The Invisibles Thursday, BBC1, 9pm
Derren Brown: Trick or Treat Friday, Channel 4, 10pm
Peep Show Friday, Channel 4, 10:30pm
Doctor Who Today, BBC1,
6:20pm
DON'T YOU JUST LOVE HABITUAL criminals? Of course you do. Arthur Daley, Del Boy, whoever it was that Johnny Vaughan played in 'Orrible … the great British public carry an enormous amount of affection for roguish recidivists, which is presumably the only reason why anybody went to see Phil Collins starring in Buster.
This endless love affair also explains the presence of the new comedy/drama series The Invisibles on our screens. Its premise is hardly original: two ageing ex-cons attempt to settle into cosy retirement, but can't resist the lure of the rob, principally in an effort to a) prove to themselves that they've still got it, and b) show these young whippersnappers how it used to be done. Pieced together using leftover scraps of New Tricks, Hustle and the Kirk Douglas/Burt Lancaster vehicle Tough Guys, it exists securely in that Neverland of yore in which criminals were honourable, essentially good-hearted men who never set out to hurt anyone if they could help it. Apart, that is, from the people whose houses they cat-burgled so effectively.
Anthony Head plays Maurice, a silvery, cigar-sucking safe-cracker who comes across like Hannibal from The A-Team suffering from a mid-life crisis. Warren Clarke – the lugubrious face of middlebrow BBC comedy/drama – plays his hapless sidekick, Sid, who spends much of his screen time bumping into things, thereby refuting the repeated assertion that these men were once the best in the business. There is nothing subtle about The Invisibles: the theme of ageing in particular is laid on with a trowel, resulting in several scenes of Head staring meaningfully into the mirror or contemplating invites to coffee mornings. It's harmless enough for what it is, one of those depthless primetime series which just chunter along in their own modest, reasonable way, never becoming essential viewing, but passing the time agreeably enough whenever you happen to chance upon them.
Episode one ends with a comedy epilogue set in the local pub, à la Minder. I assume that all subsequent episodes will climax like this from now until the end of time.
Although preview DVDs weren't available for episode one of the latest series of Derren Brown: Trick or Treat, the format is exactly the same as last time – Brown messing with the minds of his volunteers, often to quite terrifying effect – and therefore just as mean-spirited and cruel. I've been blown away by much of Brown's work in the past, but this dubious series smacks of cheap psychological bullying.
The question on the lips of at least a few million people at the moment is: will Peep Show manage to maintain its almost consistently high quality after four series of hilariously dysfunctional japes? Judging by the first episode of series five, the answer is: possibly.
Writers Armstrong and Bain have wisely returned their squirming anti-heroes Mark (David Mitchell) and Jeremy (Robert Webb) to the position they were in at the very start of the series: single, desperate and languishing in their flat in a sort of masochistically co-dependent marriage.
There's some neatly observed and very funny stuff here, mostly seen through the craven eyes of Jeremy: his delight at leaving a boring play before it's finished – "it's like travelling in time!" – is perfectly drawn, as is his dilemma over which wine to buy in an expensive restaurant.
On the downside, we have Mark, whose tortuous war analogies are beginning to sound tired, attempting to woo a woman – with predictably disastrous results. The scene in which he physically confronts Jeremy for the first time doesn't work as effectively as it should, either. And yet, despite the nagging feeling that four series would've been enough, it's still great to be back in the company of these terrible human beings. Anyone who honestly believes that Gavin and Stacey is the best British sitcom of recent times should rectify that delusion with Peep Show.
Classic baddies the Sontarans return to Doctor Who in the most entertaining episode of the fourth series so far. It's got a lovely 1970s-era feel to it, with the Doctor once again fighting alongside U.N.I.T. to combat an enjoyably convoluted alien invasion. Although their bodies look disappointingly rubbery, the Sontaran masks are superb, and writer Helen Raynor gives their leader – played by Christopher Ryan, who'll probably have "Mike from The Young Ones" stencilled on his headstone – loads of amusingly humourless lines. Plus, there's Bernard Cribbins and a great cliffhanger. What's not to love?
