Pick of the week
Trust Me (Tuesday, BBC1, 9pm)
“Trust me ... I’m a doctor.” The plot of this tense four-part thriller is so perfect for the BBC’s new time lord, Jodie Whittaker, that it is difficult not to wonder if somebody at the corporation piloted the Tardis to the first script conference. She plays Cath Hardacre, an extremely competent nurse — one of the better jokes about the actress’s recent appointment was that she would have to get used to people assuming she was Nurse Who — encouraged by unfortunate circumstances to pose as a doctor at an Edinburgh hospital. All appears to be going well until her new fake life is threatened by interfering journalists.
The fake doctor’s tendency to react like a nurse makes her a better practitioner but, having now joined an elite group, she struggles to adjust to the ease with which any errors are forgiven. Whittaker is a fine, unselfconscious performer, aided here by a sick-making, swooning soundtrack (composed by Ben Onono) and a supporting cast that includes Emun Elliott and Sharon Small. This isn’t going to hurt a bit.
Helen Stewart
Going back to dodge
Gunsmoke (Today, CBS Action, 2pm)
First seen on television in 1955, this classic western was the longest-running American drama of the 20th century (and for longevity sits just behind Doctor Who, Taggart and The Bill some 42 years after its end). “Our own Iliad and Odyssey,” said the LA Times when it was cancelled — let’s see if James Arness’s Matt Dillon still cuts it as a hero in the age of Donald Trump.
One for the dingbats
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Two Types — The Faces Of Britain (BBC iPlayer)
This one-off documentary might be popular with You Sayers: as the government in Pakistan wrestles with “fontgate”, the graphic-design expert Mark Ovenden tells the stories of “the two modern typefaces that have come to be regarded as the ‘faces’ of Britain”. Helvetica? Times New Roman? Graphik? Don’t tell us it’s Comic Sans ...
Best film
Rogue One (Friday, Sky Cinema Premiere, 11.40am/8pm)
Last year’s addition to the Star Wars series is a more modest project than the 2015 chapter, The Force Awakens. Whereas that film launched a new saga, this one (directed by Gareth Edwards) simply fills in the background for the story told in the 1977 original: we see resistance fighters (including Felicity Jones) trying to steal blueprints for the dreaded Death Star. Ageing fans who think the series has grown bloated may yet find nostalgic pleasure in this return to old territory: there are even scenes with a certain heavy-breathing villain. Into the bargain, the film makes the grade as an action movie.
Edward Porter