The Crystal Maze: Celebrity Christmas Special

Channel 4, 8.00pm

The Crystal Maze gets festive with a panto-themed special and a selection of famous faces are put to the test in a series of challenges.

Based on a true story, the six-part drama focuses on Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher (Martin Freeman), who breached police protocol to catch a killer, costing him his career.

Following the disappearance of 22-year-old Sian O’Callaghan in Swindon in 2011, Fulcher launched an investigation to find her, believing that someone may be holding her against her will.

Wild Bill centres around US cop Bill Hixon (Rob Lowe) who transfers to Boston, Lincolnshire, with his 14-year-old daughter Kelsey, in the hopes of escaping a recent tragedy.

Impressively qualified, Hixon is promoted to Chief Constable of the East Lincolnshire Police Force but is taken aback by the unimpressed Boston community who share similar attitudes to his own.

Hixon adapts to his new environment as he reconsiders his relationships with those he holds dear.

The story became notorious at the time, due to the public outcry that his sentence of life imprisonment prompted, Martin having argued that he had used reasonable force to defend his property. One of the burglars, Fred Barras was 16 years old at the time of his death. 

Martin later appealed against his original conviction and was successful, his sentence was reduced and he was released after three years.

The fourth series begins with Thomas Shelby's realisation that the Peaky Blinders are in danger of annihilation after he receives a mysterious letter on Christmas Eve.

With the threat of the enemy closing in on him, Shelby deserts his country house and high society lifestyle and returns to the streets of Small Heath, Birmingham, where he must fight for survival. 

Detective John Cardinal (Billy Campbell, The Killing) is the eponymous star of the series, who joins forces with Lise Delorme (Karine Vanasse, Revenge) to hunt down a vicious serial killer in the icy wastes of a small Northern Ontario town.

Adapted from Giles Blunt’s award-winning novel Forty Words for Sorrow, the first in the John Cardinal series, the six-part drama will air later this year.

One of Us will explore morality and human nature, as the lines between right and wrong become blurred.

It is set in the wake of the murder of two childhood sweethearts – just after their honeymoon.

Their families, living in the remote Highland village of Braeston, are shell-shocked when the murderer arrives on their doorstep the night after the killing.

Crime drama Happy Valley will be returning to screens later this year after being commissioned for a second series.

The Yorkshire-based six-part drama starring Sarah Lancashire focuses on a police sergeant searching for a kidnapped girl.

Happy Valley attracted an average of 7.2 million viewers during its first season, with its final episode in series one attracting 7.8 million.

Lancashire won the Female Actor award at the RTS Programme Awards in March this year.  

On 18 September 2016, Steve November has a problem. At 9:00pm that night, the slot arrives in ITV’s schedule that would normally be filled by the season premiere of Downton Abbey.

As Director of Drama for the ITV network, November has to find a replacement – Downton is ending, with the last ever episode to air this coming Christmas Day. And, given Downton’s blockbuster ratings performance, it’s going to be a fiendishly difficult act to follow.