ITV

Samantha Morton and Jessica Brown Findlay to star in Georgian prostitution drama Harlots

Jessica Brown Findlay (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

Harlots follows Margaret Wells (Oscar-nominated Samantha Morton), a woman who struggles to reconcile her roles as mother and brother owner in the family drama that offers a new take on 18th century London’s most valuable commercial activity – sex.

“In 1760s London there were brothels on every corner run by women who were both enterprising and tenacious,” says Executive Producer, Alison Owen. “History has largely ignored them, but their stories are in turn outrageous, brutal, humorous and real.”

This week's top TV: 2 - 8 May

Monday

Posh Neighbours at War

Channel 4

7.30pm

Quite aside from having a title to die for, the documentary offers an insight into some of the most vicious spates between neighbours in some of the most expensive parts of the country.

In parts of London where properties can cost tens of millions of pounds, the residents are unsurprisingly a bit on edge about noisy neighbours and their property.

Midsomer Murders gets new detective

Nick Hendrix will play DS Jamie Winter in the show's 19th series. This makes him the third police sidekick for Dudgeon, who took over from John Nettles as Midsomer's lead in 2011. 

"I'm genuinely thrilled to join this bastion of British TV," said Hendrix. “It's a real privilege to be part of a hugely successful and much loved show and I am looking forward to stepping into the wonderful world of Midsomer."

This week's top TV: 25 April - 1 May

Olivia Colman

Monday

Flowers

Channel 4

10pm

From writer/director Will Sharpe and starring Olivia Colman (Broadchurch) and Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh), the eccentric Flowers family are undergoing something of a meltdown. 

Maurice (Barratt) is a children's author, while his wife Deborah (Colman) is a trombone teacher. Both are dealing with their own demons, and are quietly helpless as their marriage falls apart. 

Obituary: Ray Fitzwalter

Ray Fitzwalter

At Granada Television, the passionate Fitzwalter was part of a group of talented programme-makers who ensured that ITV was in the vanguard of broadcasting influential and popular current-affairs shows.

As editor of the trail-blazing ITV flagship, World in Action, Fitzwalter was a constant thorn in the side of corrupt businessmen and politicians. The peak-time show (initially shown on Monday nights) was launched in 1963.

The Durrells through the years

The Durrells (credit: ITV)

This is not the first dramatization of Gerald Durrell’s autobiography My Family and Other Animals to appear on television. The naturalist’s tales about his outrageous relatives have graced the small screen twice before, with a number of familiar faces behind the eclectic characters. Here is a look back over the more memorable portrayals of the Durrell clan.

 

Brian Blessed as Spiro (1987)

Broadchurch announces cast of final series

The pair will be joined by new cast members Sarah Parish (Atlantis), Charlie Higson (The Fast Show) Georgina Campbell (Murdered By My Boyfriend), Julie Hesmondhalgh (Coronation Street) and Mark Bazeley (Home Fires).

Jodie Whittaker and Andrew Buchan will also return as Beth and Mark Latimer alongside Arthur Darvill as vicar Paul Coates, Carolyn Pickles as newspaper editor Maggie Radcliffe and Adam Wilson as Ellie’s son Tom.