I know it’s only the 1st of December, but the TV Christmas season is already kicking off. The listings magazine schedules change completely (next week’s Radio Times, with its Doctor Who-themed cover, came out on Saturday instead of the usual Tuesday).

And now the big channels are starting their preview trailers, starting with two from BBC1. The drama trail is directly below, and the comedy one is after the jump…

The Sarah Jane Adventures, BBC1, Monday 4.35pm
The second part of The Temptation of Sarah Jane shows the fallout following Sarah Jane’s decision to sabotage her father’s car and therefore prevent the death of her parents. Has she never seen Father’s Day? Messing with fixed points in the past is never a good idea. Luckily, Luke, Clyde and Rani are on hand to try and sort out the resulting mess.

The Story of the Costume Drama ITV3, Monday 8.00pm
Keeley Hawes narrates this new series charting the history of period dramas on screen. From quaint tales of rural life, to red-blooded bodice-rippers, costume dramas have provided some of television’s most glorious and memorable moments, many of which will be repeated here. I suspect that the odd reference to ITV’s recent Austen season might just be thrown in too.

Spooks BBC1, Monday 9.00pm
Evidence is stacking up against our hero Harry in MI5’s quest to find the mole, and despite the best efforts of Lucas (who takes matters into his own hands and heads off to Moscow) and the rest of the team, it’s hard to see how he’s going to get out of this one. Meanwhile, there are hints at the series finale, as it becomes clear that the Russians are becoming a little anxious about the planned US missile defence base, and are willing to take drastic actions to prevent it going ahead.

Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll: the 60s Revealed Five, Monday 9.00pm
You’d think that there is hardly anything left to ‘reveal’ about the great culture shift that took place in the 1960s, but this three-part series actually offers something new. Bernard Braden recorded interviews with young celebrities at the time, and intended to repeat the exercise every three years. In reality, the chats remained unbroadcasted, and this is the first time that the likes of Lulu and Davy Jones from The Monkees have seen any of the footage. Their reactions, of course, have been filmed for our enjoyment.

Survivors BBC1, Tuesday 9.00pm
This eerie update of the 1970s sci-fi classic reaches its half-way point with this episode, and Abby (Julie Graham), Greg (Paterson Joseph) and Tom (Max Beesley) are still discovering people who managed to beat the plague. There’s a family who seem utterly unaffected by the otherwise devastating virus, and we see the return of the last government member standing, Samantha Willis (Nikki Amuka-Bird), who starts to take a rather ruthless approach to her self-imposed responsibilities.

The Culture Show BBC2, Tuesday 10.00pm
You may have seen on the news last week Sir Tom Jones - still snake of hips and orange of complexion - busking on the South Bank in front of around 1000 bemused spectators. He was doing it for a regular Culture Show item in which musicians busk in order to raise money for charity, but this one, understandably, got a little more attention than usual. You can watch the performance footage on this week’s programme, along with a Nick Park interview, no doubt intended to get us even more excited about the Wallace and Gromit Christmas Special (not that that is possible, in my case…)

Little Dorrit BBC1, Wednesday 8.00pm
The many plotlines which run through this story are now finally drawing together, and the pace is ratcheting up nicely. In this episode, the dozy dandy Sparkler is still fawning over Fanny’s every move in Venice, and Amy and Arthur are still fawning over each other.

The Devil’s Whore Channel 4, 9.00pm
Like a veritable Moll Flanders, Angelica (Andrea Riseborough) is now awaiting execution after giving birth in Newgate Prison. Clearly, in this time of betrayal and divided loyalties, there is no time for sympathy and understanding. Elsewhere, Sexby (John Simm) watches with a fixed expression of disgust as Cromwell (Dominic West) turns from glorious anti-hero to brutal leader.

Lead Balloon BBC2, Thursday 10.00pm
More from the low-key sitcom that has me ignoring the jokes and simply trying to work out which character I hate the most. It’s a tough call (even Rick’s wife is annoyingly smug), but it has to be the odious co-writer Marty, who I get the feeling we’re actually meant to side with. This episode could be something a little out of the ordinary, however, as Rick decides to change his ways, and attempt to see the good in those around him - rather him than me.

Star Stories: Elton John Channel 4, Thursday 10.00pm
The so-so comedy series starring Kevin Bishop returns for a third outing, which will later lampoon the lives of Heather Mills and Peter and Jordan, (the phrase “shooting fish in a barrel” does come to mind). Tonight, though, it’s the turn of Elton John so expect plenty of references to hissy-fits, Donald Duck outfits and dubious hairpieces.

One of my favourite DVD director’s commentaries is for the Matthew Broderick movie WarGames. The commentary explains how to combat the problem of how to get across a large amount of exposition in a short space of time, the writers constructed a meeting where everybody was angry with everybody else — as that’s the only situation where people will say things to each other that everybody already knows, thus letting the audience in.

While in WarGames the technique is used for exposition, in this week’s Britannia High the purpose is more personal, as Claudine (Sapphire Elia) lets rip at her fellow schoolmates. That one scene of uber-bitchiness was a high point in an otherwise lacklustre episode.

Parents of the Band (Friday 8.30pm, BBC1)

Oh dear, this could get messy. This Jimmy Nail starring sitcom casts the Geordie crooner as one of a group of parents who want to muscle in on the band being formed by their teenage offspring. Okay, it doesn’t sound that bad, but it misfires from the start with a mercilessly low gag rate. Is it too late to bring back After You’ve Gone?

The IT Crowd (Friday 10pm, C4)

Ah, this is more like it. It takes a misguided attempt at sitcom like Parents of the Band that really makes you appreciate the quality of The IT Crowd. A trio of central characters that work well together, some nicely executed performances, comedy that ranges from observational to absurdity, and, most important of all, some gags that make people laugh. It’s not a classic, but at least it is funny.

Merlin (Saturday 7.35pm, BBC1)

This week’s tale of everyday magic folk is called The Labyrinth of Gedref, which has a delicious, Tolkein air about it. Silly Arthur, he’s gone and killed a unicorn, which is a Very Billy Thing To Do as it brings a curse down on Camelot. Ooops! Guess who’s going to save the day…

Outnumbered (Saturday 9pm, BBC1)

Perhaps the best show on the box at the moment, and if you’re not watching, then shame on you! Outnumbered is sublime and familiar and laugh out loud funny as Claire Skinner and Hugh Dennis attempt to keep their boisterous brood under control. Hugh Dennis is just brilliant, which is a surprise as he’s probably best known to a wider audience (outside Radio 4) as a low rent secondary character in My Hero (shudder). In tonight’s episode, granddad moves in and TV is banned for the day. Are they mad?!

Rebus (Saturday 9pm, Alibi)

John Hannah is a better Rebus than Ken Stott. Discuss.

Wallander (Sunday 9pm, BBC1)

A lavish new detective drama for BBC1 that brings Kenneth Branagh back to television for a very welcome turn as Inspector Kurt Wallander, based on the books by Henning Mankell. Swedish detective Wallander investigates the links between a girl’s suicide and the brutal slaying of a government minister. Branagh is good casting for Wallander, and if these adaptations are well done, they should fly. Van der Valk for the Noughties?

Louis Theroux: Law and Disorder in Philadelphia (Sunday 9pm, BBC2)

Louis Theroux’s quiet yet subversive charm is always fascinating to watch as he uses his seemingly harmless air of bemusement to get under the skin of people in a variety of extreme environments. In this revealing piece that sees Theroux play ride-along with the Philadelphia police force’s rapid response unit. Even the unflappable Louis for once looks a little rattled by some of the quite shocking scenes encountered on the streets of the city. Good stuff.

So Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision, has called for swearing aired on the network to be more tightly restricted and monitored in the future. Speaking at the Media Festival in Manchester, she said that:

We have actually been pushing back a bit on language. It is possible that some language alienates some audiences unnecessarily… I’m not sure that [the use of strong] language by itself is some sort of proof that it’s really good, or makes you trendy or down with the kids.

Earlier in the month, ITV’s executive chairman Michael Grade also advocated a cutback in effing and blinding on the telly:

We’ve let it go a bit and need to show a bit more thoughtfulness about how we use these words… Clearly not enough consideration is given to a very large section of the audience who don’t want to hear such words.

Clearly, much of this anxiety about bad language has come about as a direct result of Sachsgate, but there’s a possibility that in focussing all of their efforts on four-letter words, TV execs might find that comedians find other ways to buck the system — and that the complaints keep on coming…

Radio 2 Live: Monkey - Journey to the West Radio 2, Saturday 7.00pm
Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s creative partnership continues with this specially arranged version of their Chinese opera. Based on the 16th century novel by Wu Cheng’en, the show is billed as a ‘circus-opera’, but Albarn, Hewlett and director Chen Shi-zheng clearly think that it can still be compelling without the acrobatic visuals. This hour-long adaptation was recorded at the BBC’s Radio Theatre just four days before broadcast.

Between The Ears: Crossing The Same River Twice Radio 3, Saturday 8.30am
Not to be confused with the jazz pianist of the same name, the theatre director Lou Stein here uses random sound recordings he has made throughout his life to create an autobiography perfectly suited for radio.

That’s No Job for an Asian! Radio 4, Saturday 10.30am
As reported in The Stage earlier this month, Sanjeev Bhaskar is one of the starry contributors to this half-hour documentary taking a look at the health of the British Asian comedy scene, and how stand-up fits into Asian traditions and expectations. Intellectual comedian Paul Sinha and Rohan Acharya, producer of ITV’s rather wonderful Comedy Cuts, also air their views.

The Saturday Play: Boscobel Radio 4, Saturday 2.30pm
Anyone acquiring a taste for the decadent Jacobean period thanks to Channel 4’s The Devil’s Whore can tune in for this dramatisation of Charles II’s 40-day self-exile. After the execution of Charles Snr, Charles understandably felt it was best to lie low for a while, and so this is the story of a king learning to live rough.

Elaine Paige on Sunday Radio 2, Sunday 1.00pm
EP is joined by another uber-diva, Bette Midler, for this week’s 90 minutes of film scores, tracks from musicals, and that distinctive laugh.

Classic Serial: The Hunchback of Notre Dame Radio 2, Sunday 3.00pm
This new collaboration between BBC Radio Drama and the disabled-led theatre company Graeae brings to life Victor Hugo’s classic novel set in the heart of 15th century Paris. Those used to the Disney version should be forewarned that there probably won’t be any singing gargoyles.

The Phantom of the Opera Radio 7, Sunday 6.30pm
This is a repeat, but a well-deserved one. This re-telling of Gaston Leroux’s novel, from indie producers Big Finish, stars James D’Arcy and Anna Massey, who was last seen stealing the show in the BBC’s adaptation of Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

There comes a point in every series of Strictly Come Dancing where you realise you’re about to enter the home straight, and that’s when the couples have to start dancing twice a week.

We’re at that point now, so more than ever it’s the couples who can cope best in both Ballroom and Latin disciplines who will fare best out of the judges’ marks. The couple with the biggest disparity of marks across disciplines is currently Lisa and Brendan. Christine and Matthew are more consistent, but their average scores are so much lower than the other four couples’ that their continued presence in the competition must be in peril.

After their perfect 40 last week, Rachel and Vincent leap to the top of the judges’ series scoreboard. Together with their consistent scoring in both Ballroom and Latin, they’re surely serious contenders now.

The layout’s changed slightly because of the change in number of dances, but the scoresheet is here:

Strictly Come Dancing 2008, week 11 scoresheet [PDF] (right-click and select ‘Save As…’ or similar to download to your computer)

As ever, come back during or after the show to discuss your opinions and share your scores; the TV Today review will be available on Monday.

Another day, another SF remake. Just days after Survivors started transmission, BBC Vision director Jana Bennett has confirmed that the Corporation will be making another version of John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids.

How different from the situation forty-odd years ago. Recently released as part of the BBC Archive project’s documentation of the Genesis of Doctor Who, a 1962 report from the BBC Survey Group stated (my emphasis):

We are left with a small group of works, and writers, mainly novels written by British novelists. With the exception of Arthur [C.] Clarke and C.S. Lewis, they represent the Threat and Disaster school, which as we have said, is the genre of SF most acceptable to a broad audience. John Wyndham is the chief exponent. Wyndham’s books were studied in the Department on an earlier occasion, and we decided that with one exception they offered us nothing directly usable on TV. The exception was “The Midwich Cuckoos”, which of course was snapped up for a film. This is indeed the likely fate of any SF novel that could also serve us for TV.

Of course, since then Day of the Triffids has been adapted for television, most notably in the 1981 version starring John Duttine.

The new adaptation will be written by Patrick Harbinson, who has worked in America on ER and Law and Order as well as Brit military cop series Red Cap. Executive produced by BBC Wales’ Julie Gardner, the series will be produced by Justin Bodle at independent company Power.

It’s a left-field suggestion, I’ll admit, to put forward Richard Ayoade as the next leading man in Doctor Who, but there are actually more strings to Mr Ayoade’s bow than you might realise. Not that just playing the nation’s favourite computer nerd, Moss in The IT Crowd, isn’t enough for some people — in today’s Guardian, Julia Raeside waxed lyrical over Moss, and his real-life alter ego:

Despite first-rate comic support, it’s Ayoade’s peculiar magnetism that steals every episode. Moss is a socially inept nerd with a love of numbers and a side-parting to rival the Grand Canyon. Many have identified with his affectionate portrayal of a man forever lost in binary, hugely intelligent at work yet utterly stupid in a social interface scenario.

But the reason Ayoade is an actor capable of playing the Doctor (not that I’d take the premise of this particular blog post over seriously) is that in reality he’s incredibly cool.

If you read the press, the casting of the new Doctor Who seems to be all over bar the shouting, with Survivors actor Paterson Joseph (or Joseph Patterson, depending on which paper you read) still front-runner for the role. He seems such a dead cert, that the bookies have closed books on this particular flutter opportunity.

It still won’t be him, and today, as part of our occasional series, I humbly offer you Benedict Cumberbatch as a possible contender…

So there I was, reading Matt’s story about how the BBC4 drama The Curse of Steptoe has had complaints against its accuracy upheld. I was wondernig whether to blog about that, and went off to the BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit report on the matter — but then my eye was caught by something else…

Two YouTube-related stories: first off, the web’s biggest video sharing website has had a little redesign, with wider pages now allowing for widescreen videos by default.

Unfortunately, for some reason the official YouTube blog post heralding this change no longer appears to be working. The version I received in my RSS reader this morning, though, said:

We’re expanding the width of the page to 960 pixels to better reflect the quality of the videos you create and the screens that you use to watch them. This new, wider player is in a widescreen aspect ratio which we hope will provide you with a cleaner, more powerful viewing experience. And don’t worry, your 4:3 aspect ratio videos will play just fine in this new player.

And so, if you happen to want to see the pre-credits sequence from the Doctor Who Christmas special (as seen on Children in Need night), you now get a better proportioned view without the ‘letter boxing’ addition of black bars above and below the video image. Unfortunately, by default you still get quite a low quality image, and this new larger size makes the compression all the more visible. The high quality version is better, but again this new larger size stretches the video quality a little too much for my liking. Then again, when I’m sitting at the laptop it looks odd: from a little further away on a proper screen, the side-effects of compressing the video output are less noticeable.

If you use the embedding code provided by YouTube, the proportions remain (for now, at least) the traditional 4:3 size. Fear not, though, there’s nothing to prevent you from altering the HTML code yourself so that your player has no extra black spaces around the video playback area (as I do each week with our Strictly Come Dancing reviews and the attached videos).

Also on the subject of YouTube, The Guardian’s Jemima Kiss reports that the Monty Python’s Flying Circus team have become the latest to take advantage of YouTube’s Video ID initiative.

It has become something of a truism that evil characters are a hoot to play - and, as a viewer, to respond to - while the goodies are rather more… uninspiring. With panto season just getting underway, I would put money on reading an interview in which a pretty young soap actress says how much fun it is scaring the little kids on the front row as the Wicked Queen.

Of course, most well-worn phrases have some basis in truth, and our TV reviewer Harry Venning certainly felt it applied to the current BBC adaptation of Little Dorrit:

There are very many good reasons to watch Little Dorrit, but two of the best of them are Alun Armstrong, who plays both of the loathsome Flintwich twins. The brothers are involved in some nefarious, if yet unspecified, scheming to do with the Marshalsea debtors prison.

But so is everyone else, it seems…

Matthew MacFayden and Claire Foy play the story’s morally upright hero and heroine, Arthur and Amy, but it doesn’t look half as much fun.

I don’t think anyone could argue that Alun Armstrong and Andy Serkis in particular had a wonderful time hamming up their parts, but Elise Favet, who wrote into The Stage this week, thinks that we celebrate our baddies far too much:

Yes, of course it’s fun to play villains and villainesses, but it’s just as enjoyable to play heroes and heroines. Good characters are just as strong (often stronger) than bad ones.

So, do the villains really provide the best characters, or is time we also appreciated the greatness of television heroes?

In my review of the first episode of this series, I expressed my sadness that its writer, Jonathan Harvey, had turned in such a disappointing script, especially when his BBC2 sitcom Beautiful People had been such a joy to watch.

I was worried, then, when his name came up in the writing credits for this, the fifth episode in the series. Which Jonathan Harvey had been handed the pen this time — the one that wrote the first episode, or the one who is capable of creating some really beautiful television?

If anything, Go Your Own Way proved that these two Jonathan Harveys are one and the same. For while there were occasional ludicrous moments that echo the worst of Britannia High, there were also signs that this is a series that is determined to be better than it’s given credit for. And that’s a task made all the easier by Harvey writing a script that’s a better indication of his talent, and a young cast that do it justice.

The Sarah Jane Adventures BBC1, Monday 4.35pm
If your parents had died when you were a baby and you were given the chance to go back in time to meet them, would you do it? That’s a temptation Sarah Jane can’t resist — which is what the devious Trickster is counting on… Gareth Roberts’ sequel to last year’s superb Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? can’t quite live up to the formidable standards set by its predecessor. There are plenty of nice moments, though, including an affectionate dig at the bizarre fashion sense Sarah Jane had during her time on 1970s Doctor Who…

Spooks BBC1, Monday 9pm
As Israeli and Palestinian delegations prepare for a crucial summit in London, Malcolm discovers a sixteen-year-old selling top secret military hardware on eBay. Can Lucas retrieve the hardware and protect the boy from the mysterious men in black who are after him? While the ongoing Russian links continue, and Harry gets further into examining the leak in Operation Sugar Horse, this feels like a standalone episode that recaptures some of the freshness of spirit of Spooks’ first series.

24: Redemption Sky One, Monday 10pm
A feature-length, self-contained special to bridge the gap between series. Does that mean that, given its two-hour running time, it should really be called 2? Anyway, Jack Bauer is lying low in Africa, helping his old soldier friend Carl (Robert Carlyle) is running an orphanage. Trouble follows Jack like a bad smell, though, and a coup is in the air… Meanwhile, back in the US there’s a presidential inauguration, which is bound to spell trouble…

Hollyoaks Later E4, Monday-Friday 10pm
What with Coronation Street reviving the straight-to-DVD spinoff and now the Chester soap doing another late-night strand, it feels like the soap opera cash cows are all being called into service again. Still, it must be cheaper than commissioning anything truly original. This week’s post-watershed editions of the teen soap see the return of Craig Dean (Guy Burnet) and the villainous Niall (Barry Sloane). The story will also feature Carley Stenson as Steph Dean, but will hopefully be salvaged from mediocrity by Ellis Hollins’ Tom Cunningham. He may be young, but he’s the best actor in Hollyoaks by a country mile.

Survivors BBC1, Tuesday 9pm
Adrian Hodges’ thriller continues. With the country’s infrastructure gone, the group has to scavenge for food at variou ssupermarket outlets — but others have got there first, and they have guns… Anthony Flanagan (Shameless, Cracker) guest stars. I was quietly impressed with Sunday’s feature-length opener, although personally I could have done without the coda featuring Nicholas Gleaves and Ronny Jhutti, which seems to imply a nefarious organisation may have been behind the initial outbreak. We’ll see how that side of the story develops…

High Society’s Favourite Gigolo Channel 4, Tuesday 9pm
Leslie Hutchinson, or “Hutch”, was one of Britain’s top cabaret stars of the 1920s and 1930s, and one of the most well-known black performers of the age. One of the earliest references in The Stage comes from November 1927, where it describes him as:

He is one of the best type of cabaret artists, and does exceedingly well with high-class songs old and new.

His subsequent affair with Edwina Mountbatten, wife of Lord Louis Mountbatten, scandalised high society. This documentary charts the rise and fall of a long-forgotten hero of light entertainment.

• Also continuing this week: Little Dorrit (BBC1, Wednesday and Thursday 8pm) and The Devil’s Whore (Channel 4, Wednesday 9pm).