Whitechapel series 3 with Rupert Penry-Jones PREVIEW

Phil Davis, Rupert Penry-Jones and Steve Pemberton. Pics: ITV

Rating ★★★

ITV1, from Monday, 30 January, 9pm

Story: When four people are slaughtered at night at a fortified tailor’s workshop, the East End is gripped with fear and panic at this seemingly impossible and gruesome crime.

Gothic cop show Whitechapel is now haunted by the ghosts of series past, having already featured the most notorious East End killers of Jack the Ripper and the Krays in series one and two.

'So what's this one then?' says the ghoulish amateur criminologist Edward Buchan. 'Dr Crippen?'

No, not Crippen, who did not operate within the sound of Bow Bells. Instead, the series is overstretching its unlikely but previously popular premise by unearthing the little-known Ratcliffe Highway Murders, committed near Wapping 200 years ago.

Steve Pemberton as Buchan

Legendary bogeymen
Putting aside the daftness of detectives who only ever chase copycat killers recreating notorious historical crimes, Whitechapel now throws in everything from Charles Manson to flashes of a man apparently scrambling fly-like on a ceiling to inject some chills and mystery.

While Rupert Penry-Jones, Phil Davis and Steve Pemberton are back holding the fright-fest together, the show's straining to evoke legendary bogeymen with ever more convoluted hysteria in this opening story, the first of three two-part mysteries.

Murder obsessive  Buchan – played with relish by Pemberton – is in horror heaven when DI Chandler (Penry-Jones) puts him in charge of the Met's centuries old archive of past cases. The theme of these new stories is that Buchan, Chandler and DS Miles (Davis) can use the historical crimes to solve similar modern-day ones.

'I saw the devil walking in Whitechapel'
So when four people are murdered in a fortress-like tailor's premises, Buchan in the basement of the nick (actually Hornsey Town Hall) recalls the Ratcliffe Highway killings. He can also reel off the inadequacies of the Bow Street Runners and the suicide of suspect John Williams (buried on the junction of Commercial Road and Cannon Street Road with a stake through his heart), while working in theories about modern American killers Charles Manson and Richard Farley.

Rupert Penry-Jones as DI Chandler

Writers Caroline Ip and Ben Court still have fun with the horrid history – autopsies carried out in pubs et cetera – and also try to humanise lonely, fastidious Chandler and Miles, whose wife is ill, but the formula is really giving up the ghost this time.

A prisoner escaping from a sealed cell, the phantom on the ceiling, the instant East End hysteria and talk of devils walking the street. It's too fanciful and confusing to be much more terrifying than a Halloween costume.

Thames Torso Mysteries
The next instalment invokes the Thames Torso Mysteries of 1887-89, and serial killers Mary Ann Cotton, Mary Wilson, the Lonely Hearts Killers, HH Holmes, and even the Marquis de Sade, while story three somehow references the Zodiac Killer, the 1940s US murderer known as The Phantom, Mutsuo Toi…

That's quite enough. Too many crooks have spoiled the shock.

Cast: Rupert Penry-Jones DI Joseph Chandler, Phil Davis DS Ray Miles, Steve Pemberton Edward Buchan, Ben Bishop DC Finley Mansell, Sam Stockman DC Emerson Kent, Claire Rushbrook Dr Llewellyn, Hannah Walters DC Megan Riley

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Luck – Dustin Hoffman PREVIEW

Rating: ★★★★½

Sky Atlantic, February

It's HBO, written by Deadwood creator David Milch, directed by Michael Mann and stars Dustin Hoffman. This tale of the racetrack and revenge is as close to a dead cert as you can get.

So, is it as good as the formbook suggests? While the opener is sprawling and low on action from Hoffman's story as Ace Bernstein, the mover and shaker just released from prison, it is a great-looking episode full of dodgy characters and rich storylines.

It's also superbly cast with characterful actors rather than the buffed human mannequins that fill shows such as CSI and Desperate Housewives. Hoffman and Dennis Farina as his driver/partner Gus  have obviously lived a little, while a quartet of desperate gamblers look the part too, led by oxygen-chugging wheelchair-bound Marcus, played by Kevin Dunn.

Nick Nolte and Michael Gambon
There's a stammering agent nicknamed Porky Pig (Richard Kind) and Nick Nolte's white-whiskered Walter, who has got hold of a horse he thinks will be great.

It also looks terrific, filmed at beautiful Santa Anita Park in California, all palm trees and hazy mountain backdrop, which Michael Mann fills with terrific action, pitching the viewer into the middle of races so that the jockeys' butts are right in our face at times.

We meet Ace as he is being picked up by Gus from three years inside, apparently having the rap for some other people. The thread going through episode one is that Gus has been set up with a horse owner's licence as a front to distance Ace from a prized horse, which is part of some kind of revenge Ace is plotting.

Romance, betrayal and power
But there is much else going on as the starting pistol sets multiple plotlines in motion, involving romance, betrayal and power. The broken-down quartet of gamblers have a huge win, but will there be a fallout? Porky Pig, or Joey Rathburn as the character is really called, seems to suspect that Walter has a secret winner. And jockey Goose is distrusted by Ace's trainer Escalante for having a big mouth.

And this is before menacing Michael Gambon even turns up as an adversary of Ace's in later episodes.

Just as The Wire could take a while before viewers got into its groove, Luck is all about half-baked conversations, snippets of chat that bear fruit later on. Audiences will need to stick with it.

People will say Luck is doing for horse racing what Mad Men did for advertising men blah blah, but what is more interesting is that the racing fraternity has given writer-producer David Milch an edgy world to delve into. And it's one he knows about, having been a horse player and thoroughbred owner.

Another drama as well made as this, in which people's lives turn on the result of a horse race, has to be worth a punt.

Cast: Dustin Hoffman Chester 'Ace' Bernstein, Dennis Farina Gus, Nick Nolte Walter Smith, John Ortiz Turo Escalante, Kevin Dunn Marcus, Richard Kind Joey Rathburn

Season 1 Trailer

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Prisoners' Wives – Jonas Armstrong, Emma Rigby PREVIEW

Polly Walker as sassy Francesca. Pics: BBC

Rating: ★★★★

BBC1, starts Tuesday, 31 January, 9pm

Story: 'I'm your dream ticket,' Steve tells his happy, young pregnant wife, Gemma – just before armed police smash down the front door and take him away on suspicion of murder. Though convinced of his innocence, Gemma is still pitched into a frightening new life as a prisoner's wife…

Where this week's other new crime series Inside Men (see below) is full of tension, thievery and shotguns, Prisoners' Wives has less action and is mainly about relationships under strain. It is an absorbing drama that veers away from plot twists and shocks in favour of believable characters whose lives are freefalling into turmoil.

Steve (Jonas Armstrong) and Gemma (Emma Rigby)

Written and created by Julie Gearey, the six-parter's opening episode introduces us to Gemma, who is young, happily married to Steve and pregnant. Her idyll is shattered along with her front door when heavily tooled up coppers smash into their home and arrest Steve for murder.

Gemma's shame and fear
'I swear, I don't know anything,' Steve tells her on her first visit to see him in prison. But why is Steve, who runs his own business, being held if there is no evidence, and why is there a two-hour gap in his alibi?

Inside Men starring Steven Mackintosh PREVIEW

Blag of nerves – honest John (Steven Mackintosh) steps up. Pic: BBC

Rating: ★★★★

BBC1, starts Thursday, 2 February, 9pm

Story: John Coniston manages a highly secure cash counting house. One day he finds himself in the middle of a terrifying, bloody armed robbery. Flash back to nine months earlier and John is confronting two employees he suspects to siphoning off £50,000. They expect boring, playsafe John to call the cops, but John offers them a way out…

Television is so obsessed with whodunits and police procedurals that it usually leaves the heist escapades to the movies.

Inside Men breaks that pattern with a intriguing character study of three guys who, because of their individual problems and insecurities, decide to step out of their comfort zones and risk everything by attempting a £15million robbery.

Steven Mackintosh, Ashley Walters and Warren Brown perfectly manage the haunted looks of the men saying no more Mr Nice Guy. This is a caper without geezers, just three beta males who want to be alpha.

Warren Brown and Kierston Wareing
Mackintosh plays the mouse-like John Coniston, manager of a cash counting house who looks like he's going to be sick every time a fiver goes missing. So desperate is he to maintain his generally unblemished monthly record at the staff bonus party that he replaces a missing £240 from his own wallet.

Sherlock 2013, more Luther and what about Endeavour?

• It's no surprise that Sherlock will be back, probably in 2013 owing to the movie commitments of the leads, Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek) and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit). The Beeb would surely come under siege if creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss hadn't promised (via Twitter) to reveal how on earth Sherlock defied death after jumping off that building in 'The Reichenbach Fall' last night (provoking furious arguments in my house, at least). The three 90-minute stories have fizzed with humour and ingenuity in updating Holmes, clocking up 8-9million viewers a time, and it would be a crime of Moriarty proportions if the series had been cancelled now.

• CrimeTimePreview has been bombarded with thousands of hits since Endeavour went out on ITV1, with all but one of the comments saying it was terrific. Inevitably, viewers have been saying ITV1 must turn it into a series. I've asked the channel what's happening and they say 'discussions on an editorial and practical level' have to be thrashed out before a decision is announced. But if Scott & Bailey can be recommissioned, surely the Morse prequel is a shoo-in.
• Meanwhile, ITV1 have announced a five-parter called Mrs Biggs, about the wife of train robber Ronnie Biggs. Ironically, Charmian fell for Ronnie as a teenager travelling on a train. Money worries eventually forced Biggs to ask for a loan from an old friend, who turned out to Bruce Reynolds, at that moment planning one of the most famous crimes in British history – the Great Train Robbery of 1963.
• The BBC has decided to do another series of the rather so-so Death in Paradise and rather edgier Luther. With Idris Elba picking up a Golden Globe last night for his screen-filling performance as the  crazed detective, Luther's return was only to be expected.
• But no news on Garrow's Law! Come on, BBC. The show doesn't deserve m'lud's noose just yet.

Sons of Anarchy series 4 PREVIEW

The boys are back in town – Clay and the gang are released. Pics: C5

Rating ★★★★

5USA, from Wednesday, 18 January, 10pm

Story: The gang is released from jail and, despite a warning from the new sheriff, set about reigniting their criminal links with the Russians. In their private lives, however, Clay, Opie and Jax face new challenges and commitments…

5USA is the UK network that is the little-known hangout of some sharp and earthy American shows, such as Justified, Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy.

It's worth venturing down this mean little channel for crime series that are a world away from the usual police procedurals and whodunits (though it has a fair helping of CSIs and NCISs too).

Road rage – the gang with scores to settle

This month 5USA welcomes back the biker opera for another brutal, though well-acted, series. Clay and the imprisoned SAMCRO members (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original) leave prison after 14 months for weapons charges.

New lawman in Charming
Riding back into Charming they are greeted by the new sheriff in town, or lieutenant anyway, Eli Roosevelt. He gives a warning to the gang, who then immediately reestablish links with the gun-running Russians. Clay also vows to sabotage the mayor's new housing project, Charming Heights.

Luck starring Dustin Hoffman

Coming to Sky Atlantic in February is this terrific-looking new HBO series. Luck stars Dustin Hoffman as Chester 'Ace' Bernstein, a gambler just released from a stretch inside who wants revenge against the guys who put him there. It's directed by Michael Mann and also stars Nick Nolte, Michael Gambon and Dennis Farina (who also appeared in Mann's 80s series Crime Show). To top it off, it's written by David Milch, a horse-racing obsessive who also wrote on Hill Street Blues and Deadwood. Sounds a dead cert.

Mad Dogs series 2 PREVIEW

All at sea – Max Beesley, John Simm, Marc Warren and Philip Glenister. Pics: BSKYB

Rating: ★★★★

Sky1, from Thursday, 19 January, 9pm

Story: Woody, Baxter and Rick are about to drive off and leave their mate Quinn in the Majorca villa to continue his life there. Then they spot the partner in crime of Spanish cop Maria arriving, and Baxter applies the brakes to their car…

It's lovely to see the 'four herberts' back on their holiday from hell. Woody, Baxter, Rick and Quinn should  know better than to indulge in extreme sports at their age, particularly those involving murder and the theft of £3million in stolen drug money, but happily they're taking to it again like leaping lemmings.

Mad Dogs 2 picks up exactly where the first stopped – with Woody, Rick and Baxter in their car about to flee from the villa of Alvo, the dodgy old 'mate' they'd been visiting who came to a bloody end. Maria, the bent Spanish cop, is still floating in the pool and Quinn is there with her, having shot her.

When the three in the car see Maria's corrupt partner Dominic turning up, they stop, unsure whether to leave Quinn to it or help him. Needless to say, they get dragged back into the madness.

Always looking over their shoulder – Baxter and Rick

Starting over with stolen drug money
Once again it's a pleasure to watch John Simm, Marc Warren, Philip Glenister and Max Beesley at each other's throats. The series was originally made because they wanted a project they could all work together on, and it's easy to see why.

Mad Dogs has fun playing these actors against type. John Simm often portrays miserable, angry types, but here he is meeker and vulnerable. His character even comforts Quinn when he is in shock after shooting the policewoman. Marc Warren is clueless and uncool, and Max Beesley gets the chance to act.

There's an element of the Coen brothers here as the four ordinary Joes are way out of their depth, rushing off to Ibiza with the £3million in drug cash they were going to leave behind, but which Woody has slipped into the boot of their getaway car.

Out-smarting the gangsters?
And like the best Coen brothers films, events unfold with dimwitted, greedy simplicity as the guys, who include a teacher and would-be antiques dealer among their number, try to play in the gangster league. The trouble is, they're about as like mad dogs as Scrappy Doo.

Law & Order: UK with Paul Nicholls, Bradley Walsh PREVIEW

Paul Nicholls and Bradley Walsh. Pics: ITV

Rating: ★★★★

ITV1, from Friday, 6 January, 9pm

Story: In a drive-by shooting outside the Old Bailey, DS Matt Devlin is killed and another officer hit by gunfire. It appears to be a targeted attack on a young witness giving evidence in an attempted murder trial. But then DS Sam Casey learns the gunman was targeting police officers.

Paul Nicholls puts in a decent shift as Bradley Walsh's new sidekick as season six gets off to an emotionally charged start following the shooting of Matt Devlin (Jamie Bamber) in the previous series' cliffhanger.

He plays detective sergeant Sam Casey, brought in to help with the investigation into Devlin's shooting outside the Old Bailey in a drive-by killing. Brooks is devastated by seeing his partner shot. He gets off to a rocky start with Casey when the new man tells him not to jeopardise the investigation by interfering when he should be off duty recovering.

Justice league – the Law & Order: UK team

Ronnie Brooks turns 'Robocop'
Streetwise Brooks, of course, ignores the advice and is slammed by his boss, Chandler, for turning 'Robocop'.

Devlin was hit in what was thought to be an attack on a young witness giving evidence in an attempted murder trial. But Casey tracks down a suspect, student Jamal, and it appears he could have been targeting police officers.

The strength of this spin-off from the US series is that the cases are often realistic in their messiness and ambiguity. Here, the defence barrister (Paul Salmon) argues that Jamal is the victim of police racism, a claim helped by Brooks' misguided interference. As Jamal's true motivation becomes apparent,  prosecutors Jake and Alesha are not sure they can get him convicted of murder.

Endeavour with Shaun Evans PREVIEW

Shaun Evans as Endeavour Morse. Pics: ITV

Rating ★★★★½

ITV1, Monday, 2 January, 9pm

Story: 1965. A schoolgirl is missing in Oxford. A young detective constable is drafted in from the anonymous Midlands new town where he is stationed to help with the investigation because he knows the Oxford area. It is a case that will shape Endeavour Morse's life and career.

He only ever used to be known as Morse, the detective finally revealing his christian name after Inspector Morse had been on air for 10 years in 1997. Now as everyone knows, Morse was named after Captain Cook's ship HMS Endeavour and the moniker can be plastered all over this impressive two-hour prequel.

John Thaw

The much-loved original, which ran for 33 episodes from 1987-2000, starred John Thaw as Morse and Kevin Whately as his sidekick, Lewis, setting the standard for UK police procedurals. Thaw died relatively young at 60 in 2002, and while Lewis, of course, is still with us, the temptation to resurrect Morse somehow was too good to let slip away.

Shaun Evans and Roger Allam
This much anticipated new mystery is a scandal on a suitably large scale, involving bent cops, murder and a corrupt government minister. The cast – including Shaun Evans as Morse and Roger Allam as his boss/mentor DI Fred Thursday – are actors who bring depth to the lead roles, and the period setting is understated. And for Morse fans, the hero's background is fleshed out well.

The young Endeavour is called on to assist in an investigation into the disappearance of 15-year-old schoolgirl because he is familiar with Oxford, where he did Greats but didn't finish his degree. DS Arthur Lott makes it clear to Morse and his fellow draftees that they are there to 'take up the slack', do the grunt work, and leave the detecting to him and Thursday.

Morse and Thursday

But Morse immediately stands out as a serious-minded detective with a questioning nature – which sets him at odds with Lott. It is Morse who works out that the missing teenager had a lover who was communicating with her through crosswords in the local paper. 'Codswallop,' says Lott, but Morse is proved right.