CONSTELLATION

Apple TV+

With one hit spacedrama, For All Mankind, already on the roster, the arrival of Constellation on Apple TV+ should come as no surprise. But unlike Ronald D Moore’s excellent counterfactual history, this eight-part drama (three episodes are available today) forgoes pulpy fun in favour of something chillier, invoking the likes of Solaris, Interstellar and Gravity.

At its heart is the gimlet-eyed Noomi Rapace as Jo, an astronaut preparing for her first spacewalk on the ISS when the craft is hit by something and an on-board experiment goes bafflingly awry, eventually leaving Jo alone and plagued by hallucinations. All the while, her husband (James D’Arcy) and daughter wait anxiously on Earth, where Cold War rivalries resurface and Jonathan Banks’s quantum physicist insists that the ISS experiments should continue. Constellation does not want for ambition, but the pacing is occasionally ponderous, as if unsure how much science to blind us with, only gathering dramatic force upon Jo’s return to Earth – an event foreshadowed by the prologue, and coming at perhaps fatal cost to her sanity. Superb special effects make this worth sticking with, even so. Gabriel Tate hopefuls visit the set of Silent Witness and attempt to fill Emilia

Fox’s shoes as Dr Nikki Alexander. Such a role requires rapid mastery of medical jargon and the ability to emanate authority. Series star Genesis Lynea (who plays Simone Tyler) will offer her assessment of their performances.

ALICE & JACK Channel 4, 9pm

The longer it goes, the tighter this unorthodox romantic drama grips, thanks in no small part to the assured, spiky chemistry between stars Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson as the titular (occasional) lovers. But are they star-crossed or fated to be together? As their paths intersect once again, years on, the jury is out. Continues tomorrow and Friday.

Inseparable Sisters: twins Marieme and Ndeye

Noomi Rapace is terrific as an astronaut in this slick sci-fi