Winter, Seven, 9pm

A perfect solution for those suffering from insomnia, this crime drama caused my melatonin levels to rise so quickly  I found myself daydreaming a Transformer had become our new prime minister. Starring Rebecca Gibney, who is a fantastic actress, this sadly bored the pants off me. Gibney plays Detective Sergeant Eve Winter, one of those classic “strong female characters”, which means she wears a lot of grey and must juggle her personal and professional life. Along with Detective Inspector Lachlan Mackenzie, played by Peter O’Brien, they  solve a murder. However, if you’re inclined to watch you’ll find that Eve’s sister Melanie, who is a psychologist, uses hypnosis to try to  unlock a key witness’ memory – the same person, Eve later discovers, whose life is in danger. Cue the race against time to get her into protective custody. Lachlan, meanwhile, is doing the horizontal folk dance with deputy DDP Tammy Davis. It’s funny how a show such as Broadchurch  is a genre-changer, while Winter feels at times like a few too many crime drama cliches have been thrown in a pot together. 
White Collar One, 7.30pmSnazzy but forgettable, White Collar is yet another concept crime series from the US – Neal Caffrey, a skilled con artist, runs out of luck and at the end of his latest jail sentence is offered a deal from FBI agent Peter Burke to work with him, helping Burke capture white collar crims just like Neal. Twist! Neal hasn’t heard from The Panthers (his friends) in a few days and is concerned that someone has turned on him or they have cut him out of their deal. On the FBI side, the algorithm Neal stole is being used by the good guys to determine that the Panthers are going to target something at San Francisco airport. This show doesn’t compare to the likes of Mad Men or 30 Rock, but it deserves better than to be shunted off to One. The best thing going for it  is the fact it stars quite possibly the most handsome man I’ve ever seen, Matt Bomer. If you appreciate gentle drama and amazing cheek bones, this is the show for you.

Walking Through History, SBS One, 7.30pm

Host Tony Robinson (no, not the motivational one) goes on a bunch of walks throughout Britain, strolling through historic places where epic stories of the past occurred. It’s better than it sounds.
Alana Schetzer

PAY TV

Justified, FX, 8.30pm

The casualty list gets longer by the week, but Justified still has plenty of old and wonderfully drawn characters that it can throw back into the action at a moment’s notice. Among them is Constable Bob Sweeney (Patton Oswalt), whois one of the least intimidating blobs of blancmange ever poured into a polyester uniform. Part goodol’ boy, part Star Wars nerd, he looks up to US Marshal RaylanGivens (Timothy Olyphant), and he can prove useful when Raylan needs something done off the books. Tonight Raylan needs him to help unofficially apprehend the terrified Ava (Joelle Carter), who has done a runner and is likely to get herself killed or incarcerated. Bob is thrilled to be involved (‘‘That girl could make a dog break its chain!’’) but it won’t be easy now that Ava is involved with the menacing Limehouse (Mykelti Williamson) and his flunky Errol (Demetrius Grosse). Great fun.

Brad Newsome

MOVIES

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Fox Classics (pay TV), 8.35pm

In this tender and funny look at the resilience of the human heart and soul, Elliot (Michael Caine) is married to Hannah (Mia Farrow), but has eyes for her sister, Lee (Barbara Hershey), who lives with a gloomy painter, Frederick (Max Von Sydow): ‘‘You missed a very dull TV show on Auschwitz. More gruesome film clips and more puzzled intellectuals declaring their mystification over the systematic murder of millions. The reason they can never answer the question, ‘How could it possibly happen?’ is that it’s the wrong question. Given what people are, the question is, ‘Why doesn’t it happen more often?’’’ Hannah’s other sister, Holly (Dianne Wiest), is struggling on almost every level, made worse by a date from hell with a world-weary television producer, Mickey (Woody Allen). The film begins and ends at Thanksgiving dinners celebrated with Hannah’s parents. A fading and feisty theatrical pair, they are two of Allen’s greatest screen creations, Maureen O’Sullivan (Mia’s real-life mum) revelling in the part of a hard-drinking seductress a little past her prime, while Lloyd Nolan does a superb job of playing a man based on Australia’s greatest film director, John Farrow (Mia’s real-life dad). In his many films questioning whether life has meaning,  Allen, as director, usually decides in the affirmative, in this case with Mickey becoming reinvigorated by watching a Marx Brothers comedy, in tender homage to Preston Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels. Like Sturges’ Sullivan, a  director of comedies who decides to quit the movies to understand how the oppressed live, Allen began as a comedy director but shifted, to the chagrin of many fans, to more serious works. Hannah and Her Sisters is a supreme merging of the two Woody Allens.

Caddie (1976), ABC, 1am (Thursday)

A touching, sweet Australian film from Donald Crombie, with an incandescent Helen Morse as a lone woman finding her way in the Depression. Impossible to resist.
Scott Murray