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?
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