THIS WEEK’S TOP TV PICKS
NATURAL HISTORY A Perfect Planet Sunday, BBC1, 8pm
He’s now 94, , but Sir David Attenborough gh seems to be busier than ever. OK, so his trips around the globe, in which he got t up close and personal with various animals, seem to be over, but his vocal talents are still very much in demand. So after narrating a meerkat Dynasties special between Christmas and New Year, he’s back on the BBC again, this time offering insights into how the awesome forces of nature impact on life on Earth. He begins with a focus on volcanoes, huge land masses we probably regard as destructive. But as we see, they were crucial to the planet’s creation and are vital to the existence of some remarkable creatures.
DRAMA Traces Monday-Tuesday, BBC1, 9pm
The final season ason of Line Of Duty should be coming later in the year, but in the meantime fans can console themselves with this detective drama, ama featuring the star who has found fame playing the anti-corruption unit’s DS Steve Arnott – Martin Compston. Conceived by Wire In The Blood author Val McDermid, Traces follows lab technician Emma Hedges (Molly Windsor, above) as she returns to her home city of Dundee to take up a new job but soon finds her work is uncomfortably close to home – investigating the murder of her own mother. A juicy mystery thriller, also starring Laura Fraser and John Gordon Sinclair, it will keep you watching in the opening two episodes of six.
COMEDY Staged
Monday-Tuesday, BBC1, 9.45pm
Undoubtedly the best series made during g the first lockdown was Staged, in which Good Omens colleagues David Tennant ant and Michael Sheen (above) reteamed to play fictional versions of themselves. It used the Covid restrictions to their advantage by offering us a supposedly behind-the-scenes glimpse of the duo bickering while rehearsing a play with their director, Simon Evans (who writes the series and also appears as an exaggerated take on his real persona). It was a hit with viewers and critics alike, and is now back for a new run. This week’s two episodes see David and Michael getting a shock while taking part in a chat show and finding out a trip to America has been shelved.
DOCUMENTARY Cheetah Family & Me
Tuesday-Wednesday, BBC2, 9pm
Survival of the fastest used to be all that mattered in the wilds of southern Africa. But now the cheetah – the speediest t land animal on Earth, capable of accellerating from 0 to 60mph in three seconds – faces a battle against extinction. In a two-part documentary, presenter and natural history cameraman Gordon Buchanan visits the plains of the Kalahari to see how cheetahs and their young are faring, with their numbers dwindling, prey increasingly scarce and humanity encroaching further into their natural habitat. Moments of inspiring wonder are interspersed with brutal evidence of the bleak future that awaits a magnificent, beautiful species if nothing is done to rescue it now.
DRAMA Death In Paradise Thursday, BBC1, 9pm
The solidly dependable tropical murdermystery series returns for a tenth outing. To mark the occasion we’re promised some me familiar faces during the eightepisode run – including, somehow, the bumbling DI played by Ben Miller from when the show first began, even though the character is now decidedly dead. In this week’s opening episode, current star Ralf Little is once more on the case as DI Neville Parker, investigating the death of a TV reporter who made the textbook error of talking about breaking the biggest story of her career before she’d gone to air. Also back on Saint Marie is DS Florence Cassell (Josephine Jobert, above) after the death of her fiance.