FOUR OF THE BEST

The Pact BBC1, 9pm

New drama The Pact is worth a look for its impressive cast alone – it stars Laura Fraser, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Eddie Marsan, Aneurin Barnard and Adrian Edmondson, and that’s just for starters. However, just in case that isn’t enough to convince viewers to check it out, there’s also an intriguing premise. It follows friends Anna, Nancy, Louie and Cat, who all work at a local brewery, where they are thoroughly fed up with their bullying, spiteful young boss Jack.

So, after a particularly drunken work function, they make the snap decision to bundle him in a car and dump him in the woods. It’s supposed to be a prank, but no one is laughing when Jack is subsequently found dead…

Motherland BBC2, 9pm

It may be about the perils of parenthood, but we don’t see much of the characters’ kids in this acclaimed sitcom. However, they are growing up – some of them are now on the cusp of leaving primary school. It seems that’s come as something of a surprise to Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin), who is panicking about the catchment area she lives in, and wondering whether a religious conversion might be the way to get her offspring into the right second school. Meanwhile, Liz (Diane Morgan) advises Kevin (Paul Ready) on divorce lawyers.

Catching Paedophiles: Crime And Punishment Channel 4, 9pm

Every day, nearly 300 incidents of child sexual abuse are discovered online by investigators in the UK. Crime And Punishment is focusing on one particular case to show the difficulties in both bringing a successful prosecution and the toll these distressing investigations can take on the police. Cameras follow Detective Claire Lyons, who is looking into a man who has been uploading indecent images and fears that he may also have been abusing two young children. Can she prove her suspicions are correct?

Inside No 9 BBC2, 9.30pm

Ending a hugely popular drama isn’t easy – just look at Line of Duty. As Inside No 9 is an anthology, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith don’t have quite that problem, but perhaps this latest edition still strikes a chord. It focuses on The Ninth Circle, a fantasy epic series which is generally considered to have gone out on a low with a disappointing finale. Showrunner Spencer Maguire is keen to put that behind him and move on, but it seems Ninth Circle obsessive Simon Smethurst has other ideas.