In this week's Guide we've pulled out 50 of the best shows from the new Autumn/Winter schedules. As well as the return of the unstoppably entertaining Entourage, Sarah Jane keeping Doctor Who fans sated with her adventures until the Kylie Christmas special and with new series from The Mighty Boosh, Lead Balloon and Robin Hood, there's a lot of promising new stuff coming up.
Joe's Palace and Capturing Mary are another pair of linked dramas from Stephen "quality drama is my middle name" Poliakoff. Both BBC3 and Channel 4 are offering up a series of one-off pilots -- Phoo Action, from Jamie "Gorillaz" Hewlett and Martin Freeman's Other People are the ones we're most excited about. For once, ITV looks like it's trying to step outside its traditional "middle class people having affairs and killing each other" comfort zone with Secret Diary of a Call Girl, starring Billie Piper, and an update (or "reimagining") of Frankenstein from Jed Mercurio, the writer behind the underrated medical bloodbath Bodies.
New documentaries include the excellent Comics Britannia season, epic natural history lesson Earth: The Power Of The Planet, Jacques Peretti trying to work out what life's really like for Michael Jackson: After The Verdict and Matthew Collings with a fresh take on Kenneth Clark's Civilisation.
Dame Judi Dench is gracing the BBC's Cranford Chronicles, which should be enough of a recommendation for anyone - and if you just can't get enough of costume dramas, new versions of A Room With A View, Oliver Twist, The Old Curiosity Shop and Fanny Hill should keep you happy.
As far as new American shows go, we've finally got a chance to watch the Sarah Silverman Program without resorting to your cookie party-friendly neighbourhood hackers. Mad Men, a 1950s-set advertising drama comes highly recommended. Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard both look like they're having a ball in The Riches, playing mom and pop gypsy con artists. It's good enough to overlook the moments when their accents wobble a bit. 30 Rock has had some pretty good reviews in the States, going down a lot better than Studio 60 At The Sunset Strip, the other show based on a Saturday Night Live-style set-up. The Bionic Woman could be fun, Pushing Daisies looks pretty goofy but amusing and Reaper mines similar kooky supernatural territory, with a pair of slackers in Ghostbusters outfits helping out with the soul-mining duties.
What do you think -- is this enough to make up for a pretty dull summer of TV? Anything you'll be series-linking? Spotted something we've missed? What have you already axed in your mind?
