TV week ahead

PICK OF THE WEEK

The American Future: A History
BBC2, Friday, 9pm

With the US facing its most pivotal presidential election in living memory, Simon Schama's latest project, a passionate overview of American history, could hardly have arrived at a more apt juncture. And it is Schama's extraordinary gift for narrative engagement which makes this mandatory viewing. Surveying America's traumatic history and uncertain destiny through four different prisms – plenty, fervour, war and ethnicity – he presents a fascinating and informative journey.

His odyssey begins with an examination of "American Plenty". Driven by the promise of richer pastures and untapped mineral wealth, the westward expansion of the 19th century has, he explains, left an indelible mark on the American psyche.

But though the West has retained its craggy vistas, John Ford skies and promissory glamour, a decade-long drought is threatening to destroy these lands. Even the mighty Hoover Dam, once the pinnacle of Yankee ingenuity, can no longer provide enough water for both the farmers of the arid southwest and the bloated sprawl of Las Vegas. And, as Schama explains, it's a portent with profound implications for both America the nation and America the abstract idyll.

BEST IMPORT

Burn Notice
FX, today, 9pm

This splendid new offering goes against the current vogue for Bourne-style grit, giving us a delightfully droll spy caper which plays like Bond as rewritten by Carl Hiaasen.

Leading man Jeffrey Donovan makes for an appealing hero, an ex-CIA operative left dangling after the agency rescinds his contract. The show's greatest draw, however, is the roster of supporting players. B-movie icon Bruce Campbell is his sole friend, a paunchy ex-marine subsisting on cocktails and female charity. Press Gang alumnus Gabrielle Anwar is our hero's temper-prone love interest, and Cagney & Lacey's Sharon Gless his most fearsome adversary, his impossibly neurotic mother.

Also try: Fringe (Sky1, today, 9pm). Lost creator JJ Abrams delivers more perplexing plot contortions with this new sci-fi-tinged mystery series

BEST DRAMA

Sunshine
BBC1, Tuesday, 9pm

Steve Coogan, long celebrated for his snarky portraits of inadequacy, finds a more serious outlet with this superb bittersweet drama. Family man Bob Crosby is a genial Mancunian with a ready wit and an innate sense of optimism. But this likeable everyman has a crippling gambling addiction which threatens to destroy all he holds dear. By turns comic and compelling, it's an emotional ride with an admirably restrained Coogan.

Also try: Breaking Bad (FX, today, 10pm). Terminally ill antihero Walter uses his chemistry skills to dispose of some messy evidence as the award-winning US drama continues

BEST FASHION

British Style Genius
BBC2, Thursday, 9pm

Thanks to the ubiquity of Trinny and Susannah, there's no shortage of sartorially themed programming, but this new series about the state of British fashion offers a rare sense of context. In this first instalment we follow Kate Moss as she prepares to launch a new high street fashion range. Designers such as Mary Quant are on hand to defend the ongoing democratisation of British fashion.

Also try: Twiggy's Frock Swap (BBC2, Tuesday, 7pm). Sixties fashion icon Twiggy headlines a new venture in which women donate their cast-offs to a huge clothes-swapping experiment

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Cutting Edge: Ninety Naps A Day
Channel 4, Thursday, 9pm

Cutting Edge offers a moving and informative look at an oft misunderstood illness, following three British narcoleptics as they travel to a Narcolepsy Network conference in the US. The illness has dented their self-confidence and they're ill-prepared for the exuberance of their American counterparts.

Also try: Jack: A Soldier's Story (BBC3, Tuesday, 9pm). Reporter Ben Anderson investigates the psychological impact of conflict with this profile of Jack Mizon, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan