There are some cracking shows on this week so let’s take a look at our picks of the highlights coming our goggle box way…

On Monday, a Tonight special focuses on Violent Partners. On ITV1 at 8pm, this no-holds-barred documentary, Fiona Foster investigates why – five years after the introduction of a bill designed to crack down on domestic abuse – the violence is as widespread as ever. Fiona also meets the victims who feel they were betrayed by the courts.

Also on Monday, Doctors in the Death Zone follows an intrepid – or crazy – group of doctors as they embark on a scientific expedition to Mount Everest in the hope that the results of their experiments may lead to a better understanding of the human body. It’s on at 9pm on new channel Eden…

On Tuesday, In the Line of Fire is a new police action series that airs at 9pm on ITV1. When I first saw it, I thought “Jeez, are there not enough of these already??” but this one is a fascinating insight into the work of the CO19 division where officers are trained to use firearms and deal with armed suspects at around 8,000 violent crimes a year.

You’ll hear many cries of, “Armed police! Get your hands where I can see them!” and in the wake of the Jean-Charles de Menezes case, maybe we could all do with some reassurance that these officers are not a bungling bunch of trigger-happy goons.

This series portrays the officers as professional, painstaking and cool under pressure type guys, and we can only hope that when the brown stuff hits the fan, it’s the correct assumption to make. The show also offers tense viewing, climaxing with a gunman on the run one freezing cold night in Peckham. He’s cornered in a block of terraced houses and the gardens behind them, but will an army of officers with bulletproof shields and sniffer dogs be able to find him?

Our next choice for your Tuesday night delectation is, Naked: Office Workers on BBC3 at 9pm which just goes to show how far some people will go to keep their jobs!

In it, Psychologist Emma Kenny and image consultant Jonathan Phang launch a “radical self-confidence building” course which involves a group of five professionals undertaking a series of challenges designed to help build their self-esteem at work and at home. This entails five office workers spend four days gaining the confidence to undergo a naked photo shoot… how this would help them to deal with irate customers or how to assert themselves in the workplace I really can’t imagine but it’ll probably be interesting to find out!

On Wednesday is the terribly sad but inspirational story of Terry Pratchett – Living with Alzheimer’s which is on BBC2 at 9pm. In it, Terry says, “Alzheimer’s is like having a moron living in your head, running around switching the lights off and stealing the words from the tip of your tongue.”

This is the second of his programmes about his experience of what one American he meets calls – possibly in a slip of the tongue and possibly not – “old-timer’s disease” Terry brings real, ‘ornery’ wit to his tale.

In describing what this devastating disease has done to his typing and of course his all important writing, he explains that he’s now reduced to a “hunt and peck” approach. And when he meets a US specialist who offers a controversial treatment, Pratchett says straight off, “I don’t know whether I’m meeting PT Barnum or a saint.”

Terry meets several more specialists, who agree that better treatment and perhaps even a cure, is “on the horizon”. By the end of this episode, Terry seems more optimistic about his own prospects, which feels somehow encouraging for the rest of us.

On a much lighter note, Wednesday is Shameless night; it’s always a must-watch show for me and this week it’s on at the later time of 11:05pm on Channel 4. in this episode, Frank’s shocked to discover that he’s been the victim of identity fraud and even more horrified that as a result, his criminal record has been wiped clean meaning he is now eligible for jury service.

Also, Micky and Shane scam tourists with their ‘Madchester’ tours but when the complaints start to come in, overly enthusiastic copper Carrie is on Micky’s case and Tom is unimpressed by Stan’s efforts to cheer him up a prank war ensues.

On Thursday, the documentary, Who Killed Scarlett? Is on Channel 4 at 10pm. You may remember that last year, on 18th February, Fiona MacKeown’s 15-year-old daughter Scarlett Keeling was found dead on a beach in Goa.

This film follows Fiona over the course of the past year as she searches for justice with a campaign that’s put her in the international spotlight. Fiona’s unusual lifestyle was quickly picked up on by the media and many saw fit to blame her for the fact that Scarlett was allowed to roam freely in bars in Goa late at night but the fact is, Fiona didn’t kill Scarlett which is a fact that seems to have got lost in the hubbub of criticism against her, and regardless of the rights and wrongs of her actions, a young girl was brutally murdered and justice needs to be done.

Also on Thursday ER is on More4 at 9pm and this episode, entitled Oh, Brother, finds
Sam initially reluctant when Tony invites her and Alex to move in with him. On the medical front, Carl Weathers – aka Rocky’s Apollo Creed – makes an emotive guest appearance as an ex-boxer with problems with his son. Here’s a montage of clips from it…

Then on Friday, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA gets its second airing on Channel 4 at 9pm and this week, the Effing chef takes no prisoners as he inflicts the sharp edge of his razor like tongue upon the kitchen staff of one of the nation’s worst restaurants, Hannah and Mason’s French bistro which is in New Jersey.

The owners – who are both former employees of the restaurant – lack both the aptitude and experience to run the business. Gordon wastes no time in detailing the many faults with the restaurant, one of which is a fridge that contains something so disgusting, an appalled Gordon orders the owners to shut down on Valentine’s Day night.

Here’s a clip from the show…

Also on Friday is one of my favourite films of all time, Groundhog Day. It’s on ITV3 at 10pm and stars the fabulous Bill Murray as Phil Connors who’s a weatherman with an attitude. He’s sent to cover the story of a groundhog called Punxsutawney Phil who can supposedly predict the coming of spring, but he becomes trapped in a day he’ll remember for the rest of his life because – unless he can find some answers – it’ll be the ONLY day for the rest of his life.

World renowned director Harold Ramis uses every cinematic trick in the book to keep what is essentially a one-theme movie packed with fun and bright ideas. Stephen Tobolowsky is superb as a nerdy insurance salesman who repeatedly warns Phil about a ‘doozy’ of a puddle, and, as Murray’s TV producer, Andie MacDowell has never been better. Here’s the film’s trailer…

on Saturday, yet another of my repeatedly watched fave films, The Dead Zone, is on Five US at 9pm. I read the book and for once, the film adaptation of Stephen King’s book is every bit as good.

Starring the enigmatic Christopher Walken, the story centres around his character Johnny who is a teacher who wakes from a coma to find he’s acquired the ability to foresee the future. As he’s relentlessly pursued to ‘display’ his new found ability, his life crumbles, especially when he envisions the horrifying truth of mankind’s destiny under the possible control of evil politician Martin Sheen.

It also stars Martin Sheen as the psychotic and ruthlessly ambitious politician who will bring about the end of the world if Johnny doesn’t stop him. Here’s a clip in which Johnny first realises he can foresee the future…

Saturday offers a fascinating documentary, Prostitution Behind the Veil: Storyville, at 11pm on BBC4 in which director Nahid Persson follows the lives of two Iranian women whose misfortunes have brought them together living in the same run-down building.

Their husbands are both serving long prison sentences so the women have been left to look after their young children and both are addicted to heroin. In an attempt to make money to feed both their habits and their children, the women have had to resort to prostitution. Persson’s sympathetic portrayal follows them as they struggle to create a better life for themselves and their children.

Then on Sunday, Sex: How to Do Everything is on Fiver at 10pm. It’s a ten-part ‘instructional’ series that purports to offer a fresh approach to sex advice.

Presented by American sex gurus Emma Taylor and Lorelei Sharkey, the programme aims to show the nation how to have better sex, shed inhibitions and broaden sexual horizons. My advice? Don’t bother watching the documentary, just go do it!

Have a fun telly week and we’ll see you here for another picks of what not to miss next week!