BEST OF THE REST
FORTITUDE
Sky Atlantic, 9pm
JUST hearing a boot crunch on snow in this horror Arctic saga sends a chill through me. With deadly parasitic wasps, psychotic polar bears, freezing weather, exploding helicopters and murderers on the loose, we’re not sure why anyone would live there.
Nothing good ever happens in Fortitude and this third and final season promises to be no different. There are only four episodes this time, but prepare for each one to pack a punch.
After the lynching of governor Erling Munk, there’s debate over his death.
The theory “He threw himself out of his office window,” isn’t washing with everyone.
Meanwhile, Oslo despatches two new officers to try to make sense of the anarchy.
Sheriff Dan Anderssen, played by the brilliant Richard Dormer, continues his descent into madness. We’ve already established that he’s barely human anymore after his wasp encounter.
He finds himself going head to head with the grief-stricken Michael Lennox, played by Dennis Quaid.
THE SUPERVET AT CHRISTMAS
Channel 4, 8pm
THERE’S no Christmas break for Noel Fitzpatrick, the Supervet, who treats another troop of sick and injured canines.
And no, there’s nothing particularly festive about that, except that one owner, Angie, tells of her plans for Christmas stockings for her nine dogs.
Angie arrives at the clinic with Tatiana, a one-year-old crossbreed puppy who has a severely deformed leg. A rescue dog from Romania, Tatiana was born with dislocated elbows and shuffles along in pain. But surgery will be complicated – should they go for it?
Elsewhere, Julie and Clive bring in their Dalmatian, Peppa, their eight-year-old “dodgy dog”, who they say has always been a bit wobbly.
Bulging discs in her neck, squashing the spinal cord, are a “ticking time bomb” according to Noel.
And another family have travelled from Switzerland with Luna, their seven-yearold Golden Retriever who has had trouble walking for years.
Their local vet thinks it’s a shoulder issue, but Noel has other ideas.