In the words of a lawyer with a ringside seat it was the case that had it all, including a contract killing, FBI wire taps, and cyanide. Add muscled men in G-strings and a nightclub full of screaming women and the stage is set for Secrets of the Chippendales Murders (BBC2, 9pm/9.45pm and iPlayer).

It’s a true tale that has already been told in at least one TV movie and two mini series, but this new four-part documentary promises “the inside story like never before, from the people who were there”. If you have never heard the story then prepare for an eye-opening experience.

The tale begins with shaky crime scene footage from 1987 and the recording of a phone call to the police. “A man has just been shot in my office,” says a voice. But who is the caller, who is the victim, and how did a business that pitched itself as essentially harmless fun end in murder?

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Among those attempting to explain the lives and times are a New York Post reporter, a lawyer, various associate producers of the original Chippendales show, several dancers, a press agent, and Candace Mayeron, the woman who managed the core troupe, Among Mayeron’s conclusions: men are “way easier” than women to manage. Bear that in mind should you ever find yourself in the wildly unlikely situation of having to choose between groups of female and male strippers to take on the road.

Chippendales was the creation of entrepreneur Somen "Steve" Banerjee. An immigrant to the US from India, he bought a nightclub in LA and, on the advice of someone else looking to make a buck, put male strippers on the bill. The club was a hit, helped by Banerjee’s gift for generating free publicity. One ploy was to fill the club to bursting point, report the overcrowding to the fire department, and sit back and watch as the firefighters, media in tow, showed up.

To audiences the club was sold as a product of the women’s liberation movement. Women who worked all week could now follow the example of the men and go out in groups to have a good time, no harm done.

Money was rolling in, more so when the parade of random strip acts was ditched in favour of a Broadway-style show, complete with a story. But the business was growing too far, too fast and bigger personalities than even Banerjee wanted in on the action. This was not going to end well for some.

There’s a certain seediness wafting around A Vision of Loveliness: The Read (BBC4, Sunday, 8pm). If you haven’t come across The Read series before the idea is wonderfully simple. It’s one actor reading one story over one hour, in this case an adaptation of Louise Levene’s 1960s-set novel. Think Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads with sound effects, illustrations and short filmed scenes.

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The actor in this, the fourth of the series (the others are on iPlayer), is Liv Hill. Terrific in Three Girls she is marvellous here as Jane, a shop assistant yearning for a better life than she has with her gloomy aunt in the London suburbs. Chance brings Jane into contact with Suzy, a posh-sounding part-time model who seems to have it all, the flat, the frocks, the suitors, but how did she manage it?

Directed by Alice Johannessen, the ghosts of Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies inevitably haunt proceedings, but this is a story with a style and substance all of its own. So good, reader, I bought the book.

Highland Cops (BBC Scotland, Sunday, 9pm; BBC2, Tuesday, 9pm) is a no nonsense title for an equally straightforward but engrossing docuseries. As we learn from James Cosmo’s voiceover, Police Scotland’s Highlands and Islands Division is “Britain’s biggest beat”, covering some 12,000 square miles. It may not have much in the way of mean streets to walk down (though there are a few, mostly made that way by drugs), but this vast area is far from a sleepy backwater.

A missing person, a pair of shot deer, a boy racers’ rally and a squishy, very smelly parcel intercepted at the post office are the cases covered in the first episode.

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Such is the power of Scot Squad it is hard not to think of the BBC Scotland comedy as we are introduced to various officers. Maggie Pettigrew, for example, sounds like a Scot Squad character but is in fact an operational superintendent no less.

The series is showing on BBC Scotland and across the network on BBC2. Who knows, it might even spark a recruitment boom.

In case you missed it, do drop in on The Cockfields (BBC2, Wednesday, 10pm). It’s the final episode of three but all are available on iPlayer. First shown on Gold, this meet the parents comedy with Diane Morgan, Sue Johnston and the late Bobby Ball is proving a word of mouth smash. Gin and awkward silences anyone?