The very best of the week ahead
Today Strike – The Silkworm BBC ONE, 9.00PM
Fans of Midsomer Murders’ more excessive moments will find much to like in this two-part adaptation of Robert Galbraith’s (aka JK Rowling) second novel in the Cormoran Strike crime series. Abandoning the glitzy fashion world of The Cuckoo’s Calling, private detective Strike is plunged into the rather fustier territory of a toxic literary feud when he’s engaged by Leonora Quine (Monica Dolan), wife of the abrasive novelist Owen Quine, to find her missing husband. What Strike uncovers, apart from back-stabbing literary agents, venomous authors and pompous publishers, is bizarre, and appears to lead back to the impenetrable allegorical content of Quine’s latest opus. If it all gets a mite silly in places, Tom Burke’s spot-on portrayal of the eminently grounded ex-soldier Strike manages to keep things on the rails for the most part, and his evolving professional relationship with resourceful assistant Robin (Holliday Grainger) provides interest and light relief. Gerard O’Donovan
Victoria ITV, 9.00PM
The Queen’s (Jenna Coleman) plan to hold a lavish ball to support the silk weavers of Spitalfields proves unpopular with her struggling subjects; and Lord Melbourne (Rufus Sewell) goes to ground when he receives a worrying prognosis. GO
Monday Rellik BBC ONE, 9.00PM
There are tricky dramas and then there’s Rellik. The latest six-parter from Harry and Jack Williams, creators of the bleak but brilliant Missing, is the sort of show that has you in knots from the outset. Take that high concept premise: Rellik (it’s Killer backwards) begins at its endpoint, with the arrest of serial killer. So it’s over the course of the series, in reverse, that we will find out why he was arrested, why he killed, why they caught him, why lead d detective Gabriel Markham (Richard Dormer), himself disfigured in an acid attack, was so intimately involved. We’ve seen this backwards-running format before, of course, with films such as early Noughties thrillers Memento and
Irréversible, but what the Williams are attempting is arguably more complex. For it’s not just one strand of the story that unravels back to its origin but several, some big, some small. Does it work? By and large, yes. There are moments that have you holding your head and moments where you think “wait what just happened then?” but the central performances, in particular that of Dormer, do just enough to anchor the mainm plot and make you eager to uncover what came before.bef Sarah Hughes
Liar ITV, 9.00PM
This sixsix-part drama about a date thattha becomes a crime grips f from the outset. Joan Joanne Froggatt stars as Lau Laura, who has dinner wit with a handsome su surgeon (Ioan Gruffudd).Gr The next dayda she wakes up withwi a blurred m memory of being raped. But will the police believe a woman with a history of mental health problems? Catherine Gee
Tuesday Horizon: Mars: A Traveller’s Guide BBC TWO, 9.00PM
Hats off to the producers of Horizon, whose efforts to provide novel routes into complex science and make apparently forbidding information understandable for the casual viewer are diligent and tireless. This fun premise, narrated by Mark Gatiss, offers a survey of the Red Planet for those of us who may one day walk its surface. This is not as fanciful a notion as it may appear, with many experts believing that the first person to set foot on Mars is alive today. Mars: A Traveller’s
Guide does a fine job of showcasing the jaw-dropping pace of scientific advances, musing on how humans could survive such an environment both physically and psychologically, and how the climate is being recreated for Earth-bound experiments testing everything from potential communication methods to the durability of spacesuits. Gabriel Tate
Doctor Foster BBC ONE, 9.00PM
Always teetering on the brink of the absurd, Mike Bartlett’s enjoyable drama finds Gemma (Suranne Jones) reeling after the return of her unpleasant ex Simon (Bertie Carvel) and discovering why their son has been behaving so oddly. GT
Wednesday The Other One BBC TWO, 10.00PM; NOT NI
Seventies “odd couple” sitcom starring Michael Gambon and Richard Briers. This is a contemporary comedy pilot written by stand-up and regular panel show participant Holly Walsh. The plot follows two half-sisters with the same name, Catherine Walcott, who only learn of each other’s existence following their father’s unexpected death. Ellie White and Lauren Socha lead the superb cast as the uptight, middle-class Cathy and the gloriously uncouth Cat respectively. Catapulted into each other’s lives, Cathy and Cat become caught up in a battle over their father’s memory and remains, spearheaded by Rebecca Front and Siobhan Finneran as their respective mothers. This offers rich comedy pickings, which Bafta award-winning director Dan Zeff ramps up to splendidly cringe-making effect. GO
How to Stay Young BBC ONE & BBC TWO NI, 9.00PM
We know that our bodies can feel older than our years. In this fascinating follow-up to last year’s show, Angela Rippon and Dr Chris van Tulleken set up an “anti-ageing lab” and challenge a group of volunteers to radically reduce their body age in just three months. GO
Thursday Without Limits: Vietnam BBC ONE, 8.00PM
“We must look like the circus has come to town,” announces biker Andy at the beginning of this enthralling, warm-hearted and eye-opening travelogue. The premise is a straightforward one: six people with a range of disabilities travel across Vietnam on modified motorbikes and a specially adapted Jeep. But what marks No Limits out is the honesty with which the participants discuss living with their disabilities. “I am envious watching them,” says Steve – who broke his neck after falling over a balcony and is now in a wheelchair – as the others prepare food. Andy goes further, speaking of his missing arm: “Pain is my friend, my enemy, my lover, my everything.” Yet there is also laughter as the participants bond over the sense of freedom that they feel being with others who understand their situations and slowly open up about their frustrations and fears. For some, those fears are deeper rooted than others. Mary, who has dwarfism, states: “I wouldn’t say I’d conquered much,” as she talks movingly of her depression and the cycling that helps. The scene when she borrows a child’s bike and heads cheering for the hills is magnificent. SH
Educating Greater Manchester CHANNEL 4, 9.00PM
Headteacher Drew Povey is having sleepless nights. The Year 11s at Harrop Fold School are a challenging bunch and when their mock GCSE results prove disappointing, he has his work cut out to turn things around. What he certainly doesn’t need is Year 8 pupils getting into a hairy fight. Rachel Ward
Friday Comedy Playhouse: Static BBC ONE, 10.35PM
From Steptoe and Son via Sorry! and onwards, the man-child stuck at home with his parent(s) has been a staple of British sitcoms for years. Mock the Week regular Rob Beckett repurposes the sub-genre for this comedy pilot, written with sitcom veteran Shaun Pye, in which Rob, Beckett’s character, quits his job in London to move back in with his parents (Alison Steadman and Phil Davis) who, unbeknown to him, have sold their house and moved to a static caravan in Margate. Davis and Steadman are watchable as always, although their characters are pretty broad caricatures, and Craig Parkinson does good work with another familiar archetype as the caravan park’s deluded, egotistical entertainment host. Beckett is a better comic than he is an actor, but there’s a warmth to the writing that compensates for the absence of big laughs. That said, it’s performed with gusto right through to Steadman and Davis’s Motown song-and-dance finale. GT
Cold Feet ITV, 9.00PM
Mike Bullen’s impressive resurrection of his turn-of-the-millennium smash continues with Jenny (Fay Ripley) gaining some newfound authority – which seems to go to her head. Meanwhile, an unguarded comment from Adam (James Nesbitt) could have serious implications. GT