GIVEN this week’s brass monkey weather I thought twice about recommending Snow Dogs: Into the Wild (BBC Scotland, Sunday, 8pm or BBC2, 9pm). Do you really need more sub-zero temperatures and chapped bits, as experienced by Gordon Buchanan in the Yukon?

Yes. When it is minus 8 nothing warms the cockles, whatever they are, like seeing some poor soul out in minus 20.

Since reading The Call of the Wild when he was ten, the Scots filmmaker has dreamed of following the Gold Rush trail in the company of Huskies. So here he was in Canada, having a brief introduction to the art of “mushing” before setting off into the wilderness with seven dogs to pull him along. From the moment he says, “How hard can it be?” you fear things are going to go downhill, in every sense, very quickly.

Huskies, as anyone acquainted with the breed knows, are the Stakhanovites of the dog world. They can run fast (30 kilometres an hour) for a long time. Running is their business, their reason for being, and they are very, very serious about it.

Even Buchanan, no stranger to danger as a wildlife cameraman who has hung out with bears and wolves, starts to look a tad rattled as the Huskies bark and howl and snap at each other. Though they come with cute names including Vicky, Hero, and Lucky, these are tough customers. There is an alpha dog in the pack already, eyes like Paul Hollywood, goes by the name of Yukon, so how on Earth is Buchanan going to take control? With a great deal of difficulty, all of it highly watchable. “I don’t know what I’m doing and they know it,” he admits.

Part of the problem is that he has always been a dog lover and doesn’t understand why he cannot hit it off with this wild bunch. With the expedition teetering on disaster it is time to get back to basics.

A Ghost Story for Christmas: Count Magnus (BBC2, Friday, 10pm) continues a tradition by Mark Gatiss ((Sherlock, Doctor Who, Dracula) that has been running off and on since 2008. This one is based on an MR James’ story, set in 1863.

The always reliable Jason Watkins plays Mr Wraxhall, a traveller who has come to Sweden to dig around in the library of a grand house. His interest is piqued by a portrait of Count Magnus, a former occupant. He is warned off the subject by the local pub landlord, Count Magnus having been an unpleasant sort who dabbled in who knows what, but this makes Wraxhall even more curious.

There is everything you could wish for in a ghost story, including rattling chains, a mysterious hostess (Myanna Buring), and hooded figures, all of it played for fun more than terror.

I don’t believe there is such a thing as guilty pleasure viewing. If it’s legal and decent and you enjoy it, why not? Guilty pleasure used to be a label stuck on Sex and the City, and is now applied to Emily in Paris (Netflix, from Wednesday). Both shows are the creation of Darren Star and are built around fashion and romance.

Emily (played by Lily Collins) thinks she has landed a dream job in marketing when she gets the chance to move from Chicago to Paris. But this Paris, being a cold, unfriendly place full of people who sneer at les americains, is the stuff of nightmares. Undaunted, Emily is determined to fall in love with the city, and if the city can give a little back who knows what might happen.

When it first appeared two years ago, Emily was mocked for being a tourist take on Paris, one that left no cliche unused. Yet the critics were won over by this non-French speaking innocent abroad, and the spotless, glamorous city where she had her adventures.

In the second series, even Emily’s super chilly boss Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu seemed to be warming to her. We’ll see how long that lasts.

You must remember the true story of Brandon Lee, the pupil at Bearsden Academy who was not what he seemed. The tale made headlines worldwide and now it’s the subject of a documentary, My Old School (BBC Scotland, Friday, 8pm; BBC2, Friday 30 December, 9pm), written and directed by Jono McLeod.

Acclaimed when it first appeared in cinemas earlier this year, it didn’t have the wide airing it deserved due to Covid, so it is great to see it on mainstream television.

Lee was interviewed but refused to be filmed for the documentary. Instead, in what turns out to be a blessing, Alan Cumming lip syncs his words as only Cumming can. If you need any further reason to watch, the cast also includes Clare Grogan, Joe McFadden, and many a clip of newsreaders of old. Warning: contains hairstyles of an embarrassing nature.