TV heaven

There are so many barren spots in the TV schedules that it winds me up when three of the five major channels schedule strong programmes against each other. BBC1 has Hustle - hopefully available on catch-up TV, while Channel 5 continues to show Hugh Laurie wowing American audiences in House. ITV wins our vote for watching on the night with Peter Davison's excellent series, The Last Detective making a welcome return.

Last night's episode was a doozy: there was Roger Daltrey, known to millions as the front man of The Who, but equally well known to yours truly for his portrayal of Hugh Fitzcairn in the Highlander TV series. Davison's own daughter made an appearance opposite him, and during their conversation, an extra popped up to help himself to ice from the ice maker. The extra was notable for being Bev Turvey, father to our friend Anita. Since retiring, Bev has cropped up in the background of many notable shows, and we keep spotting him - we've seen him in The Brief, Hotel Babylon and Eastenders, and we're thinking of setting up a Bev Watch web site.

If you're a cable, satellite or TopUpTV viewer, keep an eye out for Jericho on the Hallmark Channel tonight. This US apocalyptic drama is great stuff, and after a month break, is back on our screens with a special episode summarising the first 11 episodes so far. Its future looks decidedly iffy, thanks to a new phenomenon Stateside, whereby shows don't mix new episodes with repeats over 30-40 weeks, but show half the season in one block, take a lengthy break and then return for the rest of the block. Jericho was hit particularly hard by this, while even stalwarts like ER have suffered by this tactic. I wonder if it'll last?