July 2009 Archives

Classic Goldie (Friday 9pm, BBC2)
If you got caught up in last year’s Maestro, then you’ll love this two-part musical adventure with the competition’s runner-up, Goldie. The drum’n’bass star was commissioned to compose an orchestral piece for this year’s BBC Proms, and this programme charts his progress as he overcomes his lack of formal training, relying on his natural instincts honed from years in the studio. Fascinating stuff.

True Blood (Friday 10pm, FX)
More vampiric shenanigans as Alan Ball’s enjoyably macabre drama continues. This week we find out more about the world of the vampire’s as we see a bit further into Bill’s life - and Sookie is a bit shocked by some of her mysterious suitor’s friends. But will that stop her wanting yet more from the brooding Bill? Of course not! It’s funny and silly but never less then entertaining, but True Blood has a long way to go before it reaches the heights of Ball’s previous Six Feet Under.

BBC Proms 2009: Classic MGM Musicals (Saturday 7.30pm, BBC2)
A real treat from the Proms tonight as the John Wilson Orchestra performs songs from the classic days of the MGM musicals. Curtis Stigers and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane are just two of the turns lending their vocal talents to songs taken from the likes of Singin’ in the Rain and The Wizard of Oz.

Casualty (Saturday 8.55pm, BBC1)
Last in the current series. It’s Curtis and Alice’s wedding day, and the chances of them actually getting down the aisle are slim, seeing as Curtis is now a prime murder suspect. And will Nick Jordan make it to the end of the episode? Grim and emotional, just as Casualty should be but so rarely is.

Happy Birthday OU (Saturday 9pm, BBC4)
Documentary with Lenny Henry to mark the 40th anniversary of the Open University.

Outnumbered (Saturday 9.45pm, BBC1)
A welcome chance to enjoy a rerun of BBC1’s best sitcom for years, starring Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner as the exasperated parents of three feisty children. Sublime in its execution.

Man on Wire (Sunday 9pm, BBC2)
This stunning Oscar-winning documentary is perhaps the best thing you will watch all year. In 1974, Phillipe Petit pulled off the most daring stunt of the 20th century - an illegal tightrope walk between the barely finished towers of New York’s World Trade Centre. This film, co-funded by BBC Films, tells the story behind how Petite managed this amazing feat, and the story of his early life as he set his sights on bigger and bolder exploits. A beautiful piece of work from all concerned.

Single-Handed (Sunday 9pm, ITV1)
This might look like a Hamish Macbeth/Heartbeat clone, but the beautiful West of Ireland countryside is where the comparisons end. Sgt Jack Driscoll returns to his home village to take a post as the only policeman for miles around - hence Single-Handed. It’s actually quite a dark piece as Driscoll’s first case involves a woman being found dead in a caravan. If you want something with a little more bite for a Sunday night, then this could be just the thing.

Soho Stories Radio 4, Saturday 10.30am
Paul Jackson’s riveting story of the history of independent TV production hits the 1990s, when the “most successful political lobby in modern British history” persuaded the government to enforce a quota system on ITV and the BBC to ensure that at least 25% of their programming was commissioned from the independent sector.

The Saturday Play: Last Night, Another Soldier… Radio 4, Saturday 2.30pm
Bravo Two Zero author Andy McNab has penned this tale of Briggsy, an 18-year-old soldier just three weeks in to his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Injured during his first contact with the Taliban, his encounters with his fellow troops help him understand the lasting effects of war. Russell Tovey stars as Briggsy.

BBC Proms 2009: Prom 22 - A Celebration of MGM Film Musicals Radio 3, Saturday 7.30pm
I’ve been a bit remiss in plugging the Proms on Turn Off the TV, I must confess. What better place to start, though, than with a celebration of some of the best musical films in history? The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St Louis, Singin’ in the Rain — it’s like being in the company of old friends. Singers include the multi-talented Seth Macfarlane, creator of animated series Family Guy and American Dad!. Also broadcast on BBC2.

Elaine Paige on Sunday Radio 2, Sunday 1pm
EP’s guest this week is Patina Miller, who plays Deloris Van Cartier in the glorious Sister Act at the London Palladium. Incidentaly, the cast recording of Sister Act was released on Monday, and is available for MP3 download as well as on CD. I’ve been listening to it all week, and I honestly think it’s some of Alan Menken’s best work in years.

Classic Serial: Ruth Radio 4, Sunday 3pm
Elizabeth Gaskell’s second novel scandalised society when it was first published in 1853 by landing firmly on the side of the fallen woman, an apprentice seamstress who turns the head of a society gentleman. Laura Rees plays Ruth Hilton and Rory Kinnear is Bellingham.

Tennyson’s Ulysses Revisited Radio 4, Sunday 4.30pm
In the year of Tennyson’s bicentenary, Sean O’Brien looks at this classic poem, the tragedy in Tennyson’s life that inspired him to write it, and the effects it has on readers today.

Bill Kenwright Radio 2, Sunday 5pm
Theatre impresario Kenwright sits in for Paul O’Grady.

Woman’s Hour Drama: Villette Radio 4, Monday-Friday 10.45am / 7.45pm
Anna Maxwell Martin stars in this ten-part adaptation, continuing next week, of Charlotte Bronte’s novel. Martin is Lucy Snowe who, orphaned and alone, head to the French town of Villette in the hopes of becoming a teacher.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Radio 2, Tuesday 10.30pm
Tennessee Williams is one of America’s greatest playwrights (if you can get tickets for A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar Warehouse at the moment, you should). British playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah explores the cultural, social and religious influences that made Williams the man he was, and looks at how his Mississippi upbringing is reflected in his stage works.

Between Ourselves Radio 4, Wednesday 9am / 9.30pm
Olivia O’Leary’s discussion programme which brings people with similar experiences together returns for a new series. In this first show, the subject is stand-up comedy. O’Leary meets two Asian comics, Shazia Mirza and Paul Sinha, whose families were against their chosen profession.

Billy Liar: 50 Years On Radio 4, Thursday 11.30am
Write Blake Morrison presents this tribute to Keith Waterhouse’s novel, later of course turned into a successful play and film. Novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford and comedian Barry Cryer pitch in to help put Waterhouse’s tale into context.

Electric Ink Radio 4, Thursday 6.30pm
A deservedly rapid repeat for this new sitcom which take a satirical look at the changing world of modern journalism. Robert Lindsay is on top form as the jaded print hack who rails against user-generated content, Twitter, video blogging and the like. Let’s hope a second series comes soon — and a television transfer shouldn’t be ruled out.

I fear I’m being unusually curmudgeonly this week, with my somewhat negative review of Desperate Romantics yesterday. And today I find myself harrumphing into my sultana bran as I read the news story that Sky is planning to launch Europe’s first 3D TV channel in 2010.

3D television? Sounds like witchcraft if you ask me, but then I am knocking on the door of 40, so perhaps I’ve hit that point where I’m no longer down with the kids. But trying to look objectively at the concept of 3D television, I’m struggling to see much of a point, certainly not enough for it to enter into the mainstream of our television viewing. I’m quite happy with Liz McDonald in good old fashioned 2D, thank you very much.

I can see some virtue in the development of 3D technology for the cinema - there is some still element of spectacle about seeing a rip-roaring blockbuster on a huge screen, and it can still be a shared experience with those around you. And the prospect of something like Toy Story reissued in cinemas as a 3D movie is appealing. But whichever way I come at it, I cannot see much future for it on television.

I note with a vaguely passing interest that Desperate Romantics dumped 500,000 viewers on the overnights between episodes one and two. I don’t suppose it’s that great a number in the final analysis, although I can’t say I’m hugely surprised. I didn’t go back myself for a second helping of artistic antics with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

So what was wrong with it? Nothing that was particularly offensive or unlikable, it all just felt a bit… one note. I just couldn’t help thinking - especially looking at the next time trailer - that I had seen everything I needed to see. I’m quite at a loss as to how the series might be sustained over six episodes without it becoming repetitive and a little bit tedious.

And I’m not sure I could cope with watching any more of Aidan Turner’s twitchy gurning, which worked well in Being Human, but here he makes his Rossetti highly annoying. He’s clearly going for magnetic, charming, sexy, rogueish, but all he ends up doing is ensuring that what Rossetti needs is a good slap. Remember Aidan, he’s not a vampire, he’s an artist.

There was plenty of hoopla for upcoming TV fare at last weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con, chief amongst them being the news that Russell T Davies, David Tennant and Julie Gardner didn’t announce that they were making a Doctor Who movie. Indeed the trio seemed to be more than happy to just chew the fat over the last four years and recent experiences making the final specials to finish off Tennant’s tenure in the TARDIS. And unveil a cracking preview of The Waters of Mars.

And don’t let this get around, but from the other treats on show at San Diego, I was even impressed by the trailer for the upcoming Stargate: Universe, the new entry into the seemingly endless franchise. Perhaps I’m slipping.

But for the discerning fan of all things telly, the major talking point seems to be the nine-minute preview of the forthcoming AMC/ITV co-production remake of The Prisoner (click to read more and to see the video!)

Bang Goes the Theory BBC1, Monday 7.30pm
Popular science on BBC1 in a slot that competes against Coronation Street? Four presenters looking at new technologies? It’s Tomorrow’s World, isn’t it? Well, no. Although its roots are clearly showing BGTT is as close to TW as Top Gear is to, well, the original Top Gear. Dallas Campbell, Liz Bonnin, Jem Stansfield and Yan Wong are the presenters. But let’s be honest, none of them are likely to be the next Judith Hann or Maggie Philbin…

The Supersizers Eat… Ancient Rome BBC2, Monday 9pm
Well, not all of Ancient Rome. Just the bit that invaded Britain. Sadly, this is the last in a perpetually enjoyable series.

The Street BBC1, Monday 9pm
This week’s tale, by Jimmy McGovern and Esther Wilson, concentrates on Territorial Army soldier Nick, who returns from a tour of duty in Afghanistan injured from a suicide bomb attack - but it’s clear that, while his physical injuries are all too visible, the effects on his psyche run much deeper. After three series of Robin Hood it’s good to see Jonas Armstrong sink his teeth into more serious fare. And while this isn’t the best episode of The Street by any means, it’s still above average drama.

Breaking the Mould: the Story of Penicillin BBC4, Wednesday 9pm
Dominic West, of The Wire and The Devil’s Whore, plays Australian scientist Howard Florey, one of the men who took Alexander Fleming’s original discovery of penicillin and helped to develop production in industrial quantities. It all sounds very dry, but with West, Dominic Lawson as Fleming and Robin Hood’s Joe Armstrong as Norman Heatley heading up a strong cast, it should be far more watchable than the subject matter suggests.

We Are Klang BBC3, Thursday 10.30pm
This anarchic comedy trio have a live show based around bizarre sketches and songs. Quite whose idea, then, it was to showcase their talents in a sitcom environment is either barking mad or a genius. Or, quite possibly, both.

Hotel Babylon (Friday 9pm, BBC1)

Denise Van Outen guest stars as a mad fan of an ancient sci-fi TV series attending a convention in our favourite five-star hotel. And with those words, my blood just ran cold.

True Blood (Friday 10pm, FX)

Second episode of the new drama from Alan Ball starring Annie Paquin as telepathic mind-reading waitress Sookie Stackhouse, a gal with a liking for brooding fellas with sharp teeth. It’s good stuff and the world of True Blood is believable - in a bonkers kind of way. I just hope we’re not in for lots of meaningful looks between Sookie and Bill across the room, because that could get old really quickly.

Will Ferrell and Bear Grylls: Born Survivor. (Saturday 7pm, Discovery)

The title alone makes this must-see TV. Yes, it’s that Will Ferrell.

ER (Saturday 7.35pm, C4)

Let’s make it a hospital—based Saturday evening and dive in to two back-to-back visits at County General from the final series of ER. Well, with the tedious state of tonight’s schedule, what else are you gong to watch, Big Brother?

Casualty (Saturday 8.40pm, BBC1)

I do find Casualty quite a chore these days, and I think it might be ready to put out to pasture. And yet… it’s such a part of the Saturday night landscape (and regularly pulls in 6 million punters) that it’s hard to see what could be brought in to replace it. Charlie Fairhead retiring and getting a job in B&Q perhaps? Tonight is the first of a two-part series finale that sees lots of storylines piling up in the corridors of Holby A&E. Will Nick Jordan make it to next series? I’d say that’s about as likely as Bonekickers series two.

Simon Gray Night (Saturday 8.30pm, BBC4)

I currently have Simon Gray’s The Smoking Diaries on my bedside table, and what thoroughly companionable, self-deprecating, introspectively wonderful stuff it is. BBC4 tonight devotes a couple of hours to the late writer’s work, being a showing of his film Unnatural Pursuits, and an Imagine profile from 2004. Good stuff.

Hope Springs (Sunday 8pm, BBC1/BBC HD)

Final episode of a drama that many people watched. Don’t expect a second series.

Rivers with Griff Rhys Jones (Sunday 9pm, BBC1/BBC HD)

First of a five-part series that has Griff Rhys Jones exploring the rivers and waterways of the British Isles. It’s part travelogue, part history documentary, part nature documentary, and with Jones’s pleasant company throughout it’s a nice, if undemanding hour of viewing for a Sunday night.

On Thin Ice (Sunday 9pm, BBC2)

It’s funny how the preparation for Ben Fogle, James Cracknell and Ed Coates’s race to the South Pole has taken up the majority of this excellent series, with the race itself being covered mostly in the last two episodes. But really, five episodes of slog and cold and emotion would have been draining, as this closing episode on its own is a hell of a watch. A great piece of TV though.

Whatever It Takes (Sunday 9pm, ITV1)

Sadly Whatever It Takes, a drama about the ups and downs of Modern Celebrity culture is not Paula Milne’s best script. Shane Richie is celebrity agent JJ Merrick, who ends up representing a police officer after she hits the newspapers following her night of passion with a married footie player. It’s all just a bit obvious and lacks any of the subtly and depth that Milne usually brings to a script. Shame.

Harold Pinter Night (Sunday 9pm, BBC4)

Following Saturday’s Simon Gray night, BBC4 devotes a couple of hours to another legendary and sadly departed playwright, Harold Pinter. The evening features a performance of The Birthday Party and a two-part Arena on the great man.

Soho Stories Radio 4, Saturday 10.30am
When Channel 4 launched at the start of the 1980s, it triggered an explosion in the television production sector. Whereas the BBC and ITV previously had a duopoly when it came to making television programmes, independent companies suddenly started to be able to get their own shows on the air. Broadcaster Paul Jackson begins a three-part examination about this sea change in British telly.

Archive on 4: On Northern Men Radio 4, Saturday 8pm
Screenwriter and author Kay Mellor is known for her Northern-set dramas, so she’s the ideal person to present a look at how men from the North of England have been portrayed on screen, from traditional stereotypes to a more diverse representation in modern shows from Queer As Folk, Shameless and The Street.

Elaine Paige on Sunday Radio 2, Sunday 1pm
This week’s guests are the London cast of Forbidden Broadway, currently playing at Menier Chocolate Factory, and Samantha Spiro, appearing in Hello Dolly! at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.

Tennyson’s Maud Radio 4, Sunday 3pm
Award-winning sound designer Christopher Shutt brings his talents to bear in a tale of a disturbed young man who roams windswept vistas, haunted by his father’s suicide and his mother’s early death. Joseph Millson performs Tennyson’s poem and captures the rapid mood-swings of Tennyson’s disturbed, dangerous and yearning protagonist.

Afternoon Play: Antimacassars and Ylang Ylang Conditioner Radio 4, Monday 2.15pm
Ian Potter’s comedy follows eighty-year-old Frank (Russell Dixon) as his everyday shopping trip to buy some coffee turns into a personal odyssey.

The Hunt for Sexton Blake Radio 2, Tuesday 10.30pm
The Adventures of Sexton Blake Radio 2, Friday 9.15pm
In his time, he was more popular than Sherlock Holmes, but these days very few people know of Sexton Blake. David Quantick presents an hour long profile of Blake’s literary impact, with help from author Michael Moorcock and comic illustrator Kevin O’Neill.

This documentary serves as a prelude to a new series of Sexton Blake radio plays starring Simon Jones as Blake, Wayne Forester as his plucky assistant Tinker and June Whitfield as Mrs Bardell.

The National Theatre of Brent’s Iconic Icons Radio 4, Wednesday 6.30pm
The National Theatre of Brent — whose company consists entirely of Desmond Olivier Dingle (Patrick Barlow) and Raymond Box (John Ramm) — begins an occasional series profiling some of the world’s greatest cultural icons, starting with Bob Dylan. Of course, as with any RTB production, the facts are entirely new. Who knew, for example, that the young Robert Zimmerman would be inspired to change his name based on the book Dylan Thomas the Tank Engine?

Afternoon Play: Marmalade for Comrade Philby Radio 4, Thursday 2.15pm
A mediocre novelist’s tale of a Cambridge graduate turned spy is mistranslated in foreign editions to suggest that it’s actually an autobiography. The mistake has been perpetrated by translator Hannah (Penelope Wilton), who has long harboured romantic intentions towards the author, Patrick Bradyn (Bill Nighy) — but will her actions drive him into the arms of another woman?

Afternoon Play: Telling the Bees Radio 4, Friday 2.15pm
Apparently it’s an old bee-keeping tradition that when an apiarist dies, somebody has to tell his hive. But when May (Kika Markham) loses her husband, she is paralysed with grief. She knows she has funeral arrangements to make, numerous people to call — but she can’t even tell the bees.

Friday Night is Music Night Radio 2, Friday 7.30pm
Lorna Luft leads a celebration of the music of her mother Judy Garland, with the help of Linzi Hateley, Frances Ruffelle and John Barrowman.

The Friday Play: The Prospect - The Prodigal Fraudster Radio 4, Friday 9pm
The Friday Play returns with a series of three plays by Mike Harris which resumes the tale of ambitious politico Bobby Khan, now an MP with ministerial ambitions. Zubin Varla stars as Khan, with Barbara Marten, Nicola Stephenson and Christopher Bisson in support.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. I sincerely hope this story doesn’t actually come to fruition, with it being suggested that Harry Hill might be lured to Sky with a fantastic pay deal to do TV Burp for Sky One.

This is such a bad idea it makes me nervous, and ITV would be cautioned to do what they can to keep hold of Hill. TV Burp is one of the few reliable ratings bankers it has in its arsenal, especially for that difficult Saturday night schedule. An episode of TV Burp can be expected to rate in the region of 7 million, which are excellent figures in anyone’s book.

TV Burp remains one of the few distinctive and original shows that ITV has on its light entertainment/comedy roster. It’s popular with all the family, wins awards and is appointment TV. It’s irreverent, silly and funny and has me laughing out loud. And it’s about our favourite preoccupation - the telly!

As we’ve previously noted, tomorrow sees the launch of the all-new, post-watershed version of The Bill. And, as the world must surely know by now, one of the biggest changes is the new title sequence music.

After over 25 years, the original music, Overkill by Andy Pask and Charlie Morgan, is being replaced by a new composition by Samuel Sim. On the official website, this video concludes with the first look at the new opening title sequence.

I have to say that from that clip I’m underwhelmed. The rhythmic violins that dominate throughout feel more like underscoring than a tune in its own right, and are certainly nowhere near as memorable or distinctive as the tune they are replacing. The concluding beats, though, do pay a nice homage to Overkill.

YouTube user blacktelephone1 has uploaded a video which claims to be the longer version for the show’s closing credits. Again, they don’t really do anything for me.

Of course, the Bill’s outgoing theme has been revamped several times over the show’s history. Compare the version from Series 1 with the most recent version, for example.

And, for completeness’ sake, we can’t forget Bill Bailey’s masterful performance on Room 101 when he nominated the change to The Bill theme tune to be banished. Originally, it was in 7/4 time but was remixed to be in the more usual 4/4 meter.

I can’t help thinking that either of Bailey’s reinterpretations — either French café jazz or 4/4 disco — would have been better than the new version. But who knows? Maybe it’ll grow on me.

• The Bill: Live By The Sword, ITV1, Thursday & Friday, 9pm

Poor Ben Stephenson, he’s probably sitting in his controller of BBC drama commissioning office (door open, naturally), head held wearily in his hands.

But then, everybody at the BBC is probably doing that right now, given that a day doesn’t go by without somebody having a go at the Corporation (some with good reason, most without, in my humble opinion of course). But Stephenson seems to weathering a particular storm at the moment (even from within the Beeb itself). It started with veteran TV producer Tony Garnett having a pop at the ethos operating within BBC drama right now (covered on TV Today last week).

And so, as you’d expect, Stephenson invoked right of reply, and also sat for an interview for the Guardian, which surfaced yesterday (and seems to paint a somewhat cautious portrait). But it seems that some of Stephenson’s words from his first response piece have got some danders up, words which in retrospect might have been misjudged (if totally innocent).

As you may remember from our recent Torchwood week, we gave you the opportunity to win the three new novels from the BBC Books series, Into the Silence, Bay of the Dead and The House That Jack Built.

The draw took place last week, and copies are now on the way (if they haven’t arrived already) to Andrea Kamran of West Yorkshire and Martin Stevens of Surrey. A big thank you to everyone who entered, and an even bigger thank you to Ebury Publishing for the competition prizes.

If you were on of our many unsuccessful entrants, Amazon.co.uk is currently offering each book for £4.99 - a 29% saving on the RRP of £6.99:

• Torchwood: Into The Silence by Sarah Pinborough
• Torchwood: Bay Of The Dead by Mark Morris
• Torchwood: The House That Jack Built by Guy Adams

So last night, Jonathan Ross, presenter of chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, was a guest on the chat show Alan Carr: Chatty Man.

As a “soft” interview for his first post-Brand discussion about those events, it was the ideal vehicle. He was never likely to get a particularly difficult ride from Carr — that’s hardly the former Sunday Night Project presenter’s style — but of course there are other reasons why the Channel 4 show was always going to go easy on Ross.

For a start, both Ross and Carr are managed by Addison Cresswell’s company Off the Kerb. Chatty Man is produced by Open Mike Productions, executive producer Addison Cresswell — and Open Mike initially produced Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. Although it is now produced by Ross’s own company, Hotsauce TV, Cresswell remains an executive producer of the show.

Obviously the subject matter turned to the Sachsgate incident, and to his credit Ross’s comments in that regard were fair and reasonable. Perhaps that’s why, other than a story released prior to last night’s broadcast, the tabloids who were so hungry for his blood have so far not covered his comments.

The weirdest part of the interview, though, was when Ross and Carr started to dissect a previous episode of Ross’s own show. When chat shows starts discussing other members of their genre, something’s going wrong.

The episode concerned is repeated tomorrow at 11.05pm on E4. As well as Ross, you’ll be able to see Carr interview Denise van Outen (including some clips from BBC1’s Any Dream Will Do when she first saw her future husband Lee Mead) and Mickey Rourke, star of The Wrestler. It’s also online at Channel4.com.

My inner fanboy heart skipped a beat this morning when the first pics of Matt Smith as the new Doctor Who surfaced as the fifth series of the drama hit commenced filming in Wales.

It’s futile to go into great detail on the Doc’s new look, but my first thoughts are positive - I like the mix of academia with an urban edge. And Karen Gillan just looks gorgeous as new companion Amy Pond.

Check out the lovely pics from The Sun’s TV Biz to see for yourself - but beware, there are spoilers for a returning character…

The Street BBC1, Monday 9pm
Jimmy McGovern’s series of plays continues with a rare UK TV appearance from Anna Friel, who stars as single mother Dee. Trying to do the best of her sons, she has moved to a new area to get them into a better school. But it’s the work she does at the weekend — in a sauna under the name of “Ruby” — which proves her undoing. When plumber Mark (Daniel Mays) walks in to her life, the compartmentalisation her life begins to break down. As usual, a sterling job from a top-notch cast, not least from David Bradley as Mark’s father.

The Supersizers Eat… the Fifties BBC2. Monday 9pm
Originally scheduled for June 29, this episode of Giles Coren & Sue Perkins’ trek through the food and drink (and more drink) of the 1950s was postponed when Crimewatch was shunted off to BBC2 to make way for Andy Murray’s late night tennis match at Wimbledon.

Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 ITV1, Monday 10.50pm
Feel that chill running down the back of your spine? That’s the effect of seeing the words “drama documentary” bandied about. But this appears to be above average fare in the genre. Daniel Lapaine, James Marsters and Andrew Lincoln are Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, the three astronauts aboard Apollo 11, the space flight that touched down on the Moon’s surface 40 years ago today.

Desperate Romantics BBC2, Tuesday 9pm
Peter Bowker’s take on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood has former BBC Drama head Jane Tranter’s desire to give period dramas a proverbial “kick up the arse” stamped all over it. Or maybe it’s a statement about how the group, headed by William Holman Hunt (Rafe Spall), rejected the traditional approach to art that was previously dominant. Either way, it looks unlike much else on TV at the moment.

Otto: Love, Lust and Las Vegas BBC3, Tuesday 9pm
BBC3’a Adult Season is, in all fairness, more about adolescence — although Adolescence Season is much less attention-grabbing. Whatever the title, though, it has been producing some stand-out documentaries. None more so than this offering, which follows 21 year old Otto, who has Down’s Syndrome, as he explores his own sexuality. After previously being included in an episode of Natalie Cassidy’s Real Britain on the same channel, press interest has painted his mother as a pushy mum prepared to pay a prostitute to have sex with her son. As this sensitive documentary highlights, reality and tabloid headlines are rarely in sync.

Wildest Dreams BBC1, Wednesday 7.30pm
Reality television meets natural history, as nine wildlife enthusiasts compete against each other for a job at the BBC Natural History Unit.

Who Do You Think You Are? Chris Moyles BBC1, Wednesday 9pm
I could think of a choice phrase or two to answer that one…

The Bill ITV1, Thursday 9pm
The end of an era passed quietly last week, as The Bill’s iconic theme tune, Overkill, played the show out for the last time. This week sees an all-new theme tune, a new post-watershed time slot, and a reduced production schedule of one hour a week — except for this week, which launches the new look series with a two-part story that concludes on Friday. The shooting style of The Bill has been changed in the past few weeks to ease us into the new style programme, but I reckon that the introduction of an incidental score for the first time in the series’ history will take a lot more getting used to.

The Saturday Play: Statement of Regret Radio 4, Saturday 2.30pm
Kwame Kwei-Armah’s 2007 National Theatre production was described by Stage review William McEvoy as “a sprawling, ambitious and, at times, devastating piece of theatre. It’s a slow-burn, revolving its themes early on, before culminating with real passion and verve.” Don Warrington reprises his role as Kwaku Mackenzie, the founder of political think-tank The Institute of Black Policy Research. Having successfully campaigned for the creation of Minister for Race within the government, the team move onto another controversial topic: the issue of reparations for African Caribbeans. Kwaku is also haunted with grief for his dead father, and how that emotion tumbles through his political life has repercussions for everybody. Warrington is reunited with original cast members Colin McFarlane, Ellen Thomas, Oscar James and Trevor Laird. It’s nice to see radio adaptations of theatrical productions in the more populist slots than just the Radio 3 Sunday night Drama on 3 strand.

Elaine Paige on Sunday Radio 2, Sunday 1pm
This week’s guest is actress Liz Robertson, currently in Hairspray at the Shaftesbury Theatre. She talks about her favourite musicals, including 1983’s Dance a Little Closer, written especially for her by her husband, Alan Jay Lerner, and Charles Strouse. It closed after one night.

Macavity’s Not There: TS Eliot in the 21st Century Radio 4, Tuesday 11.30am
Writer and critic Michael Alexander looks at how poet TS Eliot seems to have slipped out of public consciousness. Any attempt to revive his wider reputation can only help to counterbalance the impact of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, and that can surely only be a good thing.

From Dots to Downloads Radio 4, Tuesday 1.30pm
‘Tune books’ were small books of manuscript music that circulated widely in the 17th to 19th centuries. These days, the internet has helped revive that circulation. Singer and squeezebox player Tim van Eyken investigates.

Stories with Latitude Radio 4, Tuesday-Thursday 3.30pm
Three short stories specially commissioned by Radio 4, and performed by the authors in the channel’s tent at this year’s Latitude Festival. Tuesday’s episode, Drink Nothing by Emma Kennedy, recalls going to a Rolling Stones concert with her parent as a child. On Wednesday, Scott Hardy’s Queensway Sessions by Matt Thorne relates the tale of a photographer who is obsessed with the music of a mysterious and secretive musician. Wrapping up on Thursday, Stephen K Amos’s Grandfather relates the tale of a family heirloom and its power totake him back to his childhood and a very special relationship in his life.

Radio 2 Live: Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds Radio 2, Tuesday 10.30pm
A live concert version of the 30-year-old album, recorded last month at London’s O2 arena. Lynne conducts, reunited with singer Justin Hayward and a digitally reconstructed voice of Richard Burton as the narrator.

Afternoon Play: Chronicles of Ait Radio 4, Wednesday 2.15pm
Hattie Morahan and Greg Wise play a mismatched pair of investigators — she a child psychologist, he a local GP — who investigate a young girl’s apparent ability to have visions of future events.

The Jason Byrne Show Radio 2, Thursday 10pm
A second series of fast-paced sketches and stand-up routines from Byrne, accompanied by Laurence Howarth and Anna Bengo.

Bigipedia Radio 4, Thursday 11pm
Comparisons to The Sunday Format are inevitable with this collage of sketches. Indeed, the comparison even makes it into the BBC’s own press notes. Will this version, which takes the mickey out of online communication, deserve the comparison? That’s something we’ll have to wait and see.

First Night of the Proms (Friday 8pm, BBC2)

I don’t know much about music, but I know what I like, and there’s always something I can engage with throughout the course of the BBC Proms, which gets going tonight with some Elgar and Brahms (no, not the one off of Are You Being Served?).

Torchwood: Children of Earth (Friday 9pm, BBC3)

Of course the recent outing for Torchwood is going to be repeated on BBC3 for as long as Captain Jack Harkness lives, but that’s no bad thing, and here is the first episode that ends with Jack receiving the worst case of indigestion ever. It’s stunning television as we’ve said elsewhere across TV Today, but well worth a look if you haven’t had the pleasure already.

True Blood (Friday 10pm, FX)

Well, this is a curious cocktail and no mistake. Based on the The Southern Vampire Mystery series of books by Charlaine Harris, it would be easy to dismiss True Blood as a cheap attempt to cash in on the wave of emo hysteria created by the utterly tedious Twilight phenomenon. But then you look at the pedigree - broadcast by HBO in the States, starring Anna Paquin and produced by Alan Ball, the genius behind Six Feet Under, and it starts to shape up as something very interesting indeed. Of course there’s still lots of intense brooding in a vampire drama where Paquin plays telepath barmaid Sookie Stackhouse in a small Louisana town where vampires are real an interact with humans. And of course, there’s a smouldering sexy vampire in the form of Steven Moyer’s Bill Compton for her to fall in love with. A vampire called Bill? How gauche. With Ball on board, True Blood’s narrative unfolds with wit and this has a lot going for it.

Versailles: the Dream of a King (Saturday 8.15pm, BBC2/BBC HD)

Having the virtue of being filmed within the sumptuous walls of Versailles itself, this is a cracking docudrama about the life, loves and passions of Louis XIV, mixing interviews with leading experts on his turbulent reign and dramatised recreations of events in the monarch’s life. Good stuff.

Casualty (Saturday 9.05pm, BBC1)

Yawn. Nick Jordan is involved in a car accident. How many times can Casualty pull that old chestnut out of the magic filing cabinet of all purpose storylines? And isn’t it about time Nick died, anyway? I can’t help feeling that Casualty is long overdue for a refurbishment, but then I think that every year.

All the Queen’s Horses with Alan Titchmarsh (Sunday 8pm, ITV1)

Alan Titchmarsh? Interviewing Prince Philip. I’d pay good money to see that! A charming thumbnail of the life of the Royal Family behind the scenes at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

On Thin Ice (Sunday 9pm, BBC2)

Ben Fogle, James Cracknell and Ed Coates get properly underway this week as the weather clears and they can commence the Amundsen South Pole Race. It’s tiring just watching them take this on, and then it becomes uncomfortable as the fierce weather conditions start to to take their toll on the three intrepid adventurers.

Taggart (Sunday 9pm, ITV1)

The ever reliable Taggart returns for a new investigation that sees DI Ross discovering an abandoned baby on a doorstep - and of course, there’s a dead body not too far away. The body is that of a local businessman and Matt Burke and the rest of the team attempt to piece together the complicated trail of clues that led to his death. As enjoyable as ever.

I’m not quite sure what to think about the spat that’s erupting around the BBC drama department, brought about by Tony Garnett’s piece for Media Guardian’s Organ Grinder blog yesterday.

Garnett, a veteran of television production of over 30 years standing, claims that the production process at the BBC drama department has become closed and that creativity is being stifled by middle managers. He feels that the audience are being shortchanged and that the corporation seeks to control and crush the creative act. I know what he means about shortchanging - I’m still waiting for Bonekickers season two to be green lit (see? Still funny!)

And in a spirited response to Garnett’s comments, BBC drama commissioning controller Ben Stephenson stresses an open door policyunder his stewardshp and welcomes Garnett to come and have a chat with him - and indeed anybody to come and have a chat with him. Which seems fair enough.

After a fun week of Twitter tennis with Scott coming up with bizarre fusions of TV programmes to create a whole new show, I thought it might be fun to share the fruits of our labours every now and then. And to kick things off:

Hawaii Five-Oh No It’s Selwyn Froggitt

Steve McGarret has a hapless new recruit in former council labourer Selwyn Froggit to assist in his fight against organised crime on the lush paradise of Hawaii. Jack Lord and Bill Maynard star. Book ‘em, Selwyn!

And just for some context, here are the title sequences of both shows:

Hawaii Five-0 (with perhaps the greatest TV theme ever written. Just try rowing to it down at the gym)

And YTV’s Oh No It’s Selwyn Froggitt. Fond memories…

Now that the dust has settled on the broadcast of Torchwood: Children of Earth, I’ve finally got over the shock and been able to gather my thoughts on what proved to be a week of breathtaking television drama.

Breathtaking. Funny. Brave. Challenging. Exciting. Witty. Tense. Sickening.

What Russell T Davies and co-writers James Moran and John Fay did across five episodes was craft a Quatermass for the modern age, an intelligent slice of adult drama that, going by the ratings, engaged with a sizeable audience. It was the epitome of event television - everybody in the office has been talking about it, including colleagues who have previously been sniffy about anything science fiction related.

Only Connect BBC4, Monday 8.30pm
Victoria Coren’s game of connections is the sort of panel game that used to be on BBC1 at 5:30pm before Neighbours took over that slot — remember Masterteam? Instead, it is on a digital channel and therefore (a) has a much lower set design budget and (b) actually requires a little bit of intellect and general knowledge. By the end of the first series, Coren had managed to balance a refreshing spikiness with a modicum of warmth to make this show really enjoyable to watch.

The Street BBC1, Monday 9pm
A third series of Jimmy McGovern’s anthology drama, with each episode concentrating on a single resident. This year’s crop of stories kicks off with Bob Hoskins as a pub landlord who falls foul of the local gang family when he bars one of them.

The Supersizers Eat… The Twenties BBC2, Monday 9pm
I must admit that I prefer the twentieth century excursions of Sue Perkins and Giles Coren to their ancient history exploits (anybody still bemoaning the loss of the Fifties episode due to overrunning Wimbledon coverage, that episode will be shown next week, on the 20th). This week, Giles and Sue experience the food of the Great Depression. Which is unlikely to describe the mood their antics will induce.

Monday Monday ITV1, Monday 9pm
The ratings for this new series will not be great, let’s face it — and that’s only in part to having to compete with The Street. This comedy drama set in a supermarket head office’s HR department wi… oh, sorry, I must have dozed off. Fay Ripley stars as the alcoholic department boss, apparently. Backed up by a cast including Holly Aird, Neil Stuke and Miranda Hart, I can only hope that the show is better than all the pre-publicity suggests.

How Not to Live Your Life BBC2, Monday 10pm
Dan Clark’s fitfully funny BBC3 sitcom gets a repeat showing on one of the grown-up channels.

Holby City BBC1, Tuesday 8pm
Lester Freamon in Holby? Yup — actor Clarke Peters, who plays the methodical sleuth in The Wire, starts a short guest run in the series as Derek Newman, father of Donna Jackson (Jaye Jacobs). Unfortunately, Derek has cancer of the spleen, pancreas and abdominal wall, so I’m guessing his stay will be a brief, if emotional, one.

Freefall BBC2, Tuesday 9pm
Writer/director Dominic Savage’s take on the causes of the current recession, and the way it is affecting various people’s lives, is essential viewing. A tremendous cast — Dominic Cooper, Aidan Gillen, Joseph Mawle, Anna Maxwell-Martin, Rosamund Pike — tell the intertwined stories of three men from very different backgrounds. The production team should be booking their places at next year’s Bafta awards now.

How to Be Old BBC4, Tuesday 9pm
Notorious thespian Nicholas Craig gives a masterclass in how to portray a member of the older generation. Quite how his shameless promotion of his book Charming Walks for Older Actors gets past the BBC editorial guidelines, I’m not sure. But his advice can be invaluable, if only on a “what not to do” basis.

You Have Been Watching Channel 4, Tuesday 10pm
After last week’s patchy opener, let’s hope that the quality of Charlie Brooker’s latest TV-will-eat-itself improves substantially this week. I can’t help feeling that the scrappy quiz format holds this back from being a scabrous discussion about the highs and lows of the week’s television. Maybe the viewer interaction will help — all week, Brooker and his team have been compiling viewer observations about Torchwood: Children of Earth.

Who Do You Think You Are? BBC1, Wednesday 9pm
Yes, it’s forumlaic — but that doesn’t stop this celebrity genealogy programme from being completely engrossing every week. A new run starts with Big Brother presenter Davina McCall.

New Tricks BBC1, Thursday 9pm
The combination of light comedy and dark crimes shouldn’t work, and to be honest each series there have been moments when it doesn’t, usually when Denis Waterman’s character gravitates towards a microphone. The central performances always pull it back from absurdity though, with James Bolam and (in particular) Alun Armstrong elevating New Tricks into something quite special.

Tarantino’s Jukebox Radio 4, Saturday 10.30am
First of a two-part series in which film director Quentin Tarantino enthuses about the musical obsessions which have helped ensure that his films have the most memorable soundtracks.

Michael Ball Radio 2, Sunday 11am
Elaine Paige on Sunday Radio 2, Sunday 1pm
Both shows feature current stars of West End musicals. First, Ball talks to Sheila Hancock, currently playing the Mother Superior in Sister Act. Then in EP’s show, this week’s studio guest is Jodie Prenger, who sings As Longs As He Needs Me from Oliver!.

Classic Serial: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold Radio 4, Sunday 3pm
The Complete Smiley season continues with the second of three episodes (if you missed it, the first episode is repeated on Saturday at 9pm, and is still on iPlayer).

The Archers Radio 4, Sunday 7pm
It’s the day of the Ambridge village fete — and it will be opened by none other than Sir Anthony Gormley. Yes, that Anthony Gormley, creator of The Angel of the North and the driving force behind One and Other, the fourth plinth project in Trafalgar Square which has been the subject of one of The Archers’ silliest subplots for some time.

Drama on 3: The Idylls of the King Radio 3, Sunday 8pm
Marking the bicentenary of Tennyson’s birth, Michael Symmons Roberts adapts his epic poem recounting the classic Arthurian legends. Tim Piggott-Smith narrates, and Jonathan Keeble plays Arthur.

Woman’s Hour Drama: The Pursuits of Darleen Fyles Radio 4, Monday-Friday 10.45am & Friday 7.45pm
Writer Esther Wilson creates a five-part sequel to her 2008 Friday Play, The Heroic Pursuits of Darleen Fyles. Darleen, who has learning difficulties, is starting her first job and hoping to move in with her boyfriend Jamie, although he’s not so sure. Donna Lavin, who herself has learning difficulties, plays Darleen, with support from Edmund Davis, Siobhan Finneran and Lee Boardman.

Hazelbeach Radio 4, Monday 11.30am
Caroline and David Stafford’s comedy drama series about likeable conman Ronnie Hazelbeach returns for a second series.

The Inconstant Moon Radio 4, Monday-Friday 3.45pm; omnibus Friday 9pm
Running every weekday for two weeks and with omnibus repeats on Fridays, author Jeanette Winterson examines the presence, effect and symbolism of the Moon in our cultural life.

The Grand Masquerade Radio 4, Tuesday 11.30am
Like many people, I was obsessed with Kit Williams’ book Masquerade, an odd children’s book whose full-page paintings hid many mysterious clues as to the whereabouts of a unique, bejewelled golden hare which had been buried somewhere in Britain. John O’Farrell explores the story of the publishing phenomenon and the controversy when the man who located the hare was revealed by a newspaper as being the boyfriend of Williams’ ex-girlfriend.

Afternoon Play: The Night They Tried to Kidnap the Prime Minister Radio 4, Wednesday 2.15pm
“They” were a group of Aberdeen students in 1964, and the Prime Minister was Alec Douglas-Home. The story only came to light when Lord Hailsham’s diaries, which he wrote in an encrypted form of shorthand, were recently decoded. Tim McInnerny stars as Douglas-Home.

Afternoon Play: The Uderstanding Radio 4, Thursday 2.15pm
Coinciding with a new series of moral debate series Inside the Ethics Committee, this drama by PG Morgan also examines the tough decisions and ethical dilemmas that occur in hospital environments.

Cabin Pressure Radio 4, Friday 11.30am
A second series of the sitcom set in a small airline business, with Stephanie Cole, Roger Allam and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Celebrity Masterchef: the Final (Friday 8.30pm, BBC1)

In tonight’s tense final of Celebrity Masterchef, finalists Wendi Peters, Jayne Middlemiss and Iwan Thomas must cater a banquet hosted by the PM for invading aliens the 456… Well, that’s what it would be in my currently Torchwood fuelled brain. In reality, the trio bring all the experiences of the last few months together to cook one final, mind-blowing meal for John and Gregg to go crazy over - or not. It’s been a great competition this year, and I honestly can’t call it, but Jayne and Wendi look awfully close to burn out.

Torchwood: Children of Earth (Friday 9pm, BBC1/BBC HD)

Torchwood. The best thing on television. Crikey, when did that happen? Last night’s episode of Children of Earth was a brave, scary, funny and utterly chilling piece of top class drama, a Quatermass for the 21st century. Tonight’s final episode is a must-see event, and considering the end of last night’s episode, nothing is certain here. Not even season four if some of the Internet talk on the forums is to be believed. Simply stunning, unique television.

Robin Hood (Saturday 5.15pm, BBC1)

Please, please, please watch this repeat of the final episode of Robin Hood. Whatever your thoughts on the series, the finale was a breathtakingly tense and action-packed romp that looked stunning and delivered some real shocks. It’s sad that we won’t be getting a season four, but in many ways this is a great end to a series that has been fun and entertaining for three seasons. My nephew was in pieces at the end of this, which shows that it did strike a note with some members of the audience (and I was bit teary myself if truth be told). Let’s put this latest TV incarnation of Robin Hood to rest with some dignity and get the numbers up a bit.

Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution (Saturday 8pm, BBC2)

A nice meaty bit of history to get your teeth into on a Saturday night (it’s either that, or Casualty - isn’t Nick Jordan dead yet?). It’s 1794 and Maximilien Robespierre is in charge of France’s Committee of Public Safety, beliving that violence could be justified in the pursuit of a political end. This led to one of the bloodiest periods in history, forever known as “The Terror”, and made Robespierre one of the past’s most hated figures. There are some fairly hammy drama reconstructions here, but it’s the contributions from heavyweights like Simon Schama that lend some meat to what ends up being a decent documentary.

The Royle (Sunday 7pm, ITV1)

Glynis Barber in The Royle?! Count me in!

On Thin Ice (Sunday 9pm, BBC2)

Episode three, and James and Ben are still in training mode, with Ben undergoing an intense course of treatment for a tropical illness. This leaves James and third team member Dr Ed Coates with time for some extra training. But in this episode we will see the intrepid threesome boarding their flight to Antarctica - but will they be able to get underway? Great, addictive stuff.

Kingdom (Sunday 9pm, ITV1)

The final episode of season three of Kingdom sees Lyle turning crusader as he takes on a pharmaceutical giant who he believes is responsible for dead fish being in a river next to a chemical plant. Elsewhere, Peter has some worrying medical news, all while helping out an eccentric aristocrat. All business as usual then. Here’s hoping for a fourth season of gently enjoyable Sunday evening drama.

House (Sunday 9pm, Sky1/Sky1 HD)

House is held hostage this week by a gunman who is demanding a diagnosis for whatever turns out to be this week’s mystery illness. It’s good stuff, as ever, and putting House in a tense situation is bound to have unpredictable results.

So The Sun called it correctly back in June, and Arlene Phillips’ place on the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel will be filled by 2007 winner Alesha Dixon.

Is this a calamity for the show? Is it a sign of the beginning of the end of Strictly Come Dancing?

Contrary to some reactions, I’m going to say no.

A quick note on the fortunes of this week’s television event - the nightly broadcast of Torchwood: Children of Earth. There was a lot riding on this third run for Captain Jack and his team of alien investigators. Some would even say that the future of intelligent, adult science fiction on British television was at stake here.

And thankfully we can breathe a sigh of relief because the news coming in from the overnight ratings elves is cause for some celebration, and one can imagine that corks have been popping down at BBC Wales.

Children of Earth: Day One fired an opening salvo that brought in 5.9 million viewers and a 25% share across the 9pm hour. The audience rose as the episode progressed, and has proved highly popular on the iPlayer. This rating is more than likely to spill over the 6 million mark when the consolidated figures come in. Chuck in a few thousand viewers watching the BBC HD channel, and it’s looking very respectable indeed. You might not think it’s an amazing figure, but in drama terms these days, that’s paying the rent and then some.

The people behind the Soaps section of itv.com have released some behind-the-scenes videos and interviews to herald the arrival of Emmerdale’s newest family, the Bartons. Fans of Britannia High will recognise one of the family’s two daughters: Sophie Powles previously played Ronnie in the poorly-received performing arts musical drama series.

Her arrival on the Yorkshire-based soap coincides with another bit of post-BH soap casting news: the other day, Marcquelle Ward (who played BB) revealed to friends via Facebook and Twitter that he will shortly commence shooting a small role on Coronation Street.

The Corrie press office have confirmed that Marcquelle’s role will be that of Amber’s (Nikki Patel) college friend Mitch. The character is currently only slated to appear in a couple of episodes, but many longer term characters have started on the same short-term basis, so who knows?

Outside the soaps, Matthew James Thomas (Jez) is currently appearing in a theatrical version of Oscar Wilde’s novel Dorian Gray at the Leicester Square theatre, which I reviewed for The Stage when it opened last week. I also interviewed him during the Dorian Gray rehearsal period for The Stage podcast, during which the subject of Britannia High obviously came up. You can hear him talk about his opinions on why the series did not work, as well as giving a couple of hints about life post-Dorian Gray.

Not that I’m one to stand in the way of progress, but sometimes the change of a programme’s long-standing timeslot can be a bit of a wrench.

And so ITV has today announced a shake-up of its Thursday night schedule, with a major emphasis on soap and long-running drama to bolster the relaunch of The Bill as a one-hour, post-Watershed drama. What this means elsewhere in the schedule is that Emmerdale will now put out two episodes on a Thursday at 7pm and 8pm rather than one hour-long episode on a Tuesday. And the big shock is that Coronation Street’s traditional Wednesday night episode (a night it has been broadcast on for nearly 50 years) will be moved to Thursday at 8.30pm.

Ah, God bless Sir Terry of Wogan, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday and continues to be a legend of broadcasting, bringing a rare twinkle to the airwaves on Radio 2’s breakfast show. It’s his natural home, and where he is clearly still comfortable and loving what he’s doing. And we love it too.

But the veteran broadcaster [fired a shot across the bows of television at the weekend with the wonderfully grumpy statement in the Sunday Mirror that television is:

“not what it was like 50 years ago.”

My gran would probably have agreed with that if she’d seen that nice young John Barrowman off of the musical programmes snogging another young man on last night’s Torchwood (which was brilliant, by the way, but I can’t help wondering what happened to Myfanwy the Pterodactyl).

One and Other Sky Arts 1/Sky Arts 1 HD, from Monday 7pm
Sky Arts is sponsoring sculptor Anthony Gormley’s latest art installation, which hands over residency of the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square to a succession of members of the public. This daily highlights show will relay some key moments of the 2,400 people who will each occupy the plinth for an hour at a time. It’s followed at 8pm by a profile of Gormley himself. A live stream from the plinth is also available, although whether any sightings of gatecrashers will occur is doubtful.

Yes, Minister G.O.L.D., Monday 7.40pm
You know how everybody says that The West Wing was a compelling portrait of politics? It’s beaten into a cocked hat by this classic BBC sitcom, which starts a rerun from its very first episode tonight. Hapless MP Jim Hacker takes on a ministerial role in the Department of Administrative Affairs, and swiftly finds that his main opposition comes not from across the despatch box, but from his Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby. It may not have any references to duck islands or flipping second homes, but it’s remarkable how topical this comedy still seems.

University Challenge BBC2, Monday 8.00pm
The best quiz on television returns, still smarting slightly from last year’s controversy which saw winners Corpus Christi, Oxford, having to surrender their crown after it was revealed that one of their postgraduate number had already left university. Jeremy Paxman remains in the chair, sneering at any contestant wit the slightest whole in their English Literature knowledge, and any question setter who dares address modern pop culture.

Torchwood: Children of Earth BBC1, Monday-Friday 9pm
I believe we may have touched on this show once or twice in the past week. Stripped across the week, Cardiff’s least secret top-secret organisation, now reduced to a trio of alien hunters, investigates why all the children of the world stopped in their tracks, only to utter the mysterious warning, “We Are Coming”. The first clue comes from Clem (a tour de force performance from Paul Copley), a patient in a mental hospital who is the only adult who was also affected. There’s an explosive end to the first episode, but the tension only ramps up from there…

You Have Been Watching Channel 4, Tuesday 10pm
A comedy panel show about TV? I’m there. Even if it’s It’s Only TV But I Like It. This show’s likely to be head and shoulders above that, devised and hosted as it is by Charlie Brooker, creator of BBC4’s Screenwipe and Newswipe. If it softens Brooker’s renowned cynical edge, it’ll be a disappointment, but chances are this will be the funniest thing on TV all week.

Taking the Flak BBC2, Wednesday 9pm
And talking of TV comedy shows looking introspectively on the medium of TV, he have a new seven-part comedy drama set in the world of foreign correspondence. A group of journalists is covering the unforlding war in the African country of Karibu. Jokes revolve around the obsession with requiring celebrities to visit Africa to get the public to care, as well as the senior correspondent who jets in once the story has got sufficiently big. The bigger question is whether the comedy travels outside the industry to the audience.

Celebrity Masterchef BBC1, Wednesday 8pm, Thursday 8pm
Hyperbole doesn’t get shoutier than this! Yes, it’s grand final week in the celebrity cook-off, as Wendi Peters, Jayne Middlemiss and Euan Thomas face a series of culinary challenges. If the semi-finals are anything to go by, it’s a two horse race with Euan destined for a distant third place — but stranger things have happened. The final result is announced on Friday at 8.30pm.

Theatre Live! Sky Arts 1/Sky Arts 1 HD, Wednesday 9pm
Six weeks of original, live theatre begin with Jackie Kay’s Mind Away, while artistic director Sandi Toksvig helms behind-the-scenes coverage. Any move to bridge the gap between live performance and broadcast media is to be applauded, but theatre and television are two very different media, and what works for one rarely works for the other. My worry is that this effort, noble though it is, will end up falling between two stools. Hopefully I’ll be proved wrong.

Getting On BBC4, Wednesday 10pm
Peter Capaldi directs this three-part black comedy set in an NHS geriatric ward, and showing as part of BBC4’s season of programmes about older people. Joanna Scanlan and, in a rare acting role, Jo Brand play the nurses and Vicki Pepperdine is their hopeless manager. While one hopes the situations depicted here have been exaggerated for comic effect, but the worries remain that they’re all too realistic. Now, where did I leve that BUPA enrolment form?

Mock the Week BBC2, Thursday 9pm
The topical comedy show returns for a new, 13-part series. No matter how funny it gets or how outrageous resident panellist Frankie Boyle tries to be, for comedy value it’ll be hard to beat Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis relaying one of Boyle’s ruder lines — which modesty prevents from repeating here, but is available on YouTube — to BBC director general Mark Thomson.

It’s been a fun week producing so much Torchwood-related content. Thanks to everyone who’s enjoyed what we’ve produced and given us such great feedback, be it on the site, by email or Twitter or on the various message boards around the internet that have been linking to us.

Here’s the full list of what you may have missed (may contain spoilers):

On Monday, we kicked things off with an interview with creator, executive producer and head writer Russell T Davies. “So much has been made of how the team is “still in mourning”. There’s a half second mention! That was in a press release nine months ago, and it carries over into every bit of reportage.” Russell’s interview carried over into Tuesday: “You watch this footage from Africa, from Bosnia, as if we’re more civilised than those people, as though we’re more intelligent than them and that could never happen here…. And it’s just a lie, a complete lie.”

Then the interviews moved on to the cast. On Wednesday, we spoke to Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto): “When they first said it was going down to five episodes, I was obviously a bit put out because I was expecting a little more work, basically… but I’m more proud of this series than anything else I’ve done before.”

On Thursday, it was the turn of Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper): “We lost two awesome characters, but more importantly we lost two great friends. But that’s the nature of the job, and the nature of Torchwood.”

And we finished off the week with Captain Jack himself, John Barrowman: “I’m not one of those actors who goes, ‘I can’t watch myself.’ That’s bullshit. Don’t agree with it. Why are you doing it if you can’t watch yourself?”

But of course we’ve had more than just the interviews, great though they are. On Monday, Mark looked at how the BBC website is complementing the news series. Tuesday saw the launch of our Torchwood novels competition, on Wednesday we threw the spotlight on the Radio 4 Afternoon Play series and yesterday Mark provided a Square Eyes special preview of Monday’s first episode.

That’s quite a haul. We hope you’ve enjoyed it and that it puts you in the mood for next week’s five-part serial (Monday to Friday, 9pm, BBC1). I daresay we’ll have some feedback from the TV episodes next week, but beyond that TV Today will of course continue covering the best of British drama and comedy on TV and radio. We hope you’ll stay with us.

Saturday Play: Utz Radio 4, Saturday 2.30pm
Gregory Norminton adapt Bruce Chatwin’s novel to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of his death. Kaspar Utz is a Prague-based collection of Meissen porcelain, and has managed to preserve his collection throughout his country’s turbulent past. A British academic who met him in the 1960s returns twnety years later to find out what has happened to the man and his collection.

Classic Serial: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Radio 4, Sunday 3pm
The Complete Smiley series returns after John le Carre’s first two novels featuring the gentleman spycatcher first appeared in the Saturday Play slot. Simon Russell Beale is perfect as Smiley, and in this three-part adaptation he is joined by a superb cast including Brian Cox, Ruth Gemmell and Siobhan Redmond.

Drama on 3: Tartuffe Radio 3, Sunday 8pm
Moliere’s classic comedy, as adapted by Roger McGough for the Liverpool Playhouse.

Afternoon Play: In Mates Radio 4, Monday 2.15pm
Pauline Quirke stars in a play by Sue Teddern.Michelle (Quirke) sends audio tapes from he home in Orpington to her pen pal Randall, an inmate on Death Row. She promises herself and Randall that these will be the unexpurgated confessions of a bubbly housewife. But as the relationship unfolds, it becomes clear that she is trapped in her house and she isn’t quite as bubbly as she would like to think.

Arthur Smith’s Balham Bash Radio 4, Tuesday 11pm
Stage columnist Arthur Smith invites an audience into his Balham home for an evening of music and comedy. Pippa Evans costars, with a range of guests including Paul Sinha, Milton Jones and Glenn Tilbrook.

Baggage Radio 4, Wednesday 11.30am
A fourth series of Hillary Lyon’s Edinburgh-based domestic drama. At the end of the last series, Fiona lost her battle with breast cancer, leaving her friend Caroline (Lyon) and ex-husband Roddy (Robin Cameron) to bring up her baby, April. The odd family unit expands in this series to include April’s birth father and Fiona’s Alzheimer-afflicted mother.

Shappi Talk Radio 4, Thursday 6.30pm
Curious mix of stand-up comedy and chat show-style interviews hosted by Shappi Korsandi. Each week the show will have a different theme: in this first show, the subject is racism. Meera Syal and Felix Dexter are guests.

And so Torchwood Week starts to draw to a close here on TV Today, with the last of our interviews. After yesterday’s talk with Eve Myles, Wednesday’s conversation with Gareth David-Lloyd and our two-part interview with Russell T Davies on Monday and Tuesday, we’ve saved the biggest, brashest player till last: John Barrowman.

As before, expect some spoilers ahead. And, as before, the questioning took place a few weeks ago after the press screening of Children of Earth: Day One — hence why there are no questions about his comments to the Radio Times.

Coronation Street (Friday 7.30/8.30pm, ITV1)

A storyline that’s been bubbling away in the background for the last couple of months (and could still explode all over the cobbles somewhere down the line), takes a twist tonight as Maria gives birth to her baby, fathered by Liam Connor before his death. But perversely, present at the birth is his murderer, Tony Gordon - is there something else brewing between Tony and new mother Maria? With this being a soap, it’s highly likely.

Celebrity Masterchef (Friday 8.30pm, BBC1)

It’s all getting very tense in the Masterchef kitchen, and Gregg and John are STARTING TO SHOUT LOUDER! I’m rooting for Wendi Peters off of Corrie to go the distance, but it’s anybody’s race at the moment.

Hotel Babylon (Friday 9pm, BBC1/BBCHD)

Hotel Babylon is sometimes from that “any port in a storm” mentality of TV viewing, and with a repeat of Doc Martin on the other side, this is my port of choice tonight (not that there’s much wrong with Doc Martin, I hasten to add!). And in tonight’s glass of fizz from HB, receptionist Anna finally gives birth to her baby - and we find out who the father is - but I’m not saying who. Also, Honor Blackman guest-stars as a dotty old actress.

Total Wipeout (Saturday 7.25pm, BBC1)

The bizarrely addictive physical game show returns as contestants run around an assault course that’s more It’s a Knockout than The Krypton Factor. Richard Hammond provides his usual disparaging asides from the comfort of a London studio.

Casualty (Saturday 8.35pm, BBC1)

We’re now in the depths of summer - you can tell, because Casualty remains one of the few things worth watching -which shows you how bad things are. Nick Jordan, battling with his own mortality, is starting to spout homespun twaddle about how precious life is, so it can’t be long before he’ll be leaving Holby A&E once again. This time, however, there’s little chance that one of the original Holby City characters will be making another return to the wards. Maybe we can get Anton Meyer back next time…

On Thin Ice (Sunday 9pm, BBC2)

Poor the Jonny Lee Miller - after joining up with James Cracknell and Ben Fogle for their adventure to the South Pole, he had to pull out due to work commitments. I hope this wasn’t down to his US drama, Eli Stone, which was stoned in the schedules and is now no longer with us. The upshot of Miller pulling out is seen in this episode as our intrepid heroes search for a new teammate to join them in their travels. And then Ben goes down with a dreadful illness brought about by a flesh-eating bug. Nice.

Kingdom (Sunday 9pm, ITV1)

A change of scene this week for the gentle legal drama about everyday Norfolk folk. Lyle (the underrated ex-soapie Karl Davies) is summoned home to murky Stockport by his mother (Green Wing’s Pippa Haywood) to lend his legal weight to saving a local allotment. And compared to the picturesque backdrop of Kindgom’s usual stomping ground, it ain’t half grim up north (I’m from Yorkshire, so I’m allowed to say that). Elsewhere, Peter takes on a case that revolves around a father being banned from recording his daughter’s cello recital. Expect lots of impassioned speeches about civil liberties and the usual happy ending.

The Day of the Triffids (Sunday 7pm, BBC4)

Ahead of the BBC’s retooling of John Wyndham’s classic novel, take another look at the highly regarded take from the early 1980s, starring John Duttine. It remains as chilling and thrilling as ever, and the incessant tap-tap-tap of the triffids still scares the living daylights out of me.

I’ve had a somewhat uneven history with Torchwood. The first season, broadcast in 2006, didn’t do much for me. It started well enough, but within a few episodes had descended into a juvenile mess that really didn’t become the pedigree of the people making it. Cyberwoman still ranks as one of my most hated 45 minutes of drama ever made (which makes me feel bad now, with writer Chris Chibnall doing some sterling work on the recently recommissioned Law and Order: UK). I think it was a problem with identity, and early Torchwood was trying on different hats to see what fit.

By the end of the first season, things had settled down somewhat, with the final two episodes of the season showing some of the promise that was to come.

Season two was a stellar leap forward in terms of style and consistency. The tone was less forced and the writers knew the characters better. There was less emphasis on bolting on self-conscious adult content and it got on with telling good stories - Owen’s journey throughout the season being particularly well thought out. There were some stumbles, but nothing’s perfect, and this season finished with a brace of episodes that were action-packed and shocking in places - even if the lad playing Jack’s brother had more wood than Epping Forest.

And now we come to Children of Earth, effectively being Torchwood’s coming of age - it’s in the big league now, playing out on BBC1 over five nights. Many Torchwood fans are seeing this as a slight to the show, some kind of punishment and that it’s a sure sign of the BBC wanting to kill it off. Which is, obviously, nonsense (although star John Barrowman takes a different view).

Children of Earth: Day One, is a calm, considered, intelligently played and chilling piece of drama that sets up things for coming four episodes. It helps that this marks Russell T Davies’s return to Torchwood, a series he created, as scriptwriter for the first time since Everything Changes. And it shows…

And so, as we enter into the home straight of our Torchwood Week here on TV Today, we follow up yesterday’s interview with Gareth David-Lloyd with a sit-down with Eve Myles, who plays Gwen Cooper.

As with Gareth’s interview (and our two-part talk with Russell T Davies on Monday and Tuesday) the interview took place directly after the press screening of Children of Earth: Day One.

And more than any other interview in this series, we couldn’t avoid talking about certain aspects of that episode which impact upon both Gwen and Eve. So be warned — plenty of spoilers ahead…

So the first of three Radio 4 Afternoon Plays featuring Cardiff’s least secret top-secret organisation, Torchwood: Asylum, has just finished. If you missed it, it’ll be available on iPlayer for seven days, and for UK licence fee payers is available as an MP3 download for the same period.

So what did you think?

Caution: if you haven’t heard the play yet, proceeding further may reveal spoilers…

As part of our ongoing week of interviews and features about BBC1 science fiction drama Torchwood, today we interview Gareth David-Lloyd, who plays Ianto Jones.

As with our previous interview with the show’s writer and producer Russell T Davies (read part 1 and part 2), the conversation does include spoilers for next week’s five-part story, Children of Earth — as well as some minor spoilers for the series of Afternoon Plays on Radio 4, the first of which airs today at 2.15pm.

For that reason, we won’t start the interview until after the jump.

For all our Torchwood-related features and the chance to win three Torchwood novels, go to http://thestage.co.uk/torchwood.