Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman’s modern take on Sherlock Holmes

TV editor Lyndall Crisp selects Sherlock as her pick of the week on free-to-air.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in Sherlock.

TV editor Lyndall Crisp selects Sherlock as her pick of the week on free-to-air.

Sherlock

Sunday, 8.40pm, ABC

Loosely based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, the first of three episodes from season one (made in 2010) of this award-winning series takes us back to when John Watson (Martin Freeman, Lester Nygaard in Fargo), an ex-army doctor injured in Afghanistan, first meets Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game).

They share a flat owned by Mrs Hudson (Una Stubbs) at 221B Baker Street in London. The brilliant but eccentric fictional detective with the uncanny skills debuted in print in 1887 and featured in four novels and 56 short stories. This television adaptation — now in its fourth season — has him using a mobile phone, GPS and the internet to solve puzzling crimes.

Here, in A Study in Pink, Holmes and Watson set out to find the truth behind what appear to be four suicides. The latest is a woman dressed in pink found in a derelict house. Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade (Rupert Graves) is Scotland Yard’s finest, but he’s not too proud to call on Holmes’s genius to unravel the mystery.

While the producers have had problems corralling such high-profile actors for a new series, fans will be pleased to know that filming is scheduled to begin this month on a special to be shown next Christmas. In this series, Cumberbatch wears a £1000 ($1900) Belstaff coat, but word is the cast will revert to Victorian clobber for the Christmas show.

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Cathedrals of Culture

Saturday, 4pm, SBS One

There are no cathedrals in this six-part documentary on outstanding buildings, made by leading international filmmakers and produced by German filmmaker Wim Wenders. Instead it focuses on architectural stunners such as the Berliner Philharmonie; the Oslo Opera House; the 19th-century National Library of Russia in St Petersburg; the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California; and Norway’s Halden Prison. This episode, made by Brazilian filmmaker Karim Ainouz, looks at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers in 1977, the unusual inside-outside building houses art galleries, libraries, performance spaces, cinemas, a restaurant and a viewing platform. The visuals are terrific but the narration by the building itself is a bit twee. “When I was new, people stopped in shock,” says the Pompidou (actually the director of the Design Museum, London, Deyan Sudjic).

Antiques Roadshow

Saturday, 7.30pm, Gem

Proving that most people live in hope of owning a treasure, this British show — copied around the world — began in 1974 and is in its 37th season. This episode, from the 34th season, sees host Fiona Bruce and the team examining some of the objects brought to Hartland Abbey in Devon by people wanting to know more about their provenance and value. Perhaps the most fascinating item is the World War II notebooks of a young plane spotter who may have witnessed the flight in which Glenn Miller died on December 15, 1944, over the English Channel.

Danger 5

Saturday, 9.20pm, SBS Two

This wacky take on World War II follows a team of five super spies — Jackson, Tucker, Claire, Pierre and Ilsa — whose raison d’etre is to kill Hitler. In I Danced for Hitler, the first of six episodes, Claire poses as a dancer at Hitler’s birthday party. If you are so inclined, you could watch the whole series which ends at 11.50pm with Final Victory.

Facing Ali

Saturday, 9.30pm, ABC2

Made in 2009, this documentary uses archival footage and interviews with 10 of Muhammad Ali’s rivals in a tribute to probably the world’s most famous fighter. Born Cassius Clay, Ali, now 72 and suffering from Parkinson’s disease, remains the only three-time lineal world heavyweight champion (1964, 1974, 1978). Former opponents such as Sonny Liston,
George Chuvalo, Henry Cooper, George Foreman and “Smokin’ ” Joe Frazier share their memories.

The Green Room With Paul Provenza

Saturday, 10.35pm, SBS One

Actor and director Paul Provenza (The Aristocrats) gathers a panel of stand-up comedians around a table and just lets them spark off each other. Matching wits tonight are Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond), Garry Shandling, Judd Apatow, Marc Maron and Bo Burnham. Except for Romano you may not have heard of them, but they’re top of their game and are certainly quick with the one-liners. Romano says early in his career seeing Bill Cosby’s conversational style of comedy was his inspiration, but he frets that as he ages he may not be so funny.

Tennis

Sunday, 1pm, Seven (QLD noon; SA 12.30pm; WA 10am)

This live coverage of the best of tennis kicks off with Canada up against the Czech Republic in the Hopman Cup at Perth Arena. The field includes World No 1 Serena Williams (US), defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France), Andy Murray (Britain), and Eugenie Bouchard (Canada). Nine top 20 players, including three top 10 women, will appear on court in Perth during the next week. To keep you on your toes, over on 7Two the Brisbane International starts at 2pm AEDT where a record eight Grand Slam champions are scheduled to compete at the Queensland Tennis Centre.

Prison Songs

Sunday, 9.35pm, SBS One

Talent crops up in the most unexpected places. Before Darwin’s Berrimah jail was decommissioned late last year, a film crew was given unprecedented access to hear some of the 800 inmates tell their stories through song. The result is surprising: beautiful voices reveal stories of lost years, regret and hope.

Bones

Monday, 8.30pm, Seven

Forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance “Bones” Brennan (Emily Deschanel) is tasked with identifying three body parts found in three locations. If only they had the skull. (That turns up in a most unusual way.) Facial recognition matches it to Randolph Fairbanks, a professor of psychology. Turns out any one of his students could have murdered him, but no. Pink hydrangeas that should have been blue lead the FBI to the perp. The series, now in its 10th season, is loosely based on the life and writings of novelist and forensic scientist Kathy Reichs.

Story Club

Wednesday, 10pm, ABC2

Here, some of Australia’s best raconteurs — comedians, journalists, novelists, poets and musicians — tell a live audience about their funniest, darkest, most embarrassing moments. Held at the Giant Dwarf Theatre in Sydney, the show is the brainchild of The Chaser team. In this, the premiere of the second season, Zoe Norton Lodge (The Checkout) talks about her grandparents “who hate each other very much” and practice “eternal contempt” after 50 years of marriage. Ian “Dicko” Dickson laments “selling out” by becoming a judge on a TV talent show. But he’s proud of pithy one-liners such as: “That voice, love, is a weapon of mass destruction.”

Lygon Street: Si parla Italiano

Thursday, 8.30pm, SBS One

Any foodie, particularly those mad for good coffee and pasta, can’t go past Lygon Street in Melbourne’s Carlton district. Thanks to many of the 150,000 Italians who arrived in Australia after World War II, their passion for Italian culture revolutionised the way we thought about food. Narrated by Anthony LaPaglia, this fascinating documentary gathers some of those immigrants, now in their 70s and 80s, to reminisce about the early days so far from home in a strange country.

Labyrinth

Thursday, 8.30pm, ABC

Based on the 2005 bestseller by Kate Mosse, this is two stories rolled into one. In 1209 in medieval France, teenager Alais Pelletier is given three books by her father to protect at all costs. Modern-day PhD graduate Alice Tanner, on a dig in the Pyrenees, discovers a hidden grave containing two skeletons and a mysterious ring. Could the parallel story-lines lead to the secret of the Holy Grail? Produced by Ridley Scott.