters More4, Thursday 10pm
Two of the best ‘mainstream’ US exports right now debut their latest seasons tonight. ER starts its fifteenth (and final) series with the team battling to save Doctor Pratt after the ambulance he was in exploded at the end of the last series, while an hour later the Walker family continue their self-destructive ways as they seek out yet another long-lost sibling.
Dexter ITV1, Thursday 10.35pm
ITV1 begins a second run of its own US import, in a series previously seen on digital channel FX. Like the first, the second series doesn’t really hit its stride until a few episodes in, but everything is so well done throughout you don’t really care. Michael C Hall’s likeable serial killer remains one of the most enthralling characters on television at the moment, and he’s backed up by a superb supporting cast.
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