EastEnders (Monday 8pm, BBC1)
Nick Cotton’s latest plan to off his mother (this one’s been running longer than Penelope Pitstop and the Hooded Claw) by crushing pills in her food hits something of a snag in tonight’s visit to Albert Square when little Dotty has second thoughts about a bit of Grannycide. Molly Conlin as the not so demonic Dotty is absolutely brilliant and her turn has made this storyline highly memorable. But something big is in the horizon - will Nick manage to carry his plot off?
Ashes to Ashes (Monday 9pm, BBC1)
With next week’s finale looming, this episode is nicely brooding, with Alex utterly convinced that she’s about to get herself a first class ticket straight back to 2008. There’s lots of stuff going on, including a new appearance from the always excellent Adrian Dunbar, who knows more about Alex’s predicament than she does. And then there’s Gene, who makes some shocking discoveries that will test his character to the core.
Holby City (Tuesday 8pm, BBC1)
A highly emotional episode of Holby following last week’s excellent and dramatic piece that saw Maddy tragically murdered. And the funeral is a difficult time for the staff as Maria tries to come up with a speech for the young doctor’s memorial service. Holby can still pull out the stops when it needs to, and this is no exception.
Mary, Queen of Charity Shops (Tuesday 9pm, BBC2)
This could almost be a Victoria Wood penned sit-com, with Julie Walters as a glamorous fashonista who turns up to whip a high street charity shop into shape, with Anne Reid, Duncan Preston and Thelma Barlow playing the shop’s staff. Glorious then that this is the very real and goddess like Mary Portas who has pitched up at Save the Children in Orpington to get things running smoothly again. Hugely enjoyable.
The Apprentice (Wednesday 9pm, BBC1)
The best show on the box reaches the penultimate round, and one of my personal favourites. There’s no opportunity to land your fellow candidates in the brown stuff here as it’s every man and woman for themselves when they literally attend a job interview. The interviews are conducted by four of Sir Alan’s most trusted acolytes, and boy do they go for the jugular, ripping the veracity of some flimsy CVs to pieces. And bless James for giving us one of the best lines from the entire run of the series. Joyous!
Life (Wednesday 10pm, ITV3)
Sadly cancelled in the States, Life returns exclusively to ITV3 for a second and final run. Damian Lewis once again plays quirky cop Charlie Crews who served 12 years in prison for murder before his conviction was overturned. It’s an engaging show, thanks to Lewis’s performance as Crews, who remains as Zen and fruit obsessed as ever. 21 episodes - enjoy them while you can.
Big Brother 10 (Thursday 9pm, C4)
For better or worse, Big Brother returns for what is an expected penultimate series of incarceration and hi-jinx with a group of mis-matched housemates who will make us laugh, cry and throw shoes at the screen (what, you’ve never done that?). I honestly fell out with Big Brother the year we began TV Today - it had become desperate and stale, seeking and failing to find new ways of torturing the housemates for our vicarious pleasure. But it is the show that still defines Channel 4 in the here and now, and that’s got to be worth a couple of pages in somebody’s book.
