Jack Seale

Blue Lights puts a bit of soapy froth on difficult subject matter: arguably a show that was fully committed to its own harsh reality wouldn’t find time for such indulgence, but it is rather lovely. And, as Blue Lights pivots to deal with awfulness that’s bang up to date, it’s sharp enough.

It is a script that badly needs help from a charismatic lead performance, but Zeta-Jones refuses point-blank. .... There’s no need for anyone to kill Jackie. She was never alive.

It sounds inessential, and it is, but hock-bobbit and skippity-breakfast if this pair of toot-scootin’ Hollywood butt-nuts haven’t hit upon a tasty little comedy dynamic.

This one takes that a step further by regularly spinning the camera around to show the interviewer and crew, as if to say: “Look how unfussy this programme is, it’s not like the others.” That’s only true up to a point, but the Rooneys are more real than most.

MobLand proves itself capable of serious mobster drama. The double-crossing battle of wits between families is far more credible this time around, and it’s capable of classic gangland fare.

Slow Horses is still slick and confident enough, and it helps itself by casting Lenny Rush, an actor who immediately improves anything he’s in, as a civilian caught in this year’s crossfire. But it might have run its course.

It’s not an innovative or particularly surprising thriller, but the personnel are easy to root for and, at the centre, Sten is a strong lead, making Neagley somehow impervious and deeply sensitive, acutely emotionally intelligent but unable to control her own feelings.

As the show’s heart, Brammall is effortlessly likeable enough for us to invest completely in what happens to him, despite knowing it will be bittersweet at best. Last Seen is seriously good.

Bourgeois, however, is a trump card more than a wild card, fitting in perfectly by not so much overcoming his eccentricity as embracing it and making it empowering. .... It’s still three white blokes bantering about who’s got the most impressive engine, but within that conservative framework the presence of Bourgeois makes the show’s sense of humour feel new. All that aside, it’s pretty much business as usual.

This slightly more serious Chad Powers has given itself a shot at surviving for longer than it really should. It’s an underdog that’s worth cheering for.