Vera

It’s a time of beginnings and endings. Brenda begins a new series of nononsense Geordie detective Vera on Sunday (at 9pm on ITV ).

This first episode is a classic whodunnit. Every single person who wanders across the screen will have you shouting ‘I knew it! It’s them!’ until they are supplanted in your suspicions by the next obvious murderer.

There’s an elegantly woven subtext about regret and second thoughts going on, but what you’ll remember from this episode is its almost unbearably tense heart-in-mouth finale.

When I reached over to switch off after the preview had ended, I noticed little half-moon impressions that my nails had left in my hand. Me. A cynical critic. Goodness only knows what it’ll do to you gentler souls.

More tension on ITV as The Americans concludes its splendid run (at 9.45pm on Saturday). There’s a second series coming, but that doesn’t mean any of the series regulars are safe. There’s definitely a trap in wait for our two deep-cover Russian agents. But is the trap they’re walking into the one that they think they’re walking into?

The season finale unravels a few plot threads, only to knot a few others together. The series began with a terrific musical montage set to Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk. Peter Gabriel’s Games Without Frontiers may be a slightly more obvious choice to end on, but it’s equally effective.

NOT TO BE MISSED

Dragons’ Den (BBC Two, Sunday, 8pm)
The reality show it’s OK to watch, Dragons’ Den  is the same addictive mix of ingenuity, emotion and out-and-out silliness.

Boom Town (BBC Three, Wednesday, 10pm)
Boom Town’s self-styled eccentrics act the giddy goat. It’s ridiculous, but still quite funny.

Big School (BBC One, Friday, 9pm)
David Walliams’s staffroom comedy is tremendously old-fashioned and daft. It has a terrific cast and they make the sitcom a fine, if somewhat retro, comedy.