We’ve got some great recommendations for your viewing pleasure in the coming week, from films to documentaries and new series. So without further ado – not that there was much ado – here are our Primetime Picks…

Monday

Dispatches: Undercover Debt Collector, 8:00pm, Channel 4

In this timely documentary, Dispatches goes undercover to investigate one of Britain’s least loved but booming industries – the debt collection business.

Presented by Jane Moore, the programme reveals some of the tactics deployed to get debtors to pay up, and talks to those unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of this treatment.

Reporter Tom Randall gets a job as a debt collector inside one of the UK’s fastest-growing agencies. He discovers that in recession-hit Britain some of the biggest high-street businesses are cutting their losses and selling on their bad debts to agencies for as little as 16 pence in the pound. Agencies who buy up these debts are entitled to pursue debtors for the full amount.

In this multi-billion pound industry the stakes are high; Dispatches reveals the lengths that collectors will go to to recover their debts.

Sun, Sea and A & E, 9:00pm, Bravo

If you’re about to head off for what you hope is a fun filled break, it might be a plan to watch this show and see what happens if you’re one of the thousands of holidaymakers who end up in an A&E department while abroad.

In this episode, we see how a hospital in Mallorca deals with patients, including Gary from Bradford who got a split lip while playing water polo and the infinitely more serious case of Simon, a DJ who is in a critical condition after falling through a plate glass window.

Tuesday

Being the Laziest Men, 8:00pm, Biography Channel

If you think your beloved is bone idle, meet Britain’s masters of lethargy – men proud to have elevated laziness into an art form.

Peter, a pub landlord aged 36, stays in bed until midday. Chris, aged 49, believes in old fashioned values. So does his wife Paula. For the last 32 years, she’s got up to wash and blow dry his hair every morning and waits on him hand and foot as he calls to her from his sofa in the front room.

Finally Steve, aged 49, has been so unable to move from the bench of the public bar of his local pub in Gloucestershire, that he’s ended up living and sleeping there for the past four years.

This show might make you think your bloke isn’t so bad after all… maybe.

The Truth About Crime, 9:00pm, BBC1

For this new three part series, we see Nick Ross on a journey to learn the truth behind the crime headlines. In this first episode, Violent Crime, Nick reveals the extent to which alcohol fuels violent crime on the street and in the home, but how there is also a lot that can be done to combat it.

The programme conducts a unique Crime Audit: Filming 24/7 for a fortnight with the emergency services in one city, Oxford, whose crime pattern is typical of Britain as a whole, the cameras reveal what crime in one city really looks like.

Using official crime figures, the series creates crime maps to show patterns of crime – when and where it happens. But The Truth About Crime also carries out an online questionnaire of the population of Oxford and the largest ever survey of the city’s school children, to uncover people’s hidden experiences and feelings about crime.

Wednesday

Grimefighters, 7:30pm, ITV1

This new series – narrated by John Sergeant – follows the daily lives of specialist clean-up teams around the UK.

In the first episode, two workers have to contend with an infestation of mice during a house clearance; a pair of Wolverhampton litter-pickers have a bad day and a pest controller in the Cotswolds deals with cluster flies and a rat.

And in Dagenham, the sewer team have to clear a blockage quickly to help an ill resident.

You need a fairly strong stomach to watch this but it might make you feel a bit better about your boring job tomorrow morning!

The Bone Collector, 9:00pm, Sky1

If thrillers are more your thing than real life grime, you’ll probably enjoy watching Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie star in this gripping film. Washington plays the role of quadriplegic ex-cop Lincoln Rhyme, who was looking forward to his assisted suicide when he got dragged back into a homicide case.

A psychopath has been abducting people and then killing them in particularly sadistic ways. With time against him, Rhyme recruits a reluctant colleague, Amelia Donaghy, to help. She’s haunted by her cop father’s suicide but both must put aside their personal problems to catch the Bone Collector before it’s too late.

Here’s the film’s trailer…

Thursday

The Rat Pack, 8:30pm, BBC1

This is the first of six new documentaries which, rather like Grimefighters, focuses on the less than pleasant but vital work of pest controllers.

With more rats in London than people, pest control is big business, but Ricky and Jimmy Clark have a special weapon up their sleeves to combat rising rodent numbers; Charlie, a nine-year-old Jack Russell Terrier.

The team also tackle a house full of bedbugs and help to free a bird that’s trapped in a flat, while dogged dog Charlie chases a rat up a drainpipe.

World’s Most Incredible Hostage Rescues, 9:00pm, ITV4

This fascinating show features real-life footage from around the world as terrified hostages are rescued from their captors.

The skills of the negotiators are highlighted as well as the bravery of law enforcement officers who are called into action when all peaceful options have been exhausted.

Friday

Muriel’s Wedding 9:00pm, Gold

If you’ve never seen this film, consider it a must-see-before-I-die movie… It’s both hilarious and sad and for Abba fans, the music will keep you hooked from the get go.

Muriel finds life in Porpoise Spit, Australia, worse than dull and she spends her days alone in her room listening to Abba music and dreaming of her wedding day, despite the fact she has no boyfriend and isn’t the most attractive girl in the world. In fact, Muriel’s never even had a date.

But her life is about to change; after she steals some money to go on a tropical vacation, she meets a wacky new friend, changes her name to Mariel, and turns her world upside down…

Here’s the film’s trailer

Not Another Teen Movie, 9:00pm, Fiver

If you’re up for another good laugh film, this parody was one of the original parodies, and it’s well worth a watch.

At John Hughes High School, the students are the same as just about every other teenager in the USA, but for this film, if a thing can go wrong, it will, spectacularly so.

The popular ‘jock’, Jake, takes a bet from Austin, a cocky blonde guy, that he can transform Janey – the school’s ugly duckling – into the prom queen, but two people are trying to stop Jake from succeeding; his evil sister, Catherine, the cruellest girl in school, and Priscilla, the bitchy cheerleader.

And all of their friends are the same as any other teen movie; there’s Areola, the naked foreign exchange student, Les, the beautiful weirdo, Malik, the token black guy, Amanda Becker, the perfect girl, Ricky and Sadie, the undercover reporter. Here’s the trailer…

Saturday

Family Guy, 9:00pm, FX

This episode – Jungle Love – is the first of four tonight and the perfect introduction to the show if you’ve never seen it before. It’s one of my favourite shows of all time, so I may be biased!

When Chris discovers he’ll be ‘hazed’ as part of a high school ritual, he runs away to South America where he assimilates himself into the uncivilised, tribal culture.

Meanwhile, Peter’s forced to look for a job, but after several failed attempts he decides he’s tired of starting at the bottom of the ladder. While Peter visits Chris in the South American jungle, tribal members treat him like a god, but both Peter and Chris learn that they can’t run away from their problems.

Fred and Rose: The West Murders, 10:00pm, Discovery Channel

If you’re in the mood for something rather more sombre, this three-part series focuses on the notorious and murderous couple from the West Country.

In this episode, taped confessions from Fred West reveal the background that led to his killings and offer an insight into the warped mind of the killer and his evil wife.

Sunday

The Poseidon Adventure, 4:20pm , Channel 4

As with Muriel’s Wedding, this is another have to see film, and perfect for a bloated Sunday afternoon when it’s raining – which it probably will be.

At midnight on New Years Eve, the S.S. Poseidon is struck by a 90 foot tidal wave and is capsized.

The Reverend Frank Scott guides the survivors which include an elderly couple, a New York detective and his ex-prostitute wife, Mike and Linda Rogo on their second honeymoon to Italy and a young brother and sister, Robin and Susan Shelby.

All must make it from the grand ballroom and struggle through, steam, fire and rising water in the up-side-down ship to escape.

It’s old but it’s still good! Here’s the 1972 trailer

The Flight that Fought Back, 10:00pm, Discovery Knowledge

This poignant documentary chronicles and reconstructs the heroism of the 33 passengers and seven crew members on United Airlines Flight 93, which was taken by terrorists on 9/11.

So that’s it for this week’s Primetime Picks. Have a great week and we’ll see you next Sunday!