I’m really looking forward to watching Consuming Passion – 100 Years Of Mills & Boon. It’s a funny, moving and very raunchy one off drama written by Emma Frost. Airing on BBC4, Sunday 2nd at 9pm, it provides an insight into the world of romantic fiction, as seen through the publishing phenomenon of Mills & Boon. They are two names synonymous with ripping bodices and one of the most recognisable and compelling genres in literature. So what’s behind its phenomenal success?

Interweaving the stories of three very different women, Consuming Passion sheds light on the impact and influence the books have had on women’s lives over the last century.

The first story on Sunday features Mary, wife of Charles Boon – the wheeler-dealer who co-founded the publishing imprint with his upright business partner and trusted friend Gerald Mills. Their decision to take a chance on the low-brow, high-romance genre proved to be so original and successful that it went on to alter the course of publishing history. Although Charles was brilliant at identifying the need for “romance” through literature in his publishing empire, he was less adept at identifying it at home. This story is inspired by the lives of the actual people behind the scenes.

Then on Monday 3rd at 10.35pm, watch out for the first of four programmes on BBC1 entitled, 1918-2008 – Ninety Years Of Remembrance: WW1 – My Family At War. More than one million British people lost their lives during the First World War and My Family At War examines just eight of those tragic stories.

In the first episode, Dan Snow and Natalie Cassidy take two very different journeys to discover what role their families played in the Great War.

Dan Snow retraces the footsteps of his great grandfather, Sir Thomas D’Oyly Snow, who was a General during the First World War. It’s an uncomfortable journey for Dan who’s fully aware of how many died due to the mistakes and poor decision-making of the Generals.

Natalie Cassidy meanwhile makes her way to East London to find out what the women in her family were doing on the Home Front while the men went off to fight. It’s an enlightening time for Natalie, who discovers her great grandmother’s house was bombed during the First World War.

This moving documentary is part of a special season of programmes on the BBC marking the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

Also on Monday, Taggart’s back for a new series on ITV1 at 9pm. In the first episode – where someone’s almost morally obliged to say ‘there’s been a mehrrrdehrrrr’ – Emily Patrick is alone in an empty community college lecture room, packing away her books. Before she has a chance to respond to the sound of footsteps, growing louder at a quickening pace, a sudden and vicious assault leaves the passionate anti-domestic violence campaigner lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

The stalwart and mostly craggy-featured team investigate, and find that Emily’s latest project provides them with a whole host of suspects.

Wednesday 5th sees the start of a new series, The People’s Hospital on BBC1 at 8.30pm.

The series is about life on the wards at Whipps Cross Hospital in London’s East End and the first show is all about children. Every parent dreads their child falling seriously ill and for the nurses on the front line, this can often mean caring for the entire family. The cameras follow the story of a thirteen year old girl in the children’s ward as she fights with a deadly form of meningitis. Be warned, it’s a pretty graphic show that doesn’t shy away from grisly scenes!

Thursday 6th sees a one-off Tonight Special entitled, Duchess and Daughters: Their Secret Mission. It’s on ITV1 at 9pm and follows Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice and their mother Sarah, the Duchess of York, on a secret mission that’s as far removed from an official Royal visit as possible.

Leaving their Royal titles and entitlements behind, Beatrice and Eugenie join their mother on an incredible journey, travelling from the suburbs of Bucharest to the streets of Istanbul, to uncover the hidden lives of children living in orphanages and institutions for the mentally and physically disabled.

Prepared to do whatever it takes to discover the truth, Sarah and her daughters join ITN’s Chris Rogers and the Tonight team’s hidden cameras in a number of institutions.

In the first part of the programme, Sarah and Eugenie travel to Turkey to help investigate the treatment of mentally and physically disabled children where they spend a distressing time ‘capturing images that will shock and horrify.’

Sarah and Beatrice also visit a state group home that the government set up to improve the lot of orphans and disabled children. They interview gypsy mothers who feel they have no choice but to abandon their babies and mother and daughter accompany the Tonight undercover team to film inside Romanian institutions.

It’s not going to be easy watching this one, so be warned that it contains scenes that you will undoubtedly find distressing.