PICK OF THE DAY

Call The Midwife

8PM, BBC1

Following the Christmas Day special, we return to east London for a new run of the popular drama. It’s early 1963, and blizzards, scheduled power cuts and Barbara’s departure are piling the pressure on the midwives of Nonnatus House, while the impoverished community struggles to cope with the big freeze. But Sister Julienne has welcome news: a new recruit is on her way – ‘Our burdens will be eased immediately.’ Assuming that new Jamaican midwife Lucille Anderson (Leonie Elliott) makes it through the snow, of course.

Countryfile

6.30PM, BBC1

John Craven visits Rutland Water in the East Midlands, where up to 30,000 wildfowl spend the winter. Plus, Steve Brown reveals how we can take part in this year’s Big Garden Birdwatch next weekend, Anita Rani goes on a botanical quest, and Tom Heap reports on the problems facing rural fire services.

Still Open All Hours

7.30PM, BBC1

Granville and Leroy try to work out what’s inside a large delivery of cheaply bought tinned goods, with Chinese lettering on the labels; opening some of the tins leaves them none the wiser. How do you sell something you can’t even identify? Meanwhile, Gastric expresses his artistic side, with startling results.

Vera

8.10PM, ITV

The third of four compelling feature-length dramas finds DCI Vera Stanhope called in when a ten-year-old boy wakes to find his mother in the garden, with a fatal head injury. Though she appeared to be an ordinary suburban housewife, it soon transpires that the victim had dark secrets that, though long-buried, had recently come to the surface.