TV Preview

PICK OF THE WEEK

The Price Of Property

Channel 4, Monday, 9pm

Despite an endless glut of property programmes over the past few years, television – as ever preferring aspiration to insight – has long been reticent to really examine the housing market's social impact. It's an oversight that journalist Jon Henley aims to correct with this fascinating and timely look at how our pursuit of owning property has changed the nation.

Henley begins his four-part investigation with a trip to London, where in the halcyon days of the Eighties he sold his one-bedroom flat for £70,000. Twenty years later he's astonished to note that, although his down-at-heel former neighbourhood remains resistant to gentrification, his former pied-à-terre has a market value of £250,000.

Pondering the property's incongruous price tag, Henley, who has been an expat for most of the past two decades, reacts with bemusement. And it's his persistent incredulity which makes him such a persuasive guide. Having missed the property boom, he's immune to the inveigling thrall of Kirstie 'n' Phil and remains acutely attuned to the madness of the market.

BEST DRAMA

Secret Diary Of A Call Girl

ITV2, Thursday, 10pm

Its first series may have coasted on prurient thrills but this new run of Billie Piper's working girl drama adopts a much more convincing approach. As before, our erstwhile courtesan's life is a complex mix of duplicity, motley clients and fourth-wall-breaking monologues. This time, however, a series of compelling complications threaten to expose Belle's hidden life.

Firstly there's a love interest who is slowly eroding her sense of professional detachment. Then there's the tabloid journalist keen to exploit her dalliance with a politician. Finally there's her new protégé Bambi, a doe-eyed ingénue whose naivety seems certain to end in calamity.

Also try: A Number (BBC2, Wednesday, 9pm). Tom Wilkinson and Rhys Ifans enter a world of fractured identities and genetic pre-destiny in this haunting adaptation of Caryl Churchill's acclaimed play

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Cutting Edge – The 9/11 Faker

Channel 4, Thursday, 9pm

In the months following the September 11 attacks a number of extraordinary tales of survival emerged. Few accounts, however, were more compelling than that of Tania Head, the subject of this fascinating film.

Head's supposed escape from a 78th floor office made her one of the most celebrated survivors of the Twin Towers. Soon her bravery and resilience propelled her to the fore, with city officials and 9/11 victims praising her tireless work for the WTC Survivors Support Group. Then inconsistencies in her story emerged and Head vanished, leaving the survivor community and the world's press to ponder the motives behind her bizarre deception.

Also try: 9/11 Hotel (Channel 4, Wednesday, 9pm). Harrowing look at one of 9/11's forgotten stories, the fate of a hotel nestled between the Twin Towers

BEST TRAVEL

Northern Lights

BBC1, today, 9pm

Haunted by childhood tales of frozen tundra and shimmering skies, Joanna Lumley has long yearned to see the Northern Lights, an ambition she pursues in this gorgeously photographed travelogue. It's a fascinating trek, with wonders such as the fjords of Lofoten and a hotel constructed entirely from ice along the way.

Also try: Charley Boorman: Ireland To Sydney By Any Means (BBC2, today, 8pm). The man of adventure embarks on an ambitious new solo outing

BEST SCIENCE PROGRAMME

Earth – The Climate Wars

BBC2, today, 9pm

With only a couple of dogged sceptics refusing to acknowledge the reality of climate change there seems little need for another treatise on the subject. However, Dr Iain Stewart's latest series offers something far more valuable: a guide to the discoveries that support the hypothesis. Here, in this first instalment, he reveals how scientists' earlier fears of a new ice age gave way to a different but no less terrifying conclusion.

Also try: Blood And Guts: A History Of Surgery (BBC4, Wednesday, 9pm). Michael Mosley subjects himself to 16th-century bondage and a contemporary botoxing as he explains the surprising evolution of plastic surgery