TV week ahead

PICK OF THE WEEK

Battlestar Galactica

Sky One, Tuesday, 9pm

With most modern space operas offering us nowt but lumpy prosthetic foreheads, wobbly scenery and brain-numbing techno-babble, the uninformed could be forgiven for giving this science-fiction series a wide berth. Yet, despite borrowing both its title and basic concept from the ne plus ultra of Seventies sci-fi cheese, this dark and fearlessly provocative genre offering has proven itself an unlikely triumph. So much so in fact that now, as it enters its fourth and final season, it's looking less like the finest sci-fi series on the air and more like the single best show on the box.

Borrowing just the bare bones from its predecessor, Galactica follows the human survivors of an interstellar holocaust as they traverse the cosmos seeking sanctuary from an implacable foe. But whereas the disco-era original reduced its dark pitch to gee-whiz heroics and recycled dogfight footage, Battlestar 2.0 delivers a compelling mix of sharp scripting, genuinely terrific acting and mind-blowing visuals.

In a bold move for a genre usually populated by square-jawed demi-gods, our heroes here are tragically flawed wrecks, as prone to depression, survivor guilt and addiction as any real-life war veterans. What's more, the other geeky trappings which normally mar small-screen sci-fi have been similarly excised. In this world, doors still have handles, guns fire bullets not death rays, and leaders are driven by expediency and self-interest rather than utopian ideals.

It's an approach which gives the show a startling sense of immediacy and relevance. Equal parts political thriller and apocalyptic nightmare, Galactica offers reassuring proof that even the most maligned of TV genres can still sometimes harbour intelligent life.

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Born Survivor: Bear Grylls

Channel 4, today, 8pm

Lumbered with a name which suggests a comic-strip adventurer, you can't really blame survival expert Grylls for actually acting the part. And, though his previous exploits have provoked charges of fakery, there's no doubting his macho fondness for hellish torments.

Here Bear tests both his mettle and the human mind's capacity for boggling with a trek across the Sahara. Within minutes of arriving, he's eating bugs, improvising head coverings and using his own urine as a coolant. Alas, his camera crew prove less hardy, quickly falling prey to heatstroke and related maladies.

Also try: True Stories: Living Goddess (More4, Tuesday, 10pm). Four's documentary strand explores Nepal's sacred Kumari virgins

BEST HISTORY PROGRAMME

Stephen Fry And The Gutenberg Press

BBC4, tomorrow, 9pm

Stephen Fry gets Beeb 4's Medieval season off to a splendid start with a look at the machine which ended the Middle Ages and ushered in the modern era: Johannes Gutenberg's printing press.

Strangely, despite the momentous impact of his invention, the Bill Gates of his epoch seems to have left precious little in the way of genuine artefacts. So, turning historical detective, Fry retraces Gutenberg's steps, builds a Gutenberg Press of his own and asks why it took so long for human ingenuity to render quills and copyists redundant.

Also try: The Saint And The Hanged Man (BBC4, Wednesday, 9pm). More partying like it's 1399 with this look at an alleged 14th-century miracle worker

BEST DRAMA

Shameless

Channel 4, Tuesday, 10pm

TV's first family bid us adieu for another year with a suitably funny and frenetic finale. The Chatsworth estate is suddenly gripped by a wave of literal earth tremors; just the thing to send Monica into labour and crying for her Frank. But the crown prince of scallywag wasters, violently dislodged from his bar-stool by all that seismic commotion, has fallen into a deep coma. Frank's addled subconscious takes a trip to an alternative universe where his life's been markedly more successful…

Also try: Mad Men (BBC1, Tuesday, 11.20pm). Martinis and melodrama, Madison Avenue style, as Roger and Don paint the town red