TV week ahead

PICK OF THE WEEK
The Sculpture Diaries
Channel 4, today, 7pm

In an age where our screens are dominated by photogenic vacuities, art critic Waldemar Januszczak is a talent to treasure. Informed without seeming pompous, and blessed with the ability to render the arcane accessible, he is a welcome throwback to an era when TV embraced charismatic eccentrics.

"There is no more important art form than sculpture," he says in this new series. "And I'm going to prove it." The first episode begins with a startling look at how sculptors have portrayed femininity. Three female figures dominate his thesis. First there's the Venus Of Willendorf, a palm-sized Neolithic sculpture portraying a woman with greatly exaggerated curves. Then there's the Venus De Milo, whose beauty, our host reveals, has been enhanced rather than damaged by the ravages of time. Finally there's Alison Lapper, a disabled artist whose portrait, a pregnant nude rendered in carrera marble, drew a storm of controversy when it was recently displayed in Trafalgar Square.

Yet it's the seemingly digressive detours Januszczak takes that are most effective. In Nigeria, the Yoruba people, their abnormally high incidence of identical twins countered by an appalling infant mortality rate, create haunting stone doppelgangers to symbolically replace dead twins. In Los Angeles a former plastic surgeon explains the mathematical underpinnings of the perfect female face, while in Poland, the disturbing work of Hans Bellmer reveals a darker undercurrent to sculpture's obsession with the female form.

BEST DRAMA
Lost In Austen
STV, Wednesday, 9pm

Having seemingly forgotten how to generate original drama, ITV's recently been reduced to aping other channels' hits. Hence such dreary calamities as its Doctor Who cash-in Primeval or its Nip/Tuck clone Harley Street. Surprisingly, its latest imitative offering, a high concept riposte to Life On Mars, is a gloriously entertaining wheeze.

Rising star Jemima Rooper is our heroine, a modern urbanite who finds herself swapping places with Pride And Prejudice protagonist Elizabeth Bennet (played here by new Bond girl Gemma Arterton). But can even her expert foreknowledge of Austen's novel help her survive this strange world of bonnets and embonpoints?

Also try: The Children (STV, Monday, 9pm). Kevin Whately stars in a heart-wrenching new drama serial about the tragic death of a child.

BEST DOCUMENTARY
True Stories: Four Wives, One Man
More4, Tuesday, 10pm

Controversial film-maker Nahid Persson courts further outrage with this frank, fascinating and frequently hilarious look at Koran-sanctioned polygamy in rural Iran. Our protagonist is Heda, a prosperous farmer who lives with four wives and an abundance of children. Understandably, it's an arrangement which proves less than conducive to domestic concord. But, even with his oppressed spouses sniping at each other, their unenlightened husband remains stubbornly determined to add to their number.

Also try: First Cut: Marriage Technique For Beginners (Channel 4, Friday, 7.35pm). A droll, partly animated film about the perils of matrimony.

BEST REALITY SHOW
Chateau Monty
Channel 4, Thursday, 8pm

British television's always had a fondness for self-sufficient eccentrics, so viewers will doubtless warm to wine-critic Monty Waldin, the eco-friendly hero of this uproariously funny new reality offering. Tiring of the metropolitan grind, Waldin cashes in his life savings to buy and run a small vineyard in rural France.

Also try: Wife Swap (Channel 4, today, 8pm). A career mum swaps places with an overstretched mother of 10.

BEST YOUTH PROGRAMME
Scene Stealers
BBC2, Saturday, 1pm

In an unlikely anthropological experiment, each week two members of different "teen tribes" must pass themselves off as dedicated followers of another youthful sub-culture. In this first instalment, 'Plastic Wag' Nikita and post-millennial retro punk Josh have just try 48 hours to master the intricacies of rap music.

Also try: Revealed. (BBC2, Saturday, 12pm). The teen magazine series returns with an unsettling look at how the surveillance industry keeps tabs on the under-18s.