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Dylan Walsh and Poppy Montgomery - work well together on Unforgettable

John Byrne brings his weekly round-up of all things telly.

Total Recall

Reviewed: Unforgettable (Tuesday, Sky Living)
Every year there's a new batch of crime-solving shows on TV, and the search for a fresh twist to the genre is never-ending. Down the decades, we've had all sorts involved in catching crooks and nabbing murderers: back in the 1960s there was Ironside, starring the late Raymond Burr as a cop in a wheelchair who always got his man. In the 1970s, Terry Savalas sucked lollipops and said 'Who loves ya, baby?' as bald Lt Theo Kojak. The best of them all perhaps was Columbo, starring the recently deceased Peter Falk as the apparently bumbling cop, a man who never took off his mac and lulled perpetrators into revealing their true colours by appearing clueless. Amazingly, that show ended as recently as 2003.

In recent years we've had shows such as Castle (where a crime novelist helps the NYPD solve murders), The Mentalist (a former psychic does something similar in California) and Lie to Me (ditto with a team of body language experts). And while the first two are light but entertaining (especially Castle, with former Firefly star Nathan Fillion coasting along in the lead role), Tim Roth's Lie to Me lacked any fizz and the only surprise is that it lasted three seasons before getting dropped.

The latest addition to the crime-solving-with-a-twist genre is Unforgettable, where former Without a Trace co-star Poppy Montgomery leads as Carrie Wells, a former cop with a rare medical condition that gives her the ability to visually remember everything. The set-up certainly has the potential to make the show a hit: Wells reluctantly joins the NYPD after her former boyfriend and partner asks for help with solving a case, and her incredible ability to recall the tiniest of details makes her invaluable. The subtext is that this role allows Wells to try to get to the bottom of the one experience she has been unable to remember, which is what happened the day her sister was murdered.

There's also a heart-tugging subplot where Wells works voluntarily at a home where her mother, who appears to be suffering from Alzheimer's as she doesn't recognise that Wells is her daughter, resides in full-time care.

While it's not exactly challenging or groundbreaking TV (it's not meant to be anything other than entertaining), Unforgettable rolls along just nicely. Montgomery and co-star Dylan Walsh (as her former lover and police partner) work well together in a chalk-and-cheese kind of way, and this show could easily prove as durable as The Mentalist or Castle. If you're a fan of either of those, Unforgettable is certainly worth investigating.

Pick of the Week

Spartacus Vengeance (Monday, Sky One)

Spartacus star Andy Whitfield tragically died of cancer late last year, and here his replacement - newcomer Liam McIntyre, whose most recent job was choosing movies to play in an Australian cinema - makes his debut in the second season of the sexy, violent swords 'n' sandals spectacular. The story picks up with the escaped gladiator slave seeking, well, vengeance. Says McIntyre: "We really pulled together [after Whitfield's death] and decided the best way we can do justice to Andy is to do a show we can be proud of."

Showrunner Steven S DeKnight had promised that Spartacus: Vengeance will be even gorier and sexually gratuitous than before and - by all accounts - if this season-opener is anything to go by then he's a man of his word.

Glaber (Craig Parker) and his troops are sent to Capua with one objective: to crush the band of freed slaves before any more damage is done. Meanwhile, Spartacus is faced with a dilemma. He can wreak his revenge on the man that condemned his wife to slavery and death, or make the sacrifices necessary to keep his army from breaking apart.

New this week

2 Broke Girls (Thursday, RTÉ Two)
This new show from Sex and the City producer Michael Patrick King is basically a two-hander starring relative newcomers Beth Behrs and Kat Dennings. Behrs plays Caroline Channing, an heiress from Manhattan's Upper East Side. Things go pear-shaped when her father is arrested for financial irregularities and she ends up penniless and working at a diner in Brooklyn. There she becomes pals with Max, a veteran and cynical waitress, and after they hit it off the pair decide to raise the money to open up a cake shop together. Sounds promising...

The National Television Awards (Wednesday, UTV)
The UK's National Television Awards will be broadcast live from London's 02 Arena and hosted by Dermot O'Leary. In recent years The X Factor has triumphed in the Talent Show category, but faces stiff opposition from Strictly Come Dancing, which could triumph this time round. Downton Abbey is up against two former winners - Dr Who and Waterloo Road - for the drama award. The new Reality Programme category sees The Only Way is Essex, I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! and Come Dine With Me battling with The Apprentice.

Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy (Thursday, E4)
Mighty Boosh star and all-round psychedelic comic Noel Fielding is back with his first solo effort. According to the man himself - surely British comedy's answer to Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett - Luxury Comedy will be "like a luxury fruitcake. We wanted to make it different all the time and keep people guessing. It's not just the same six characters every week; there are about 50 of them."

Ending this week

Grey's Anatomy (Tuesday, RTÉ Two)
The doctors and staff at Seattle Mercy Grace Mercy West Hospital hang up their stethoscopes and take a break after this week's episode as a result of the show's mid-season hiatus in America. Teddy puts her husband's life in the hands of her peers when Henry is sent for surgery and she's called away on another case. Meanwhile, Meredith and Derek receive the long-awaited news about Zola.

Documentary of the week

Reality Bites (Monday, RTÉ Two)
The Reality Bites documentary strand returns with The Auction House, an entertaining observational documentary following the staff at Merlin Motors as they attempt to break into the world of distressed property sales. Despite having no background in this business, the colourful managing director and sales team embark on what looks like a hopelessly ill-advised misadventure, armed only with a can-do attitude and a cheeky smile.

Repeat of the week

John Adams (Monday, Sky Atlantic)
Already shown on both RTÉ One and Channel 4, this is a superb dramatic miniseries from HBO about the second President of the United States. It stars the always impressive Paul Giamatti in the title role, and the equally laudable Laura Linney as his wife, Abigail. John Adams received twenty-three Emmy Award nominations, and won a record thirteen. It also holds the record for most Emmy wins by a show in a single year.

Guest stars of the week
Masterchef judge Gregg Wallace, TV sports presenter Gabby Logan and comedian Sarah Millican are Frank Skinner's guests in Friday's Room 101 (BBC ONE)...

Lily Tomlin - who last popped-up in Damages - reappears on the small screen in NCIS (Friday, FX) as McGee's grandmother...

House fans will be delighted to hear that Lisa Edelstein, who played the much-missed Cuddy, starts her three-episode stint on The Good Wife this week (Thursday, More4) as troublesome lawyer Celeste Serrano...

Casting Couch Corner
Who's heading to what show
Dexter fans will be seeing a couple of familiar faces on the third season of The Good Wife, currently on More4 and coming to RTÉ this summer. Dexter's sister Debra is played by Jennifer Carpenter, who pops up on Julianna Margulies' superb legal drama as a Republican professor who believes she was fired from her job for her conservative beliefs.

Later on, Christian Camargo - who played the Ice Truck Killer in Dexter Season One - plays a filmmaker who turns to Lockhart Gardner after his documentary on suicide allegedly inspires a young girl to take her life.

BBC ONE is producing a six-part romantic comedy called Anthony and Cleopatra. It's about a pair of childhood sweethearts who who are reunited after 60 years and stars veteran thesp Derek Jacobi and erstwhile Corrie favourite Sarah Lancashire.

Former Spooks and Pride and Prejudice star Matthew Macfadyen has landed yet another gig at the BBC. This time around he heads the cast in Ripper Street, a BBC ONE drama about detectives who try to keep public order in the wake of the Jack the Ripper murders.

Sat Nav
Satellite Highlights

We'll Take Manhattan (Thursday, BBC FOUR)
Doctor Who hasn't been much of a career platform for Doctor's assistants in the past (Billie Piper and Catherine Tate were already established when they landed the gig), but that seems certain to change with Karen Gillan.

It was recently announced that the 2012 season would be the last for the 24-year-old Scottish actress (and Arthur Darvill, who plays Amy's husband, Rory), although it's unclear as to whether Amy will be killed-off or not.

In the meantime, Gillan's post-Who career kicks off with this BBC FOUR drama. The one-off biopic sees her taking the role of '60s supermodel Jean Shrimpton in a tale about Shrimpton and her lover, British photographer David Bailey (Aneurin Barnard), and a week they spent together in New York in 1962. Gillan admitted concern about portraying a real-life figure but Shrimpton gave her approval. "She's actually watched it, and she loved it," said Gillan. "That's all I wanted from that role."

Jodie Marsh Bodybuilder (Tuesday, DMax)
What does a D-lister do when the phone stops ringing? Well, former glamour puss Jodie Marsh took up bodybuilding. The grotesque images promoting this freak show were enough to put me off any form of exercise bar channel-flipping, but perhaps someone out there is interested in what this serial attention-seeker is up to these days.

Rizzoli & Isles (Thursday, Alibi)
Despite the presence of former Dawson's Creek star Sasha Alexander (she played Pacey's sister, Gretchen), this procedural from US cable channel TNT about police detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and medical examiner Dr Maura Isles (Alexander) just didn't moved out of first gear during a dull first season.

Still, enough bodies like it so it's back for another run, and here's hoping for an improvement similar to the one on E4 comedy Happy Endings, whose second season has shown a remarkable change for the better. Plotwise, Rizzoli is recovering from being shot at the end of last season, but when an event for heroes ends in murder, she's on the case with Isles.

John Byrne