Raised by Wolves, Channel 4

RAISED BY WOLVES, CHANNEL 4 Caitlin and Caroline Moran reinterpret their unconventional childhood for the small screen

Caitlin and Caroline Moran reinterpret their unconventional childhood for the small screen

Among all the frank, hilarious bits that peppered Caitlin Moran’s bestselling book How To Be a Woman, it was the early chapters – the ones that dealt with the author’s unconventional upbringing in the suburbs of Wolverhampton – that seemed most ripe for repackaging for television. Whether Raised by Wolves lives up to its promise as a coming-of-age comedy drama for any teenage misfit that ever had an annoying sibling remains to be seen. So far, only this pilot episode has been produced.

Homeland, Series 3 Finale, Channel 4

Scorched-earth policy leaves 'Homeland' facing an uncertain future (warning: contains spoilers!)

Homeland's coming home? Well not exactly, but the conclusion to this crazy, mixed-up third series did suddenly feel as if the writers had finally managed to express something that they'd been groping towards for the last three months. Namely, if the show was to stay on the road (series four is in the works), Brody had to go.

Heston's Great British Food, Channel 4

HESTON'S GREAT BRITISH FOOD, CHANNEL 4 Duck! The national dish gets Blumenthaled

Duck! The national dish gets Blumenthaled

There’s a queue to get into Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant to order things like blowtorched fetlock of kudu with jus de cat-gut noodle on a bed of iron filings strained through a muslin jockstrap. A state of emergency was declared in the gated communities of the south-east a couple of years back when some punters succumbed to metal fatigue or carbon monoxide poisoning or some such specialist alimentary ailment. Thus it is with anxiety that one learns of Heston’s latest mission: to think laterally about fish and chips.

Dogs: Their Secret Lives, Channel 4

Not to be confused with Horizon's 'The Secret Life of the Dog'

What the Dickens is happening to wildlife television? At the back end of all those Atttenborough films they have a segment in which they explain how they got the miracle money shot of the chorus line of orcas, the war ballet of the giraffes, the Saharan ant colony. Well, forget all that. Television appears to have decreed that, wildlife-wise, pets are the new black. 

Masters of Sex, Channel 4

MASTERS OF SEX, CHANNEL 4 Michael Sheen measures sexual response in Fifties America with promising results

Michael Sheen measures sexual response in Fifties America with promising results

Sexual intercourse was, famously, invented in 1963. Before that, of course, babies were delivered by beak. So Channel 4’s Sex Season marks the golden jubilee for shaggers. Perhaps there should be bunting and pageantry throughout the land. Instead we’ve got the blank-firing Sex Box and, as of last night, Masters of Sex.

Sex Box, Channel 4

SEX BOX, CHANNEL 4 If it did what it said on the tin, no one was saying

If it did what it said on the tin, no one was saying

Sex in a box, in a nutshell. That was the concept. Not literally in a nutshell, as that might have been difficult. But a big white cuboid thing in a studio. Designed – this is an educated guess - by Ikea, being tacky and easily assembled. Couples enter the box and, with luck, each other, and then come and talk about it, in front of a panel of sexperts. What could possibly, in the United Kingdom of embarrassment and irony, go even slightly wrong?

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Channel 4

Agent Coulson is back from the dead, and bringing a whole new team to the smaller screen

There are two schools of critical thought when it comes to stories set in fantastical worlds. The first implies that it’s difficult to argue for realism and consistency in something that’s supposed to be a bit of fluff, where not only have aliens invaded New York but those aliens have been defeated by “among others: a giant green monster, a costumed superhero from the 1940s, and a god”.

The Wrong Mans, BBC Two / London Irish, Channel 4

THE WRONG MANS, BBC TWO / LONDON IRISH, CHANNEL 4 Two rather different comedies make their debuts

Two rather different comedies make their debuts

Love him or hate him, James Corden undeniably does have a range of talents – actor, writer and co-creator of some very funny comedy (we'll politely forget the car crash of his misguided BBC sketch show with Mathew Horne). And now, dontchaknow, he's come up with another comedy vehicle, The Wrong Mans [****], which had a very accomplished debut last night.

Blackout, Channel 4

BLACKOUT, CHANNEL 4 The country descends into dimly-lit chaos in one-off docu-drama

The country descends into dimly-lit chaos in one-off docu-drama

If the UK’s entire power supply were to fail, how long do you reckon it would take for society to regress to the point that people would begin eating cold chips they had rescued from a bin? According to Blackout, a feature-length docu-drama directed by Bafta-award winning Ben Chanan, the answer is a mere two days.

Top Boy, Series 2, Channel 4

TOP BOY, SERIES 2, CHANNEL 4 The pressure blows from the start in return to the mean streets of Summerhouse

The pressure blows from the start in return to the mean streets of Summerhouse

After the almost complete absence of the police from the first series of Top Boy, the sirens are blazing as the follow-on to Ronan Bennett’s tough drug-dealing drama kicks in. Specifically, they’re exhuming the corpse of Kamale, who fell victim to Dushane’s ascendance to the position of Top Boy in the East London estate of Summerhouse. What’s left of Kamale a year on is no pretty sight, even though the scene’s got some spectacular background illumination from the O2 stadium.