Best on the Box
Stuff’s James Croot picks out the best on the box for the week ahead.
A Man Called Ove 8.30pm, Friday, Rialto
Based on the 2012 novel by Swedish columnist Fredrik Backman (and a subsequent 2015 stage version), this 2016 tale of 59-year-old Victor Meldrew-esque Ove Lindahl will delight fans of Scandinavian black comedies. Much of the credit must go to veteran Swedish actor Rolf Lassgard, who imbues his grumpy old man with just enough humanity to make audiences keen to find out how he got to be his irascible, obnoxious self.
Counterpart 8.30pm, Friday, SoHo
J.K.Simmons and Olivia Williams star in this 10-part sci-fi series about a long-serving UN bureaucrat who discovers the agency he works for is actually involved in looking after a crossing point to a parallel Earth. ‘‘Excellent, intriguing and occasionally action-packed,’’ wrote
Los Angeles Times‘ Robert Lloyd.
All in the Mind 8.30pm, Sunday, Prime
brain development specialist Nathan Wallis go on a journey to present compelling science about a very big life question: is a man’s grey matter the same as a woman’s?
Trauma 8.30pm, Sunday, TVNZ1
From the creator of Doctor Foster comes a new three-part British psychological thriller, where the lives of two fathers collide as tragedy strikes. When Dan’s (John Simm) son tragically dies while in the care of Jon (Adrian Lester), Dan believes the doctor is responsible for the death and begins to unpick the very fabric of Jon’s life. ‘‘As human drama, Mike Bartlett’s thriller is pure theatre,’’ wrote The Telegraph‘s Chris Harvey.
Rillington Place 9.30pm, Monday, UKTV
Samantha Morton lead the cast in this gripping three-part, 2016 drama about the notorious serial killer John Reginald Christie. ‘‘It is a tale that has been told many times before but the limning of the manipulation, the entrapment, the complicity without blame, the forced compromises, and the black misery spreading from one man’s evil has surely rarely been better done,’’ wrote The Guardian‘s Lucy Mangan.
Stealing Van Gogh 8.30pm, Thursday, Sky Arts
In 2002, two thieves broke into the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, stealing two paintings and disappearing into the night. The theft is listed by the FBI as one of top 10 art crimes of all time. In this new BBC documentary, presenter Andrew Graham-Dixon pieces together the story of the two paintings and looks at the wider world of art crime.