What not to miss in the week ahead
DRAMA Deadwater Fell
David Tennant plays Tom, a GP in the small fictional Scottish village of Kirkdarroch who is the only survivor of a house fire in which his children and wife, Kate, die. When it emerges the family were dead before the fire started, he becomes the prime suspect as the village tries to come to terms with the apparent actions of the trusted and admired member of the community. But did he do it? The four-parter promises an ever thickening plot which delves into the marriages of Tom and Kate and their best friends, Jess (Cush Jumbo) and her husband Steve (Matthew Mcnulty), who is the local police sergeant.
Friday, Channel 4, 9pm
GARDENS Monty Don’s American Gardens
Get a glimpse of gardening in the US during a three-part series in which Monty Don travels the vast continent to talk to enthusiasts.
In the first programme, Monty travels from Missouri to Chicago and then across to New York and Philadelphia. He begins his journey in a prairie, the original American flowering wilderness. Much of the prairie has disappeared but he meets a couple who have revived the tradition and enjoy showing it to him in full bloom.
Friday, BBC2, 8pm
CRIME White House Farm
The grisly real life 1985 case when five members of the same family – Sheila Caffell, her twin six-year-old sons and her parents, Nevill and June
Bamber – were murdered at an Essex farmhouse is revisited in a six-part drama.
The series will seek to provide fresh insight into this family tragedy and the contested accounts of the events that took place at White House Farm.
Mark Addy plays DS Stan Jones and Stephen Graham is DCI ‘Taff ’ Jones, while Freddie Fox takes the role of Jeremy Bamber, who is currently serving life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the crime, though he maintains his innocence.
Wednesday, STV, 9pm
TRIBUTE Clive James: Postcard From Sydney/london
Spend an evening in the urbane company of the late Clive James, as the BBC shows a couple of his travel shows from 1991, beginning in Sydney, Australia and then London. In his broadcasting pomp, he is both thoughtful and funny in equal measure. The contrast is stark on
When Mary Beard Met Clive James which follows at 9:55pm. Recorded in late 2018 when he was seriously ill and facing his own mortality, James is physically reduced but fighting on with intellect and good humour. Today, BBC2, 8:15pm, 9:05pm
DRAMA Silent Witness/death In Paradise
Two favourite crime dramas return, beginning with a two part Silent Witness. All the main protagonists return as a private jet crashes into woodland outside London. Its passengers include the former US Ambassador, Jonathan Kraft. Nikki (Emilia Fox) calls her partner Matt (Michael Landes) from the crash scene to break the news: his friend, and former colleague did not survive the accident.
Meanwhile, Ardal O’hanlon will be dealing with his final cases as he is stepping down from solving a murder a week on Saint Marie in Death In Paradise. In the first episode, a New Year’s Eve party is the setting as the employees of Cariba Airways celebrate alongside airline owner Aaron Mccormack (Elliot Cowan), until his wife Vanessa (Amanda Hale) is found stabbed... ■
Tuesday and Wednesday, BBC1, 9pm; Thursday, BBC1, 9pm