November 2009 Archives

Miranda BBC2, Monday 8.30pm
Miranda Hart’s sitcom is ridiculously silly, and that’s just part of the reason why I like it so much. Tonight, the joke shop owner decides that, as a single woman, she is carefree enough to jet off on holiday at a moment’s notice. But to avoid the hassle of long-distance travel, she books into a hotel across the road…

Mouth to Mouth BBC3, Monday 9pm & 9.30pm
This series of monologues is growing richer by the episode. Overlapping in time, each episode is presented from the point of view of a different character with some of the others occasionally chipping in — but each time, we’re shown that events as we know them are different when viewed through different eyes. Oh, and it’s brilliantly funny as well.

Margot BBC4, Monday 9pm
In BBC4’s third and final film about woman in the arts, Anne-Marie Duff plays ballerina Margot Fonteyn. At a time in her life when she was expected to retire from the Royal Ballet, the arrival of Rudolf Nureyev revitalised her on-stage career: but offstage, she was approaching middle age with a diplomat husband who was more concerned with his home country than he was with his wife.

Delia’s Classic Christmas BBC2, Tuesday 9pm
If you work in a shopping centre, you’d be sick of Christmas by now, I’d have thought — stores in my area have been celebrating the festive season since Halloween, it seems. But for the rest of us, Advent starts here — and with Delia Smith’s first Christmas-themed cookery programme in 19 years.

Paradox BBC1, Tuesday 9pm
The setup is ridiculous, the characters uninteresting and the dialogue trite. Yes, it’s the closest that the BBC has come to producing another Bonekickers — so just switch off your brains for an hour and enjoy.

We Need Answers BBC4, Tuesday 10pm
If a certain radio show hadn’t already grabbed the soubriquet of “the antidote to panel games”, this show may have laid a claim to the title. Mark Watson presents a second series of the show in which two celebrities (this week, Martin Offiah and Jenni Murray) are faced posers originally sent in to a text-message answer service.

Spooks BBC1, Wednesday 9pm
With CIA boss Samuel Walker’s sudden death — an apparent suicide — troubling Harry, Ros meets her old mentor. And as soon as you hear the words “old mentor”, you just know that there’s trouble, right? You’d not be wrong…

The Man Behind the Masquerade BBC4, Wednesday 9pm
Radio 4 has already celebrate the 30th anniversary of classic children’s puzzle book Masquerade by Kit Williams - now it’s the telly’s turn, which means we also get to enjoy the sumptuous artwork.

Gavin & Stacey BBC1, Thursday 9pm
Last week’s episode proved a fantastic opening to the new series, and there’s no sign of a let-up. This week, a curry is ordered, and a spa day ensures the return of Dawn and Pete (Julia Davis and Adrian Scarborough). Tidy.

Have I Got News For You BBC1, Friday 9pm
The Armstrong & Miller Show BBC1, Friday 9.30pm
An Alexander Armstrong double bill, as he performs his regular guest host role of HIGNFY before another half-hour of tomfoolery with Ben Miller.

Peter Kay’s Got an Extra Pop Factor and Then Some 2+1 Channel 4, Friday 9pm
The X Factor may be getting ever more brazen in displaying its formulaic qualities, but Peter Kay’s pisstake is so spot on because it follows the formula to the letter. This repeat of a follow-up show doesn’t quite scale the heights of the original show, but there’s still plenty to laugh at.

Comedy Showcase: The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret Channel 4, Friday 10.05pm
The latest in Channel 4’s series of comedy pilots has a transatlantic air, as US comedian David Cross plays an American executive sent over to Britain to promote an awful energy drink.

Harry Hill’s TV Burp ITV1, Saturday 7.30pm
The last in the current series — and to mark the occasion, apparently the knitted character has been spied on many, many programmes this week.

The Queen Channel 4, Sunday 9pm
After BBC1 and ITV1 had success with the five-nights-a-week strip format for drama (cf. Torchwood, Collision), Channel 4 tries the same, but with several subtle differences. Running from Sunday to Thursday instead of the other channels’ Monday-Friday schedule, this series is a documentary with drama elements detailing pivotal moments in the life of Queen Elizabeth II, with a different actress playing the monarch each night. In this first episode, Emilia Fox plays the Queen in the 1950s as she has to deal with the relationship of her sister, Princess Margaret, with Group Captain Peter Townsend.

Mark Lawson Talks to Imelda Staunton BBC4, Sunday 9pm
An actress who always seems to come across well in interviews, this hour of chat promises much, covering Staunton’s career in film, television and theatre.

The Saturday Play: A Family Affair Radio 4, Saturday 2.30pm
Michael Dobbs, creator of the House of Cards trilogy and a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, tells the story of the Iron Lady’s last days in power as dissension within the ranks of the Conservative Party in 1990 ended her premiership. Clare Higgins plays Margaret, with Stephen Moore as husband Denis.

The Songs the Beatles Gave Away Radio 2, Saturday 10pm
Well, hardly “gave away” — as well as crafting their own pop hits, Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney (and, to a lesser extent, George Harrison) also wrote a number of tunes for other artists of the era. Then, as now, songwriting is the most lucrative element of pop music — and the Lennon/McCartney double act earned plenty by writing songs for Cilla Black, Jackie Lomax, The Fourmost and others.

Archive on 4: Lord Clark - Seeing Through the Tweed Radio 4, Saturday 8pm
Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation is, to this day, characterised as the archetypal BBC documentary — authoritative but with a distinct sense of authorship. 40 years after it first aired, the Archive Hour looks at the art historian’s background, and how his TV series came to be the culmination of a career that reveals much about 20th century Britain.

Desert Island Discs Radio 4, Sunday 11.15am
Private Passions Radio 3, Sunday 12pm
Cast away on a desert island this week is a relaxed, if still melancholic, Morrissey, while Michael Berkeley’s guest is musical comedian Bill Bailey.

Classic Serial: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Radio 4, Sunday 3pm
Radio 4’s Complete Smiley series reaches arguably the finest novel in the series, and certainly the point at which Simon Russell Beale finally gets to shine, as George Smiley really comes to his own. Forced back from retirement, Smiley is tasked with identifying the mole in his department. While the shadow of the BBC TV adaptation is long, the cast list for this three-part radio version — joining Beale are Anna Chancellor, Alex Jennings, Kenneth Cranham and Maggie Steed — should ensure that it more than holds its own.

Drama on 3: The Changeling Radio 3, Sunday 8pm
A new radio adaptation of Thomas Middleton and William Rowley’s Jacobean drama. Anna Madeley, Zubin Varla and Nicky Henson star.

Sunday Feature: The Good Old Days? Radio 3, Sunday 10pm
The Victorian music hall provides such a rich seam of cultural discussion, it seems. Only a few weeks ago Radio 4 was investigating black-face minstrelsy in music hall. Now, Radio 3 delves deeper, with Billy Bragg examining its place in British folk music.

Our Mutual Friend Radio 4, Monday-Friday 10.45am & 7.45pm
The final week of the Dickens adaptation, which should mean that secrets are revealed, plans come to fruition and chickens come home to roost. All the previous episodes are still available on iPlayer, so there’s still time to catch all of this engrossing story.

The Infinite Monkey Cage Radio 4, Monday 4.30pm
A new, irreverent science show fronted by physicist Brian Cox and comedian Robin Ince. To emphasise how this series, while taking science seriously, won’t be too dry, the first studio guest is comedian (and former cosmologist) Dara O’Briain.

A Jewel in the Comedy Crown Radio 4, Tuesday 11.30am
Jason Manford presents a documentary about Jimmy Jewel, one of the 20th century’s most enduirng light entertainment stars.

He’s Not the Messiah, He’s a Very Naughty Boy Radio 2, Tuesday 10.30pm
From the title, you just know that this docuemntary is going to be about Monty Python’s Life of Brian. The film’s troubled life, from difficulties with funding to struggling with censorship, has been documented extensively already, so fans will likely know most, if not all, of the anecdotes that presenter Sanjeev Bhaskar digs up.

Afternoon Play: A Dangerous Thing Radio 4, Wednesday 2.15pm
John Sessions writes and stars in this tale of the friendship between Alexander Pope (Session) and Jonathan Swift (Timothy Spall).

Off the Page Radio 4, Thursday 1.30pm
The fate of the newspaper critic is under discussion. As paper budgets are cut and cut again, the arts criticism sections of newspapers suffer — but how important are they really? Obviously, we at The Stage believe they’re important, or we wouldn’t review more UK theatre than any other publication.

Afternoon Play: Headliner Radio 4, Thursday 2.15pm
In the Eastern European country of Khovakhia, an up-and-coming stand-up comedian (Laura Solon) is inspired by a visiting US stand-up to try harder, more political comedy. As elections approach in the repressed state, how much should she speak out?

The Friday Play: How Now TV Radio 4, Friday 9pm
Renowned TV documentary marker Paul Watson, whose 1974 series The Family kick started the reality/fly-on-the-wall genre, turns his hand to criticise the whole TV industry in this repeated drama. Tv presenter Daniela Cross (Victoria Shalet) comes up with an idea so awful that it’s bound to succeed.

Mark’s on holiday, and I’ve been busy elsewhere, but normal service on TV Today will resume shortly.

In the meantime, after the muppets on The X Factor murdered Queen songs a few weeks ago, some real Muppets show them how it’s done. Take that, Jedward:

Shaun the Sheep BBC1, Monday 4.20pm
In the first episode of a new, second series for Aardman’s genius animated ovine, Shaun is bored, so decides to dress up as the farmer. As you do.

Gracie! BBC4, Monday 9pm
Jane Horrocks has a gift for vocal mimicry, as anyone who saw her in the original production of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice or its subsequent film adaptation will attest. Here, she plays Gracie Fields, at one time the highest paid actress in the world, but who fell out of favour when she married an Italian director, an act deemed unpatriotic when the country was in a state of war. It’s followed by a documentary about Fields’s life.

Mouth to Mouth BBC3, Monday 9pm & 9.30pm
After last year’s compilation of made-for-the-web monologues, the people behind wannabe girl band Cats Eyes graduate to a series of six half-hour episodes, the first two of which air tonight. This time, each half-hour episode concentrates on one particular person, starting with Anna Nightingale’s Meeshell, who dominated the original storyline with her dreams of stardom (“it’s called showbusiness, not show mercy,” she crowed).

Paradox BBC1, Tuesday 9pm
A research scientist receives a series of images, apparently beamed to Earth from space, that appear to show events from Earth’s future. How do the police respond? By assigning Tamzin Outhwaite. It’s all ridiculous hokum, but if you switch off the part of your brain that alerts you to plot holes it becomes a fun way to spend an hour on a rainy autumn evening.

Cast Offs Channel 4, Tuesday 11.05pm, Wednesday 11.15pm_
A TV company, hoping to break new and controversial ground, strands six people with disabilities on a remote island as part of a new reality TV show. If you left the premise at that, nobody would bat an eyelid: Channel 4 has been courting controversy with similar shows for years (e.g., Boys and Girls Alone). This, though, is a drama. All six principal actors have a disability — a belated first for British television — and as the series follows their struggle to cope with island life, it also shows, in flashback, the characters’ earlier lives. While Channel 4 may not produce as many hours of drama as it once did, this series demonstrates that those it does tend to be of higher quality than other channels’ efforts.

Gavin and Stacey BBC1, Thursday 9pm
When this third and final series was first trailed a month or so ago, it was gratifying to see a TV Today comment — that the series was “absolutely stonking” — air on primetime BBC1. While I’ve not yet seen anything other than the trailers and preview clips, it looks like the winning combination of great writing and pitch-perfect performances should ensure that the Shipman and West families go out on a high.

QI BBC1, Thursday 9.30pm
A seventh series of the trivia quiz hosted by Stephen Fry with the amiable Alan Davies as comic foil. This week, they are joined by Dara O’Briain, Roy Brydon and David Mitchell. I know, David Mitchell on a comedy panel show. Who’d have thought?

Children in Need (Friday from 7pm, BBC1)

It’s the time of year when that little bear with the eye patch (I’m still to be convinced that Pudsey isn’t on some benefits scam) asks us to dig deep for charity in the BBC’s annual telethon. Terry Wogan is on hand as ever, joined this year by Tess Daly and Alesha Dixon. There’s the usual round of entertainment, and this year Terry gets to visit the regulars of Lark Rise to Candleford, the EastEnders cast pay tribute to Motown and there’ll be a sneak peak at the Doctor Who Christmas special.

Coronation Street (Friday 7.30pm, ITV1)

Another day in Weatherfield, another murderer revealed. Poor Maria Connor’s life starts to collapse around her as she now knows the truth that her new fiancé Tony had her first husband, Liam, offed. Only on the cobbles, eh? You’ve got to feel for the poor girl, although Tony had “MURDERER” written all over him like Blackpool Illuminations. Still, it’s all good fun, innit?

Don Carlo from the Royal Opera House (Friday 8pm, BBC4)

You’ve got to love the BBC, and BBC4 in particular. Tonight the channel presents a lengthy presentation of the Royal Opera House’s accomplished production of Don Carlo. There’s so little support for the arts on television so we must cherish channels like BBC4 while we still have them for putting out material like this. It’s powerful stuff, with the titular prince suffering the indignity of having his other half married off to his father as part of the package in a peace treaty (and breathe). It might be three hours and 40 minutes, but it’s mesmerising and there’ll be no requests for dosh from yellow teddy bears.

Cranford (Saturday 8pm, BBC4)

With a seasonal helping of Christmas Cranford imminent, why not relax with a repeat run for the first delightful series of the drama based on Elizabeth Gaskell’s novels. Marvellous!

The Thick of It (Saturday 10.20pm, BBC2, BBC HD)

A superb episode of Armando Iannucci’s effortless political satire, as Nicola Murray and her opposition counterpart, Peter Mannion, appear on Richard Bacon’s radio show. And the results are, as you’d expect, not pretty. But it’s the encounter behind the scenes between Malcolm Tucker and Mannion’s own wizard of spin, Stewart Pearson, where the real thrust of this episode lies. It’s like the meeting of two powerful Jedi. Or something.

Garrow’s Law (Sunday 9pm, BBC1)

Final episode of what has been a fairly enjoyable period drama series about the trials of 18th century barrister William Garrow. It can be a bit earnest in places, and occasionally Andrew Buchan loses his grip on the character, but those are minor grumbles. Tonight Garrow defends the honour of a prostitute and takes on the Attorney General. Stirring stuff.

Mark Lawson Talks to Jane Horrocks (Sunday 9pm, BBC4)

Mark Lawson sits the delightful Jane Horrocks down for a natter about her career ahead of BBC4’s Gracie! on Monday evening, in which she takes the title role as the legendary entertainer.

The Osbourne Family Adrenaline Junkie (Sunday 10pm, ITV1)

I can’t look…

Saturday Play: The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial Radio 4, Saturday 2.30pm
From the same source material as Inherit the Wind, currently running at the Old Vic, this week’s Saturday Play is a slice of verbatim theatre, adapted from the court transcripts of the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925. A young teacher is tried when he intentionally violates a Tennessee state law prohibiting the teaching of evolution. A superlative American cast is headed by Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Dr Horrible’s Singalong Blog), Ed Asner (Lou Grant, Disney Pixar’s Up), Stacy Keach (Mike Hammer, Prison Break) and John de Lancie (Star Trek: The Next Generation).

Elaine Paige on Sunday Radio 2, Sunday 1pm
Returning from her Australian tour, EP wrests back control of the Sunday lunchtime airwaves. The studio guest Jane Horrocks, currently on stage in Annie Get Your Gun, while Priscilla: Queen of the Desert star Oliver thornton sings a number from the show.

The Archers Radio 4, Sunday 7pm
A sad day, as we hear the last contribution to the series of Norman Painting, who played Phil Archer from the series’ inception until his death last month.

Drama on 3: Don Quixote by Thomas D’Urley Radio 3, Sunday 8.30pm
First performed in 1694, this play takes Cervantes’ novel and marries it with music from Henry Purcell and others. Commissioned and originally performed for the 300th anniversary of Purcell’s death in 1995, Don Taylor’s adaptation is repeated here as part of Radio 3’s weekend commemorating the 350th anniversary of his birth. The late Paul Scofield plays Don Quixote, Roy Hudd is his servant Sancho Panza, with other roles played by Roger Allam, Douglas Hodge and Bill Wallis.

Our Mutual Friend Radio 4, Monday-Friday 10.45am, repeated 7.45pm
We reach the halfway point in Dickens’ morality tale. Sadly, the drama isn’t part of BBC Radio’s series catch-up trial on iPlayer, so if you’ve missed the first episodes it’s too late — but it’s a compelling adaptation nonetheless.

Vent Radio 4, Tuesday 11pm
After last week’s Friday Play precursor, we return to the conventional half-hour series format. Neil Pearson is awake from his coma and is returning home in a wheelchair. On the way, he muses about an argument about cheesecake, has an imaginary conversation with Buzz Aldrin, and invents a panel game. Neil Pearson, Fiona Allen and Josie Lawrence star.

Ballylenon Radio 4, Wednesday 11.30am
The whimsical comedy drama set in the Irish town of Ballylenon in the 1950s returns. Which is either a recommendation or a warning, depending on your point of view.

The Now Show Radio 4, Friday 6.30pm
The zodiac of topical satire falls back squarely into the Punt and Dennis constellation after a six-week sojourn in the Toksvig-Hardy cluster.

The Friday Play: Shirleymander Radio 4, Friday 9pm
Tracy-Ann Oberman stars as the Council Leader in Gregory Evans’s tragi-comedy about Dame Shirley Porter and her time in charge of Westminster Council during the 1980s.

We were very sad here at TV Today to hear of the death of film and TV actor Edward Woodward a few days ago, at the age of 79. Through major roles on television on both sides of the Atlantic, and, of course, The Wicker Man, Woodward was a true star in every sense of the word.

Despite illness, Woodward had continued to work up until shortly before his death, performing a guest role in several episodes of EastEnders earlier this year. The many obituaries that have been written in the last few days have drawn a picture of a hard-working, multi-talented actor who charmed everybody he worked with. I had no idea he’d recorded 12 albums and made several appearances on The Good Old Days!

The Wicker Man aside, the movie which assured him a cult following, he was best known for two roles of particular note to readers of TV Today.

In the ABC Armchair Theatre presentation, A Magnum for Schneider (1967), Woodward, by this time an established theatre actor, made his first appearance as the complex secret agent, David Callan. The play struck enough of a chord with the audience for a six episode series, Callan), to be commissioned to air later in 1967.

The simple answer is because it’s good. Yes, every now and then it does happen and somebody comes up with a decent, honest to goodness, line and length studio-based sitcom. And with Miranda, writer and series lead Miranda Hart has done just that.

The show is essentially a TV version of Hart’s Radio 2 comedy, Miranda Hart’s Joke Shop, and is semi-autobiographical. Miranda owns a joke shop downstairs from her flat, which she runs with uptight best friend Penny (Sarah Hadland). Next door is Conky’s Grill, a bistro in which Gary (Tom Ellis) is the chef. And of course, Miranda has had the hots for him for years, but it never quite happens thanks to her endearingly inept attempts at seduction. And what sitcom would be complete without an overbearing mother? Patricia Hodge is at her very best as Miranda’s mother, Penny, who is desperate to get her worrisome daughter married off.

So far, so average.

Well, that was boring. The first entries into Channel 4’s 3D week, The Queen in 3D and Derren Brown’s 3D Magic Spectacular, proved that technology alone can’t make a dull programme any more interesting.

An hour of archive footage in 3D from Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953 might have been interesting. Instead, we got what seemed to be about ten minutes’ worth of material, padded out with talking heads and pleas to repeatedly put on, then take off, the 3D glasses.

The footage itself was quite interesting — but the 3D effect only works when you have elements in the foreground. In the case of much of the footage shown here, that constituted people who would normally fall into a group that is technically known as “people getting in the way of the camera”.

We have another hour of The Queen in 3D tonight. I can’t help feeling that, had the archive footage for both programmes been scheduled into a single programme, we might have ended up with a better hour of television, 3D or no.

This was followed by Derren Brown’s magic show — a combination of archive 3D magic tricks, including a combined with some specially recorded material from the likes of Pete Firman and magic duo Barry and Stuart. From the beginning, Brown assured us that the third dimension would not be used to trick us. In which case, one has to ask — what was the point? Certainly, the tricks on show were not on a par with Brown’s best. Indeed, the best bits of the whole show comprised Brown’s linking narration, where he allowed his mischievous side to flourish to good effect.

Throughout the whole evening, the best 3D sequence came not from Channel 4’s programming, but an advert for the new album by X Factor runners-up JLS (below - 3D glasses required). When the adverts outclass the shows, you know you’re in trouble.

Image above: photomontage from Creative Commons-licensed images by makelessnoise and Gwyn Richards.

The Art on Your Wall with Sue Perkins BBC2, Monday 9pm
Public taste in art for the home has never been particularly in step with the sort of works that highfalutin tend to praise. Supersizer and comedian Sue Perkins explores the changing taste in domestic art since World War II, including conversations with Terence Conran, Wayne Hemingway and Jack Vettriano.

Enid BBC4, Monday 9pm
Helena Bonham Carter stars as the prolific children’s fiction writer Enid Blyton in the first of three dramas from BBC4 under the umbrella title of “Women We Loved” (later films will feature Margot Fonteyn and Gracie Field).

Derren Brown Presents the 3D Magic Spectacular Channel 4, Monday 10pm
Channel 4’s resident trickster takes a back seat from confounding viewers to present this showcase of other magicians performing trickery, combined with archive footage of various magic tricks filmed in 3D. As part of Channel 4’s 3D Week, it’s far more interesting then the programme preceding it, The Queen in 3D.

Celebrating the Carpenters ITV1, Wednesday 7.30pm
An odd midweek placement for the sort of show that ITV1 normally does so well on Saturday evenings. One suspects that this collection of modern artists covering Carpenters classics has been shunted aside to make way for X Factor hopefuls murdering Queen songs at the weekend. Trust me, Wednesday got the better deal (an excruciating appearance by the inappropriately-named Saturdays notwithstanding). Good, camp fun.

Spooks BBC1, Wednesday 9pm
A meeting of powerful businessmen is taken hostage by armed terrorists — and wouldn’t you know it, Ros (Hermione Norris) just happened to be working undercover in the meeting at the time. Antonia Campbell-Hughes (Lead Balloon) guest stars as the girlfriend of one of the terrorists.

Children in Need Rocks the Royal Albert Hall BBC1, Thursday 8pm
In advance of Friday’s annual telethon event, a charity pop concert organised by and featuring Gary Barlow, with performances from Take That, Lily Allen, Shirley Bassey, Paul McCartney and many more.

Alan Carr: Chatty Man Channel 4, Thursday 10pm
Personally, I found Carr’s recent statement that gay men make the best chatshow hosts because they are “gossipy” rather annoying — not only because it relies on a particular stereotype, but also because it would imply that Graham Norton is better in the field than Jonathan Ross. For all his faults, Wossy still has the edge on that score. That said, the last series of Carr’s show was often hilarious with the right guests. Whether Noel Fielding and Mariah Carey fit into that category, we’ll have to wait and see.

Collision (Friday 9pm, ITV1/ITV HD)

Tricky slot for a drama, Friday at 9pm on ITV1, but with the momentum that Collision has built up over the last four nights, the finale of this decent piece of telly should do okay. Averaging around 6 million viewers across the week, Collision’s performance will have done ITV’s 9pm average the world of good, and leaves the way open for more dramas stripped across the week. Have we seen the future of drama on TV?

The Armstrong and Miller Show (Friday 9.30pm, BBC1)

The boys keep up the high quality level that has been typical of this series, with hapless historian Dennis Lincoln-Park becoming a firm favourite. It might be the same gag week in, week out, but that’s the absolute beauty of it. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face at the end of the week.

Merlin (Saturday 6.05pm, BBC1)

Blah blah, summat about magic, blah blah guest-star Emilia Fox, blah blah Arthur and Merlin go on a quest, blah blah blah, all great fun, blah blah blah.

Casualty (Saturday 8.40pm, BBC1)

If all else fails (and it’s a bizarrely thin schedule tonight for this time of year) there’s always Casualty. The perennial medical drama is always worth looking at every now and then, just to make sure it’s still there. Look out for a guest-turn from Russ Abbott.

The Thick of It (Saturday 10.10pm, BBC2)

Tonight’s instalment of officially the best comedy on television (according to me, so there) sees the return of Roger Allam’s Tory MP Peter Mannion, last seen in the fantastic specials a couple of years ago. It’s a testament to the writing team that Mannion is a likable if fairly impotent character - it would have been easy to portray the Tory as slavering, smug blaggards. It’s as sharp as ever, with Mannion’s team attempting to capitalise on problems in Nicola Murray’s private life. And of course, in the thick of it, there’s Malcolm. There’s always Malcolm.

Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars (Sunday 7pm, BBC1/BBC HD)

Well, this is it, the beginning of the end for David Tennant as one of the very best Doctor Whos we’ve been graced with in the show’s rich history. And it a corker, a scary, tense piece set on Mars research station Bowie Base One. There’s something in the water, and the human crew on the base are being transformed into terrifying zombies. It looks incredible, and the story really takes Doctor Who to its scariest best - mums and dads might want to be on hand to reassure the little ones that it’s all going to be okay. Breathtaking television, guest- starring the majestic Lindsay Duncan. Doctor Who Confidential follows at 8pm on BBC2.

Top Gear (Sunday 9pm, BBC2/BBC HD)

More of the same from Messrs Clarkson, Hammond, May and The Stig to take us up to Christmas. Cars may feature somewhere along the way.

I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here (Sunday 9pm, ITV1)

It’s that time of year when a “celebrity” competes to be crowned King/Queen of the Jungle and have that fleeting moment when they think their pitiful career has been saved. Followed by the crushing disappointment about a month later when the chat show appearances have dried up and a turn on Loose Women is about all you can look forward to. Ratings will be huge, as ever, but really, I’m not sure I can be bothered any more.

Miranda (Sunday 10pm, BBC2)

Repeat of the first episode of Miranda Hart’s delightful new sit-com. We love it, so you should too!

Saturday Play: The Shape of the Table Radio 4, Saturday 2.30pm
Tying in with Radio 4’s commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the tumultuous changes in Eastern Europe in 1989, the Saturday Play revives David Edgar’s National Theatre production from 1990. Set in a fictional European country with echoes of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, the country’s Communist government sees the writing on the wall and faces a stark choice: suppress the instigators of the uprising or initiate reform. Tim McInnerney and Henry Goodman lead an impressive cast.

Reviewing the original theatre production, The Stage’s then editor, Peter Hepple, said:

Edgar’s skill lies in mastering the degrees of speculation which 1989 brought to the surface. The answers may not be known until the turn of the century and beyond, but the questions, as always, are fascinating and fairly put.

• Read the original review
• Access The Stage Archive to read every issue from 1880 to 2007. Prices for access start at £5.

The play’s author, David Edgar, is on Radio 4’s Word of Mouth on Tuesday at 4pm, exploring the language of Communism with presenter Michael Rosen.

Leaving by Vaclav Havel World Service, Saturday 8pm
A rare appearanace for the BBC World Service in this preview section, with the premiere of Czech playwright Vaclav Havel’s first work since becoming his nation’s president in 1989 — an appointment which is echoed in The Shape of the Table (above).

Vilem Rieger, ex-Chancellor of an unnamed state, is leaving office. But does leaving necessarily mean that he, his mistress and his extended family have to leave the state villa, which has been their home for years? David Haig, Hugh Bonneville, Joanna Scanlan and Simon Russell Beale star.

Archive on 4: Radio Hollywood Radio 4, Saturday 8pm
In the 1930s and 1940s, the New York-based Lux Radio Theater adapated a range of blockbuster films into hour-long radio programmes, often using the original stars. Jeffrey Richards presents this documentary about the show, which featured adaptations including The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon.

Classic Serial: Fair Stood the Wind for France Radio 4, Sunday 3pm
HE Bates’s tale of a British aircrew whose bomber is downed over wartime occupied France stars Rory Kinnear, Tom Goodman-Hill and Louise Brealey.

Weekday choices follow after the jump.

Apologies for the relative quietness from the direction of TV Today this week, it’s been one of those hectic ones. But we couldn’t not at least draw attention to Channel 4’s decision to cancel two of its most popular, long-running formats.

Yes, How Clean is Your House? and Wife Swap have both been given the push, despite the claim that both shows are still highly profitable. Head of Channel 4, Julian Bellamy, has said that this has been a:

“creative decision on our part to make space for new ideas”

And one can’t help but be buoyed by this on a certain level - both are good shows, but this is perhaps a sign that Channel 4 really is moving in the right direction, creatively speaking.

Tomorrow we’ll have a full Square Eyes weekender update for you. Don’t forget, Doctor Who on Sunday!

Miranda BBC2, Monday 8.30pm
Miranda Hart’s Radio 4 sitcom, Miranda Hart’s Joke Shop, makes a transfer to television — it shares a central character called Miranda who runs a joke shop. And the central character, and premise, is pretty much based around Hart’s comedy persona - she’s a single woman who’s a bit clumsy. The vogue for single-camera observational comedies have made any studio-bound, multi-camera sitcom look dated, but when they work (cf. Not Going Out, in which Hart also featured) they work well.

Collision ITV1, Monday-Friday 9pm
Written by Anthony Horowitz and Michael A Walker, ITV attempts the stripped scheduling that BBC1 has used so successfully with Criminal Justice, Torchwood: Children of Earth and The Diary of Anne Frank. A series of disparate storylines in tonight’s episode come together with a devastating multiple car crash on a busy dual carriageway. As the week progresses, the characters’ lives become ever more intertwined and dark secrets come to the fore. Well, it wouldn’t be an ITV drama without dark secrets, would it?

The Execution of Gary Glitter Channel 4, Monday 9pm
What if the death penalty was back in the UK? What if the courts decided that paedophilia was punishable by death? What if the UK courts decided to try people for crimes committed in other countries? What if Gary Glitter was the first celebrity defendant? All questions you never thought you’d need the answer to, all posed and inadequately discussed by one of television’s most ridiculous programmes this side of Bonekickers.

Dirk Bogarde: By Myself Sky Arts 1, Tuesday 11pm
He may have come from a previous generation of actors, but this extended archive interview with Bogarde talking about his art should be an invaluable watch for any actor — or, indeed, anyone interested in the performing arts as a whole.

An Audience with Donny and Marie ITV1, Wednesday 8pm
The ITV format of a celebrity audience asking posed questions to a special guest has longevity because it tends to bring out the best in the performers. And Donny and Marie Osmond are performers extraordinaire. Here, they bring highlights of their recent Las Vegas show to the London Studios.

Spooks BBC1, Wednesday 9pm
With Britain’s energy supply in crisis, the government is having to go cap in hand to some rather dodgy form Soviet states. But with the country’s appalling human rights record and an explosion in the UK’s largest gas processing plant, things are not going smoothly. It’s all preposterous hokum, of course, but everything is done so slickly that one doesn’t really care…

Misfits E4, Thursday 9pm
E4’s take on the superhero genre falls somewhere between the disappointing Heroes and ITV2’s even-more-disappointing No Heroics, ending up being more satisfying than either, while not quite reaching the heights of the channel’s previous hits Skins* and Dead Set. A group of sullen teenagers on community service (complete with attention-seeking orange jumpsuits) are caught up in a freak storm, and emerge with each gaining a superpower. Should be fun.

Where Do You Want Me? (A Comic in Continental Crisis)
Radio 4, Saturday 10.30am
Something that our light entertainment correspondents in The Stage have been covering over recent years is the growth of entertainment prospects in Spanish resorts that cater to British holidaymakers. Johnny Vegas, star of ITV1’s hit comedy series Benidorm, revisits the resort to meet some of the comedians, singers and spesh acts who have moved out there.

Saturday Play: All Quiet on the Western Front
Radio 4, Saturday 2.30pm
First broadcast a year ago on Radio 3 (and highlighted in our Turn off the TV preview), this first radio adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s anti-war novel earns an appropriate repeat on Remembrance Sunday weekend.

Drama on 3: The Promise
Radio 3, Sunday 8pm
When Ariadne Nicolaeff’s English translation of Aleksei Arbuzov’s play, set in World War II during the seige of Leningrad, debuted in London in 1967, the cast comprised Judi Dench, Ian McKellen and Ian McShane. Here, the roles are taken by Ruth Wilson, Russell Tovey and Harry Lloyd. The three play teenagers who are thrown together in a war-torn apartment block, and follows them both during and after the war.

Weekday choices — including the major Dickens adaptation which is the highlight of this week’s radio output — after the jump.

The Armstrong and Miller Show (Friday 9.30pm, BBC1) It’s gentle, it’s cosy, it’s very British, and above all, it’s a sketch show that’s funny. Hurrah for Armstrong and Miller!

Comedy Showcase: Campus (Friday 10pm, C4/C4 HD) Channel 4 embarks on another exercise in looking for a new comedy series by commissioning a series of pilots, starting with Campus, from the team that brought you Green Wing. There will be some comparison to the much-missed Green Wing, and that would be fair. But there is a lot here that gives cause to think this is a shoe-in for series treatment.

Michael Jackson: the Live Séance (Friday 10pm, Sky 1) Derek Acorah attempts to contact the spirit of Michael Jackson. Live. On British television. I’m not making this up.

Strictly Come Dancing (Saturday 6.25pm, BBC1/BBC HD) Strictly heads to the home of many a childhood holiday this week as it comes live from the Blackpool Tower ballroom. Which if it does only one thing, it will shut Craig Kelly up about wanting to get to Blackpool.

Making of War Horse (Saturday 8pm, More 4) Marvel at just what went into staging the National Theatre’s stunning adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s children’s novel. Breathtaking.

The Thick of It (Saturday 10.15pm, BBC2) Nicola Murray is off for her first speech at the party conference, which gives Malcolm Tucker ample opportunity to lob some deliciously foul-mouthed attacks on her confidence. It’s testament to the writing the performances that The Thick of It never descends into schoolyard smut, and despite the bonkers scheduling, this is as gold as comedy ever gets.

Doc Martin (Sunday 8pm, ITV1/ITV HD) Finale of what has been a solid series of Doc Martin, and doubtless there will be an open ending, considering Martin is closing the surgery and Louisa’s life is in danger as she goes into premature labour. As one of ITV’s reliable ratings pullers, expect a new series before too long.

Garrow’s Law (Sunday 9pm, BBC1/BBC HD) Garrow’s Law is, on the whole, good stuff. It can be a little stagey in places, a bit too talky, but then it is a courtroom drama, so that’s kind of the point. This week, a killer, dubbed the “Monster” is stalking the ladies of London, and Garrow takes on the case for the defence. It looks good, and with the ever-reliable Alun Armstrong alongside Andrew Buchan’s Garrow as his mentor, Southouse, it’s highly watchable fare.

There’s a lot of points to wade through which could fill a small book, but in the last couple of days, Channel 4, the clearly misunderstood problem child of British broadcasting, has been having one of its occasional moans.

First, outgoing chief executive Andy Duncan had a little cry in front of a House of Lords communication committee about how the BBC hadn’t done very much for Channel 4 lately, saying:

“When you look at their income, which in absolute terms is very high and in relative terms is unbelievable now - the billion-pound gap between the licence fee and commercial revenues - I’m disappointed they have not managed to develop some of these partnerships more successfully as an organisation,”

And then we have head of programming Julian Bellamy bigging up Channel 4, basically implying that Channel 4 is fantastic and that everybody else in British broadcasting is just a bit rubbish, believing that:

It’s one of those unexpectedly busy days here at TV Today Towers (we’re still getting over the news that Barbara Windsor is leaving EastEnders and that Glynis Barber has been cast as Ronnie and Roxy’s mum in place of Jill Gascoine).

So in lieu of a bigger post, here is another entry in our occasional Title Sequence of the Day series - and it’s a classic of US drama…

Into the Storm Monday, BBC2 8.30pm
Brendan Gleeson stars as Winston Churchill in a drama which has already seen him win an Emmy for the role. As Winston and his wife Clementine (Janet McTeer) await the results of the 1945 General Election, we flash back to pivotal events in the Second World War, as Churchill becomes Prime Minister and blocks moves to negotiate with Hitler. A stirring performance that manages to stay just the right side of pastiche.

Battlestar Galactica Monday, Sci-Fi 9pm
Based upon a cheap’n’cheesy 1970s sci-fi shows, Ronald D Moore’s re-imagining grew into one of the most intelligent dramas of any genre of recent times. And while this mini-series isn’t quite as lofty as the full series which followed, it’s a perfect point at which to jump on as Sci-Fi begins a repeat run of the entire series.

Spooks Wednesday, BBC1 9pm
It. Is. Back. After the thrilling conclusion to last year’s run, which saw Connie finally revealed as the mole, slitting Ben’s throat before sacrificing herself to defuse a nuclear bomb, we find out what happened to Harry Pearce (the brilliant Peter Firth) — last seen being bundled into the back of a car. There’s an additional reason for long term Spooks fans to rejoice tonight. My lips are sealed lest I reveal a spoiler - but don’t look at the Radio Times cast listing for this week’s episode, I beg of you…

The Family Wednesday, Channel 4 9pm
The fly-on-the-wall documentary series returns with a new family under the microscope. The Grewals are a Sikh family from rural Berkshire, with three generations living uunder the same roof — and eldest son Sunny’s fianc&eactue;e Shay has been living with the family ever since her relationship with her own parents broke down.

The Bill Thursday, ITV1 9pm
He started his TV career as the man inside various Doctor Who monster outfits (he’s been both a Cyberman and a living stone statue) but for 25 years Graham Cole has been in The Bill - first as an extra and then, since 1987, as PC Tony Stamp. Tonight he’s given a low-key farewell: no major explosions or fireworks. While it’s a true-to-life portrayal of police life in that people move on with little fanfare, from an audience point of view it feels a little empty.