TV TONIGHT: Thursday 2 January - 'Birds Of A Feather', 'PQ17: An Arctic Convoy Disaster', 'Silent Witness'

TV Tonight: Do We Need This Comedy Reunion?

Ok, so we know there's no 'Sherlock' on for at least another week - oh, these are happy days - but there are a few things on TV tonight that might tickle you. Here are our picks...

Birds Of A Feather - 8.30pm, ITV

The jury is very much out on whether reuniting a successful TV comedy cast is a good thing. For every 'Still Open All Hours' which stole the Boxing Day ratings, there's an 'Ab Fab' debacle.

15 years after they packed their shell suits away, Essex's most loved, Tracey, Sharon and Dorien, are back on our screens and, if the jokes are a little... un-cutting edge, the chemistry is at least intact.

The ladies have reinvented themselves to varying degrees, with - guess who - Dorien providing the surprises. The good/bad news, people... this isn't a one-off, it's the beginning of a new six-part series!

VOTE: Is a comedy return a good or a bad thing? Let us know your thoughts!

PQ17: An Arctic Convoy Disaster - 9pm, BBC2

Jeremy Clarkson delivers this awe-inspiring documentary about how a convoy of 35 ships on a wartime mission to deliver essential goods to the Soviet Union became one of the biggest naval disasters of the 20th century. The best part of this... the survivors' accounts, that leave EVEN Clarkson struggling to find his voice.

Silent Witness - 9pm, BBC

Guess how many series of this procedural have sat comfortably in this primetime slot? Yes, that's right... 17, including tonight's return. To borrow horribly from Shirley Bassey, how do they keep the mortuary music playing? My guess is by keeping the best bits unchanged - the quiet, methodical ponderings on the slab - while tweaking the lineup to inject new 'life' into proceedings. Tonight, there's a new boss on the block, pathologist Thomas Chamberlain (actor Richard Lintern), who breezily announces he's there to "replace" the late, loved Prof Leo Dalton. Them's big, freezer bag-covered shoes to fill, which explains the frosty reception he gets from Dr Nikki and the team. Something tells me this might thaw over 10 episodes.

What SHOULD we be watching? Let us know your picks if we've missed one!

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