ITV

Set in contemporary London, the six-part series portrays the death-defying and life-saving work of the Metropolitan Police Bomb Disposal Squad, also known as “Expo”.

A summer terrorist campaign wreaks havoc on the capital, and it’s up to Expo to defuse a series of improvised explosive devices.

Vicky McClure (Line of Duty) plays the experienced but reckless operative Lana Washington. As Lana begins to suspect her unit is the bomber’s true target, she sets out on a desperate search for proof and the bomber’s identity.

Sarah Williams, who had previously gained renown for adaptations and had never before written a TV thriller, was focused on the love/hate family dynamic before a conversation with Silverprint Pictures creative director Kate Bartlett who had asked her to come up with an idea for a joint project.

“At the start, I wanted to get to the heart of that thing you have with your family, where you’re full of love and support for them, but they can also wind you up and find your weak points,” Williams told an RTS Q&A session following an exclusive screening of the first episode.

When George Osborne first uttered the phrase “Northern Powerhouse” back in 2014, it’s fair to say that the TV industry wasn’t at the front of his mind. But, six years on, is it time to start thinking of it as such?

Back then, the mood in the TV industry across the North of England was very different. Both Leeds and Manchester were still struggling with the impact of ITV’s retrenchment to London, while the BBC’s project as the anchor tenant of MediaCity UK was barely into its stride.

Making a Monster

Monday: Crime+Investigation, 9.00pm

Adapted by Emer Kenny (Save Me Too) from Val McDermid’s novel The Distant Echo, the drama will follow a young Scottish female detective in the picturesque university town of St. Andrew’s.

While she may not be the type of unorthodox, slick copper who rises effortlessly through the ranks, the refreshingly normal Karen’s quick thinking and silver tongue lands her a promotion to Police Scotland’s Historical Cases Unit.

The six-part series will star Golden Globe winner Brenda Blethyn (Vera) as Kate, who owns a café in a rundown seaside town. Kate forms an unlikely and at times volatile friendship with an African asylum seeker, a doctor called Koji, played by Jimmy Akingbola (Arrow).

While the pair come from very different worlds, they find that they have a lot in common, including a furious determination to never back down from an argument…

Documentary: Diamond Dealers and Cockney Geezers

Channel 4, Monday 20^th January, 10pm

Dani Dyer narrates this documentary taking a deep dive into a diamond shop in London’s East End.

The three-part series is adapted from Catching the Bullseye Killer, a true crime book written by Senior Investigating Officer Steve Wilkins and ITV news journalist Jonathan Hill.

Luke Evans (Dracula) stars as Wilkins, the officer who reopened a historic double murder case from the 1980s in the hopes of catching a serial killer in 2006.

When the use of pioneering forensic methods leads the investigation back to a string of burglaries in the 1980s and 1990s, pressure mounts to prove the perpetrator is more than just a thief before his prison sentence is up.

Drama: Cold Feet

ITV, Monday 13th January, 9pm

ITVs comedy-drama Cold Feet returns for its ninth series on Monday, following a group of five friends.

The six-part drama, Finding Alice, created by Roger Goldby (The Durrells), Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard) and Simon Nye (Men Behaving Badly), starts production this week.

Hawes plays Alice, whose life is turned upside down with the sudden death of her husband, Harry (Jason Merrells) which leads to a trail of secrets, debt, suspicion and criminality.

Alice’s parents Sarah and Roger will be played by Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous) and Nigel Havers (Benidorm).