The State We're In? Gabriel Byrne Convinces as PM

'Secret State' (Channel 4) is the best political thriller of the last ten years. Brilliant casting; Gabriel Byrne as a conscientious and progressive Prime Minister Tom Dawkins thrust into Office after the mysterious death of his predecessor in a plane crash, Gina McKee as the tenacious investigative journalist uncovering links to Big Oil and a chemical explosion that killed 19 in a Northern town, Rupert Graves as the duplicitous (or treasonous) Home Secretary, Charles Dance as the dependable Parliamentary ‘Chief Whip’ and Ireland's own Ruth Negga as an compassionate GCHQ 'listener'. This is tight, tense, bare-knuckle ride TV 'based on' (i.e. with Chris Mullin's permission) the incomparable 'A Very British Coup', itself one of the outstanding dramas of the (gulp!) 1980s which was a formative influence on 'thetvreviewguy's' political leanings. In 'Secret State', the 'conspiracy' has been updated and while various netpickers (a word this reviewer has just coined, hopefully) have pointed out that a Prime Minister and the Head of a Multinational Bank ('Royal Caledonian' - hmm, wonder who that could be?) would be unlikely to have a meeting in the middle of Downing Street, this is still fiction, albeit one that seems very close to the bone at times. Gabriel Byrne starred in another terrific conspiracy thriller as lead in 'Defence of the Realm', here he shows himself to be 'Primus Inter Pares' when it comes to playing the role of honourable man being pursued by dark forces. Channel 4 make a huge amount of terrible TV but sometimes they'll produce a gem like this; 'Secret State' is a shining jewel among a lot of trash.

Know Wot I Mean 'Arry?

'Harry & Paul' (BBC2), now in its fourth series, is an amiable low-key sketch show featuring two of the greatest mimics and character inventors from the last 25 years. Yes, Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse are still making 'thetvreviewguy' chortle, snigger and occasionally keel over in admiration at their comedy/art. The ensemble cast goes over some of the older sketches - 'I Saw You Coming' is a Primrose Hill mark-up antique merchant that is all too common, the 'Dragons Den' parody is still really funny. Enfield and Whitehouse were never political comedians; they just want to make people laugh. Hat-tip to Laura Salon who has a face, if not quite a name you'll recognise (but you will shortly). There's an element of the two comics coasting it for some of the sketches but, in fairness, they're both coming from such a high level that 'thetvreviewguy' is prepared to indulge them; Harry and Paul have reached middle-age having accomplished so much that it would be churlish to expect 'zingers' with every joke and every sketch. On the downside, there's a bit of the worst of 'Private Eye' misanthropy about some of Enfield's humour - on the upside, his eye for eccentricity or the absurd is still pretty good. Definitely worth a look and you'll probably get a good laugh out of it too.

Celebrity Diversions

'I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!' (ITV) is this Autumn's escapist trash and there's no point being too superior about it as 'thetvreviewguy' can't defend this rubbish intellectually; he will just agree with you. Whatever it is about IACGMOOH, the 2012 take are living up/down to most expectations. It's a total switch off from the cruddy news out there and while Ant N Dec (Caitlin Moran says that you can tell them apart because Ant is the one that looks like an Ant) show no sign of growing old gracefully, they do provide light relief in these dire times. Now 'thetvreviewguy' does not enjoy the Bush Tucker trials as much as some viewers and wouldn't keep voting that poor girl Helen in but he does enjoy the silliness of it all. As for the Nadine Dorries controversy, well as long as she's a good sport and plays the game, it's no skin off his nose that an MP from Westminster is far removed from her constituents. The 'celebrity' nature of IACGMOOH is always elastic; never heard of him, who is she? There's also a moral on the transitory nature of fame; Colin Baker was once 'Dr Who', for goodness sake and Limahl also used to be a massive star. But in the Jungle, you're brought back down to earth pretty damn quickly. Even winning the contest doesn't really kick-start or re-boot a career but it does provide the viewing public with some mindless entertainment. And it beats the Hell out of X Factor etc in being able to take the piss out of itself.

Force of Nature - Sandy's Devestation

'Hurricane Sandy; Anatomy of a Superstorm' (BBC2) hit nearly all of the marks that any summary-style documentary should. This was an excellent piece of work, made less than a month since a 'perfect storm' smashed into the US Eastern Seaboard. From the early warning from the weather guys, the preparedness of the men and women working on the Subway and transport system, to the response of the NYFD, the BBC2 programme covered nearly all the angles (just missing Mayor Bloomberg's endorsement of Obama as a significant after-effect of Sandy). There were the human tragedies, people being drowned in their own homes - there were tales of miraculous escapes, of how Breezy Point was utterly devastated by a firestorm caused by electrical faults yet, astonishingly, there were no fatalities there. Some of the images were remarkable; the flooded underground system submerged in flood water, electrical stations exploding spectacularly, boats launched onto railway lines. Wall Street closed down for the first time since 9-11 and if it hadn't been for the evacuation plans, the fatalities in New York alone could have been in the hundreds or thousands. The programme showed how a first world country can catch a break with these events when it has time to prepare for the gathering storm (proportionately, more people were killed and more damage caused in Caribbean). It reminded us all how vulnerable we all are to Mother Nature.