Neville's Island, Duke of York's Theatre

NEVILLE'S ISLAND Like its marooned middle-managers, Tim Firth's comedy loses its way

Like its marooned middle-managers, Tim Firth's comedy loses its way

Hell is other people. It’s not the wilderness that poses the greatest threat to the stranded corporate bonding quartet in this docile Lord of the Flies-meets-The Office pastiche, but the endless stream of well-meaning incompetence. Yet while Tim Firth’s 1992 play is Schadenfreude Central – if you haven’t had your fill of disaster-by-proxy following the trail of Hurricane Gonzalo – it, too, suffers from benign ineptitude in not committing to a genre.

A Night Under the Stars: Latin Spirit, Royal Festival Hall

Charity gala with Latin flavour keeps musical standards consistently high

London homelessness charity The Passage was set up in 1980 and has been growing steadily so that it now provides a day centre, short-term hostel and long-term housing in an effort to help street sleepers get their lives back on track. Its annual "A Night Under the Stars" gala concert is the central event on its fundraising calendar, and assembles an extremely high standard of musician. The evening was compered by Jo Brand and Petroc Trelawny, both safe pairs of hands in their distinct ways.

Genesis: Together and Apart, BBC Two

GENESIS: TOGETHER AND APART, BBC TWO In which an epic musical career doesn't necessarily make an enthralling documentary

In which an epic musical career doesn't necessarily make an enthralling documentary

Despite a 47-year history which has taken them from pomp to pop and established them as a top-selling global institution, there's still a lingering sense that Genesis don't think they've been taken seriously enough. This was detectable in Phil Collins's comment included here that "we're just popular and there's nothing wrong with that... I won't take the credit and I won't take the blame."

Blenheim Palace: Great War House, ITV

Lord Fellowes of Downton explores one of Britain's most historic stately homes

Julian Fellowes, now the Conservative peer Lord Fellowes, left behind the fictional world of Gosford Park and Downton Abbey to give us this sumptuous tour of Blenheim Palace. Nor were its surroundings neglected as vista after vista showed us Blenheim’s lavishly landscaped gardens, fountains and columned monument to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, victorious over Louis XIV. It was his military prowess that led to wealth and Blenheim itself, gifted by the grateful nation and thus an early example of government subsidy.

Constable: The Making of a Master, Victoria & Albert Museum

The landscape artist revealed as a student not just of nature but also of the Old Masters

This revelatory exhibition goes in search of the revolutionary magnificence which infused Constable’s compelling landscapes through an unusual prism. The narrative spine is clear. It follows Constable’s intense work playing upon as profound a knowledge of the Old Masters as was possible at the time, and reconciling it with, as he phrased it, the greatness of nature from which all originality must spring.  We see nothing, he said, until we fully understand it. 

Downton Abbey, Series 5, ITV

DOWNTON ABBEY, SERIES 5, ITV On this evidence, there's still plenty of life in Lord Fellowes's beloved national institution

On this evidence, there's still plenty of life in Lord Fellowes's beloved national institution

As unavoidable as death and taxes, as inevitable as the rotation of the seasons, Downton Abbey has created the illusion of time-hallowed permanence in a mere four years. It is often asked how long Julian Fellowes can keep up his script-writing heroics (if it was an American show he'd be marshalling a writing team of dozens), but this opener to series five was so playfully deft and thunderously enjoyable that you'd have to conclude that Downton has become Fellowes's personal fountain of youth.

Alright on the Night: at Glyndebourne with the OAE

The view from the pit as Handel's 'Rinaldo' returns to leafiest East Sussex

If you only ever listened to opera from recordings, you might overlook the fact that it's as much theatre as it is music. In the opera house on the night, it's all well and good for the orchestra to play the score and the singers to sing their parts, but on top of that you have to allow for costume changes, move the scenery, adjust the lighting and make sure you get all the right people on and off stage at the appropriate moments. It's what makes opera the living, breathing, sometimes splendidly chaotic spectacle it is.

The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire, BBC Two

THE WORLD'S WAR: FORGOTTEN SOLDIERS OF EMPIRE, BBC TWO How colonial troops were thrown into the blood and horror of the Western Front

How colonial troops were thrown into the blood and horror of the Western Front

We call it the First World War, but in Western Europe at least, most of the scrutiny is confined to what happened to Britain, France and Germany (with a side order of Russia) from 1914-18. The writer and presenter of this two-part series, David Olusoga, seized the opportunity to emphasise the full global scope of the conflict by throwing fascinating light on the contributions made by troops from the French and British colonies, uncomprehendingly transported from India and Africa to the mud, blood and horror of the Western Front.

Prom 24: BBCSSO, Runnicles/Solemn Vigil of Commemoration, Westminster Abbey

PROM 24: BBCSSO, RUNNICLES/SOLEMN VIGIL OF COMMEMORATION, WESTMINSTER ABBEY Vaughan Wiliams and Mahler in the Albert Hall, while Purcell and Bach crown a sacred rite

Vaughan Williams and Mahler engaged as World War One laments, but Purcell and Bach crown solemnities

Despairing in the depths of the Second World War, Richard Strauss turned to Mozart’s string quintets as well as the complete works of Goethe for evidence that German culture still existed. Vaughan Williams might well have done the same for his native art during the so-called Great War in homaging the music of Thomas Tallis.