TV doctor will see you now

Having trouble getting to see your GP?

Then BBC1 might have a solution as they are offering one-to-one consultations with Doctor Foster this evening.

This hour-long appointment (plus four others over the coming weeks) doesn’t guarantee to solve your health problem as the GP in question, Dr Gemma Foster (alias Suranne Jones, half of the Scott & Bailey crime-busting duo), is good at her job - but is distracted by the suspicion that her husband is having an affair.

If that’s not a problem, check in at 9pm as the erring husband, property-developer Simon (Bertie Carvel from Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell), finds himself under close examination as his wife’s investigations reveals some unwelcome secrets.

Medical care would seem wasted on two other TV fixtures which seem to defy their sell-by date as they hog the schedules.

The 12th series of The X Factor (ITV1) might have tried to revamp itself, but from first impressions it’s more of the same as the judges think they’ve more to offer than the hit-and-miss parade of wannabe stars.

Intensive care should also be offered to the mixed bunch doing time on Celebrity Big Brother (Channel 5), whose bunker mentality spells TV boredom when they should be out having fun.

So it was good to see some glitz and glamour promised for the darker nights with Saturday’s launch of Strictly Come Dancing (BBC1) ahead of the main contest taking to the floor later in the month.

Away from the sparkle, Channel 4 jolts us back to today’s dangerous world in The Last Secret of 9/11 (Thursday). This two-parter looks at the legacy of the murderous attacks on the World Trade Centre 14 years ago, concluding with Friday’s The Twin Towers: the Missing Evidence.

Evidence of a different kind was used to great effect by J.B. Priestley in his classic thriller An Inspector Calls (BBC1, Sunday).

This firm favourite with generations of theatregoers now gets a new lease of life with David Thewlis in the title role, who calls unexpectedly on the wealthy Birling family to question them about the suicide of a young woman. As their world unravels, each member of the family is revealed to have unwittingly played a part in her demise . . . but all is not as seems.

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