TV & streaming: The best shows to catch this week

Check out Stuart Chandler's top shows to catch on TV or streaming during the next seven days.
Top Gear is back for its 25th series this week.Top Gear is back for its 25th series this week.
Top Gear is back for its 25th series this week.

Top Gear, Sunday, BBC Two, 8pm

Top Gear Series 25 sees Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris, Rory Reid and The Stig return to your screens, with guest appearances from Sabine Schmitz and Eddie Jordan.

Six, hour-long episodes, see the team tackling the big issues like building the world’s fastest tractor and attempting to land a NASA research plane in America’s ultimate muscle car. Filmed in locations including Japan, USA, Portugal, Italy and just outside of Guildford, expect Top Gear’s trademark array of stunning photography, state-of-the-art supercars and celebrity guests.

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In the first episode, the boys head to America’s Wild West to test out three new V8 sports cars: the McLaren 570GT, Jaguar F-Type SVR and a very powerful Ford Mustang.

Journeying across beautiful Utah, the boys attempt to outrun the law on a moonshine run, try their hand at NASCAR, and visit the fastest racetrack in the world. Rob Brydon is this week’s studio guest, the British comedian attempting to set a blistering time in the Reasonably Fast Car.

BBC iPlayer: Keeping faith

Lawyer, wife and mother Faith Howells is drawn into a mystery when her husband and business partner Evan disappears. His sudden absence strikes deep into the heart of his tiny Welsh community and forces Faith to come back from extended maternity leave to defend a vagrant on shoplifting charges.

BBC III: This Country

The acclaimed mockumentary series returns, exploring life in a typical Cotswold village. Kerry has turned over a new leaf and is trying to give back to her community. Meanwhile, Kerry’s cousin Kurtan is coming to terms with his decision not to go to Swindon College - and is struggling to get back in to the swing of village life.

Sky Box Sets: The Strain Seasons 1-4

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At last the final season of vampire horror thriller The Strain reaches UK television. What will happen to the survivors of the unimaginable which ended season three? There’s also the chance for newbies to catch up on the whole bloody story in one glorious box set dump.

Amazon Instant Video: The Bold Type

The Bold Type reveals a glimpse into the outrageous lives and loves of those responsible for the global women’s magazine Scarlet. The rising generation of Scarlet women leans on one another as they find their own voices in a sea of intimidating leaders.

ITV Hub: Code of a Killer

Drama telling the true story of how a brilliant scientist and a pioneering detective united to create the most significant advance in modern criminal investigation.

Netflix: The Good Place

Fantasy comedy. Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell), is a woman who wakes up in the afterlife and is introduced by Michael (Ted Danson) to “The Good Place”, a Heaven-like utopia he designed, in reward for her righteous life.

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She realises that she was sent there by mistake and must hide her morally imperfect behaviour and try to become a better person.

Sky Cinema: The Mummy (2017, Sky 15)

Tom Cruise steps into boots last worn by Brendan Fraser and squares up against ancient Egyptian evil. He plays Nick Morton, a renegade US soldier with a lucrative sideline in stealing precious antiquities – an extracurricular activity that gets him in all sorts of trouble when he stumbles across the tomb of undead sorceress Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella).

Awoken from her slumber, Ahmanet sets her sights on retrieving a dagger hidden in England, stabbing poor Nick with it and then, as you do, unleashing the terrifying power of the devil. Russell Crowe supplies A-list support as a reinvented Dr Jekyll.

Sky Cinema On Demand and Sky Cinema Premiere from Saturday.