THERE is one clear winner this week in the competition to see which show can make the biggest publicity splash. By order of their legions of devoted fans, the return of Peaky Blinders (BBC1, 9pm, Sunday) is one of this year’s genuine television events.

The new series hasn’t even started yet but with the loss of Aunt Pol (the magnificent Helen McCrory), many hearts have already been broken.

Killing Eve (available from 6am, Monday, BBC iPlayer) once used to generate that kind of excitement.

The tale of high fashion and low deeds in the international assassin business was a hit with a range of ages.

Everyone associated with it, from writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge to its three women leads (Jodie Comer as Villanelle, Sandra Oh as Eve, Fiona Shaw as spy boss Carolyn) enjoyed a career boost.

Now on its fourth outing, the launch of the new Killing Eve is a far more low-key affair.

What happened to that original buzz?

The last series felt tired and aimless at first but picked up towards the end; one can only hope the same can be said of this new one. Or maybe Killing Eve was always meant to be the TV equivalent of fast fashion –fun and fleeting, and never to be taken that seriously.

When we join the gang again, Villanelle has turned her life around and now wants to be a good girl; Eve has also switched jobs, as has Carolyn, who is the cultural attache in Mallorca (the job title, we are told, is “code for being kicked out on your a***). As ever, most viewers will be more interested in Villanelle’s wardrobe than what is happening in the hunt for the mysterious “12”. Yes, that’s still going on.

Now, picture the scene. A lovely chap is walking down a sun-dappled street in Naples in the company of some learned bod. He’s hearing all about the history of the city and, of course, its central role in bringing pizza to the world.

Last year’s Write Around the World with Richard E Grant, right? Yes, but also Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy (BBC2, Sunday, 7.20pm). While similar in some ways, the two programmes differ in their central focus. While it is all about the literature for Grant, Tucci’s obsession is food, glorious food. Plus, he speaks Italian fluently, which makes for some fun interviews.

Tucci is in raptures over the food, the people, the settings, everything, and his enthusiasm is catching.

The pizzas, some from restaurants, some from tiny cafes, look sublime. In the right oven they only take 45 seconds to cook.

The locals had to do without during lockdown when all the pizzerias were closed. The day restrictions were lifted 60,000 pizzas were made in the city. Definitely not a show to watch on an empty stomach, or without a pizza to hand.

New documentary series The Directors (free to view Sky Arts, Thursday, 8pm) takes as its first subject Wes Anderson, director of Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, Grand Budapest Hotel and, most recently, The French Dispatch.

The format is straightforward to the point of being dull. Clips, clips and more clips, interspersed with film critics pitching their tuppence worth of wisdom.

That said, the movies are great, the clips are well chosen, and the chaps – and they were all chaps in the one I saw – give good analysis and anecdote. One describes Anderson as the only auteur working in America at the moment, rather a shame considering how many original artists there used to be.

Another recalls that Texas-born Anderson once sat his parents down and told them that he was going off to live in Paris. He didn’t – or not as a child, anyway – but you can so picture the scene.

While a preview was not available, I cannot imagine that Amol Rajan Interviews Ian McKellen (BBC2, Thursday, 9pm) is going to cause as much fuss as his recent sit-down with Novak Djokovic.

Just as controversial as the tennis champion’s anti-vaccine views was the interview’s position at the top of the news running order. Was Djokovic’s attendance or otherwise at Wimbledon really more important than Ukraine?

Rajan does land the big hitters, though. Before Djokovic he flew to Silicon Valley to meet Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

This time his subject is not a tech emperor but an acting knight of the realm. Sir Ian McKellen, 82, must have given more interviews than Rajan has had heated debates over the position of his stories.

That will make it tougher to land a Djokovic-level scoop, but never bet against Rajan. I for one cannot wait to hear what Gandalf has to say about his time on Coronation Street.