Rev
BBC 2, 9pm
Life’s Too Short
BBC 2, 9.30pm
A new comedy double bill which could just be this autumn’s Do Not Miss TV hour. First up is the return of last year’s sleeper hit about a hapless inner city cleric. It’s a timely re-appearance, given the spat between the Anglican church and the Occupy London movement camped outside St Paul’s Cathedral.
Tom Hollander, who also created and co-writes the series, is Adam Smallbone, the Rev of the title. Tonight he goes on a retreat where he muses on such biting spiritual questions as “Will it be cauliflower cheese for lunch again?”, and becomes a local celebrity when he unwittingly stops a mugging. Meanwhile wife Alex (Peep Show’s Olivia Colman) is desperately trying to get pregnant by him and there’s a cameo from Hugh Bonneville. In other Rev-related news, Peep Show co-creator Sam Bain has been drafted in to help write the Christmas special.
And so to Life’s Too Short. After their (frankly pretty annoying) Channel 4 series The Ricky Gervais Show, the Office star and his writing partner Stephen Merchant return to what they do best, the satirical mockumentary. The premise here is a 24/7 reality series following what Gervais has called “the trials and tribulations of a showbiz dwarf” – in this case Harry Potter star Warwick Davis.
Here, the actor has been thrown out of the marital home by his wife and is now almost bankrupt. Liam Neeson steals the show in episode one and there are further cameos in store from Johnny Depp, Steve Carell, Sting and Les Dennis, deployed by Gervais to devastating effect in the first series of Extras, of course. To add to the fun, Merchant and Gervais play themselves.
Brunel’s Last Launch: A Time Team Special
Channel 4, 9pm
Isambard Kingdom Brunel is revered as one of the greatest of the 19th-century engineers and best known for building the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol. In 2002 he came second in a BBC poll to find the 100 Greatest Britons (Churchill was top). As this Time Team Special explains, not everything he built was as successful. His iron-hulled steam ship the SS Great Eastern exploded on its maiden voyage. Tony Robinson and the crew dig around the Thames to find out what went wrong.
The Mentalist
Channel 5, 10pm
Despite bringing his search for serial killer Red John to a conclusion at the end of series three – he shot him at close range – Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) returns. It begins with him in jail for the killing. Meanwhile his colleagues at the California Bureau of Investigation return to the scene of the shooting to look for clues.
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