IN a random universe, what are the chances of two dramas by the same writers making their debut at the same time on the same day? Why, it is almost as if there really are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Either that or it is a publicity stunt to lure gullible TV reviewers into making Rellik (BBC One, Monday, 9pm) and Liar (STV, Monday, 9pm) the top picks of the week. Dammit, Horatio, I think we’ve been had.

The writers in question are the Williams brothers, Jack and Harry, who previously created The Missing. First up, Liar. Ioan Gruffudd and Joanne Froggatt play a widowed surgeon and a teacher who go on a date. The next day he texts, “What an amazing night”, while she is at the police station alleging rape. Someone is living up to the drama’s title, but who?

Rellik is equally tricky prospect, not because of the improbable story – a serial killer/acid attacker is at work – but because of the way it is told: backwards. The clue is in the title, Watson. So the first episode began at what looked like the end of the case with a suspect being confronted. But is he the right man? That is the question as the narrative takes leaps back to days and hours before it all began. Or ended.

Whatevah. This was either going to be a fiendishly clever narrative device that would triumphantly turn the conventions of television drama on its head, or a royal pain the neck. On the evidence of the first episode I would have to go with the latter. To that sore neck add an aching finger from pressing rewind so often to work out what the heck was going on, and a throbbing headache from being hit around the bonce with so many cliches, including yet another maverick detective. Liar looks by far the more promising prospect, not least because it has Froggatt. The actress formerly known as lady’s maid Anna Bate of Downton Abbey fame would be unmissable as anything. Even a maverick detective.

One had to keep maverick detective hours to be still up when the BBC showed Imagine … Cameron Mackintosh: The Musical Man (BBC One, Monday, 10.45pm). Alan Yentob, possibly the closest thing the BBC has to Lady Bracknell in grandeur, did the nodding honours as the impresario behind Les Mis, Miss Saigon, Cats, Phantom of the Opera, and many other hits, set out his stall. The hook was the transfer of Hamilton from Broadway to London, but with tickets as rare as hen molars, he hardly needed the publicity.

Even more tantalising than snippets from Hamilton was the footage of the boss in action. Perfectionist was the kinder word that came to mind as we saw him checking out the finish of the ladies’ toilets in one of his eight theatres, or launching into orgies of despair at a routine that wasn’t up to his standards. With turnover last year of £145 million, and a staff who are devoted to him, whatever he is doing works. I’ll bet he wouldn’t have given Katy Homan’s superb doc a cocoa and slippers slot.

Upstart Crow (BBC Two, Monday, 8.30pm) was given a jewel in the crown setting in the schedules, though after 10 minutes of Ben Elton’s comedy with David “Peep Show” Mitchell playing Shakespeare, one was verily at a loss to know why. If characters calling each other “lickspittlenincombunions” floats your comedy boat, or excited ladies exclaiming “Othello, more like Hotello!” ruffles your ruff, then Upstart Crow, named after a rival’s nickname for England’s bard, would have been the very dab. I found it as appealing as one of those severely irritating productions of Shakespeare: you know, the ones too noisy to sleep through. This was the second series: yet another thing to chalk up to the more things in heaven and earth phenomenon.

How are we feeling after the Strictly Come Dancing Launch Show (BBC One, Saturday, 7pm)? Reassured that another strong series is on the way, or still baffled as to the identity of half the so-called celebrities, some of who looked like they had tangoed in from the nearest bus shelter? Susan Calman, small but perfectly formed comedian of this parish, earned brownie points for looking like she had died and gone to sequinned heaven when Norman Wisdom-lookalike Kevin Clifton was named as her partner.

The even lovelier Anton du Beke, who has previously hauled both Ann Widdecombe and Judy Murray around the dancefloor with the ease of Pickfords, was matched with Ruth Langsford. Ruth is married to, and works with, Eamonn Holmes, making her a member of the SAS’s light entertainment division and able to handle anything. But can Anton handle the Ruth? A few good men (and women) will have fallen by the wayside before we find out.