DARK HEARTS

BBC Four, 9pm & 10.05pm

The recent killing of a French soldier by Islamic State (IS) in Iraq was a reminder that, despite vocal opposition to the 2003 invasion, France has had some military involvement in the Middle East over the past two decades. This high-tension drama follows a group of elite French special forces personnel (from the fictional “45” regiment) deployed to track down – and eliminate – French nationals fighting for IS in Iraq.

Tonight’s opening double-bill (of six parts, box-setted) is set on the eve of the Battle of Mosul in 2016 and follows the unit’s efforts to “turn” a captured French IS commander with the promise of extracting his daughter and grandchild from the besieged city ahead of a major Allied assault. Familiar faces in the cast include Spiral stars Thierry Godard and Tewfik Jallab, as well as Marie Dompnier, who plays the chief intelligence officer. Whether a truly elite unit would deliberately get themselves into the scrapes this lot do is open to question, but there’s plenty of action and edge-of-seat moments; and the depiction of life in both the military compound and inside

IS’s Mosul stronghold is convincingly achieved. Gerard O’Donovan of the 1970s and early 1980s, but when he died last month the impressionist Mike Yarwood seemed a figure who had been sadly overlooked by history. This welcome tribute sets the record straight, bringing his extraordinary talent and past enormous popularity vividly back to life via some wonderful clips and interviews with family, friends and celebrity fans.

Tewfik Jallab stars in this blistering French war drama