British Programming

In the first episode of Call the Midwife's sixth season, there have been some unpleasant changes at Nonnatus House. Sister Mary Cynthia deals with lingering trauma, the patient of the week undergoes her own traumatic experiences, and some of the Nonnatus staff hit major life landmarks.

As Victoria enters the final weeks of her pregnancy and Victoria the final episode of its first season, the Queen feels cooped up and stifled. What dangers lurk on the streets of London -- or worse, amongst Victoria's own family? 

The palace is embracing change, as Victoria copes with a pregnancy, Albert and Sir Peel tout locomotives, and Francatelli and Skerrett innovate in the kitchen.

Folk contraceptive methods, forbidden romances, an outbreak of plague, squabbles over court hierarchy, noble oration: this episode's got it all. 

Victoria and Albert's relationship hits some bumps. Mainly because Albert doesn't want to be dependent on Victoria, and so demands a large allowance. It also doesn't help that Victoria is learning how many extramarital affairs occur at court.

Victoria and Albert are slowly overcoming their dislike of each other and growing closer. This episode is a literal bodice-ripper, a classic opposites-attract story. Too bad Albert is a bit of a prig-Victoria's word, not mine.

Numerous suitors are competing for Victoria's attention, while various people at court-her uncles, Sir John, her mother-try to influence her towards one or another in order to gain more power. Victoria's relationship with Melbourne deepens and becomes more complex.

This finale is intense, and entirely unprecedented and unexpected. It provides a moral summation of the entire show, and everything that came before can be fitted in, both plotwise and in terms of the message. 

No one believes the 18-year-old Victoria can be Queen without help: not the bewhiskered statesmen of Parliament nor her mother and her friends. Only Lord Melbourne supports Victoria's independence. And she's going to fight for it.

It’s all in the title, folks. Don’t ever trust anything Sherlock does or says. The latest episode of Sherlock may as well be a soap opera, with its crazy media star, a cocaine habit, an estranged evil sibling, a ghost of a deceased character, and a near-suicide.

The first episode of Season 4 of Sherlock features a significant birth and a shocking death, as well as some secret agent-style thrills. Oh, and we still don't know what's up with Moriarty.