TV week ahead

Published on Friday 24 October 2008 15:54

PICK OF THE WEEK

Life

ITV3, Thursday, 10pm

It's hard to find a TV detective who's not somehow indebted to Conan Doyle's prototype. From Dragnet through to CSI, nth generation Sherlock clones still dominate the genre. But this superb US import bucks that pervasive trend giving us a troubled 'tec fashioned after a far more intriguing literary antecedent, the Count of Monte Cristo.

Brilliantly played by Damian Lewis, Detective Charlie Crews is a law enforcer with quirks and emotional baggage in abundance. Wrongly convicted of homicide and having spent 12 years in prison, the newly exonerated Crews has returned to the force a changed man.

Altered by long-term proximity to the guilty he's acquired a keen insight into the criminal psyche. And, while his settlement has left him with enough riches to enjoy a playboy lifestyle, his gilded indulgences only offer him a temporary respite from his primary ambition – to find the conspirators who framed him.

Lewis's performance leaves us hopeful that Life will earn the longevity it deserves.

BEST REALITY SERIES

Neil Morrissey's Risky Business

Channel 4, Tuesday, 10pm

Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey returns to a similarly laddish and equally comic milieu for this splendid new reality romp. Eager aficionados of real ales, Morrissey and his best friend, chef Richard Fox, are keen to set up their own pub and microbrewery. And, as Morrissey smugly opines, only a total idiot could lose money in the booze business. But, thanks to the cavernous gulf between their ambitions and their abilities, the schadenfreude is soon flowing far more freely than their amber brew.

Also try: All Over The Shop (BBC2, Tuesday, 7.30pm). Business guru Geoff Burch heads to Macclesfield to help three ailing emporiums reverse their dismal fortunes

BEST DOCUMENTARY

True Stories: Jesus Politics

More4, Tuesday, 10pm

Worried by the growing role of religion in American politics, Israeli filmmaker Ilan Ziv takes a look at how a nation founded on the separation of church and state has allowed its political system to be tainted by religious influence. His conclusions are as sobering as they are surprising, finding both the Republicans and Democrats equally guilty of exploiting Godly fervour and blaming the unlikely figure of Jimmy Carter for introducing Biblical moralising into the modern political equation.

Also try: Storyville: When Borat Came To Town (BBC4, Monday, 10pm). The excellent documentary strand charts an epic legal struggle as the Romanian villagers misrepresented in the Borat movie do battle with Hollywood

BEST DRAMA

Spooks

BBC1, Monday and Tuesday, 9pm

The gripping spy drama gets a welcome infusion of new blood as Richard Armitage, finally escaping the grim TV gulag of Robin Hood, brings his Byronic presence to Section D. Playing Lucas North, an MI5 operative re-learning the ropes after a decade in Russian captivity, he's a compelling hero whose need to prove his loyalty add a weighty Le Carr-like vibe to the high octane proceedings.

Also try: Dead Set (E4, Monday to Friday, 10pm). The undead besiege the Big Brother house in this five-part horror thriller from the agreeably warped mind of Charlie Brooker

BEST GUILTY PLEASURE

Britannia High

STV, today, 6.15pm

With Disney's High School Musical franchise rapidly annexing every corner of pop-culture a British riposte was all but inevitable. And so ITV, long preferring emulation over innovation, has concocted this hilariously brazen cash-in.

The premise, such as it is, has a bunch of fresh-faced drama school aspirants singing and dancing their way through various youthful dilemmas. Though they'll doubtless want to cover their ears when the inane pop tunes kick in, fans of car-crash television will find it impossible to avert their eyes.

Also try: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Virgin 1, Saturday, 8pm). The pump-action wielding matriarch infiltrates a power-plant as the increasingly silly sci-fi action romp continues