After a few patchy years, the ABC is developing quite the track record with local comedy. Last year was an absolute standout, delivering Please Like Me, Soul Mates, Black Comedy, Upper Middle Bogan and more. And this year gets off to a promising start with this new offering from Lawrence Leung. It's particularly gratifying because Leung is one of those writer/comics the national broadcaster took a bit of a punt on in 2009 with Choose Your Own Adventure, gave a second shot to a couple of years later with Unbelievable, and brought back here, starring in – and writing some episodes for – this terrific new series. Maximum Choppage also benefits, though, from being a much more collaborative process. The original idea – a kung fu spoof set in Sydney's Vietnamese heartland – was developed by Cabramatta filmmaker Timothy Ly, and he's remained involved in this production. The production team includes luminaries like Tony Ayres, with Sophie Miller as showrunner and comedy veteran Craig Melville directing, and there's the sense that the input of a number of like-minded people has helped raise this to a level above Leung's previous work. Which is not to say this is anything but silly. It's extremely silly. The chief villain – a Vietnamese gang boss – is Kai Le (say it out loud). He has a tattoo of Ky-lie on his chest, and fancies himself as a karaoke champ. Leung plays Simon Chan, who returns to his home in Cabramatta after three years at Marshall's Art School in Melbourne – with his entire community under the impression he's been studying at a martial arts school in Beijing. You get the picture. But the silliness is intelligently and delicately handled to maximise laughs, and there's something rather wonderful about a series that (a) so affectionately plays with an iconic Australian location and its distinctive quirks, and (b) has a cast that contains just three token whitefellas.

SILENT WITNESS
Series return
★★★½
Wednesday, February 25, 8.30pm, BBC First

The good news is, having shed most of its permanent cast, Silent Witness is now able to abandon the rather tortured interpersonal relations that have dominated recent seasons, and return to core business. That is, solving grisly and/or mysterious murders. Tonight's double ep kicks off with a move usually owned by US murder mysteries: the sniper taking expert pot-shots at unsuspecting strangers. From there a complex and rather disturbing whodunit unfolds and – again, in a welcome departure from recent Silent Witness style – there's rather less of the gratuitous gore we've become accustomed to. In fact, what this two-parter (both screen tonight) is most interested in is the psychology of dysfunctional relationships and there are satisfying parallels drawn between the victims, suspects and investigators. Also welcome is a guest appearance by Zoe Telford as DI De Frietas, lead police investigator. She makes a perfect sort of companion-character to Emilia Fox's Dr Alexander, with a buttoned-down toughness that speaks volumes. Indeed the casting across the board is excellent in this instalment, with a host of those terrific jobbing actors with which Britain is so blessed. They also have particularly strong material to work with, making this one of the most rewarding eps of this enduring series in a long time.

HOW WE GOT TO NOW
New series
★★★
Thursday, February 26, 9.30pm, ABC

Popular science author and media theorist Steve Johnson presents this affable documentary series exploring some of the great inventions of the past 200 years and drawing interesting connections between then and now. For instance, the discovery that cholera was transmitted through water lead to the science of sanitising and disinfecting water which in turn lead – eventually – to home swimming pools, and then the invention of the bikini. Also, to people actually learning to swim. It's a fun journey, with some hard science and history at its core.

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF MELBOURNE
Series return
★★★
Sunday, February 22, 8.30pm, Arena

Of course the promotional focus is all on the bitching and back-stabbing but what actually makes Real Housewives of Melbourne so much fun is that while it's certainly larger than life, most of these characters are also actually very likeable. Chyka Keebaugh, Gina Liano, and Janet Roach are all people you feel you'd rather enjoy having a cocktail with (Jackie and Lydia maybe not so much), and this season they're joined by two new girls, the deliciously-named Pettifleur Berenger and Gamble Breaux.

GRANTCHESTER 
New series
★★★½
Saturday, February 28, 8.30pm, ABC

Delightful new British period crime drama of the cosiest kind. Based on the novels by James Runcie, our hero is Anglican priest and former Scots Guard officer Sidney Chambers (James Norton, awfully easy on the eye) who decides to while away the time between cups of tea and writing sermons by teaming up with local copper DI Keating (Robson Green, also always worth watching) to solve murders. Like Midsomer, Grantchester already looks like one of those peaceful English villages that is actually perfectly lethal, but that's all part of the fun, as is the warm 1950s setting and the lovely chemistry between the two leads.

FOREVER
★★★½
Wednesday, February 25, 8.45pm, Nine

Less assuredly handled, this new crime drama-fantasy mash-up could have been a complete schemozzle. Fortunately, what on paper looks like a Frankenstein of a show is actually really great fun. Ioan Gruffudd (Hornblower, Fantastic Four) plays Henry Morgan, a doctor who, 200 years ago, died and then came back to life – and has been unable to die, or even age, ever since. It's Sherlock Holmes-meets-Silent Witness-meets-Highway to Heaven, delivered with considerable affection, verve, and intelligence – and lively performances from the key cast, including Judd Hirsch and Law & Order's Alana de la Garza.

CAMP X: SECRET AGENT SCHOOL
★★★½
Tuesday, February 24, 8.30pm, History

Terrific two-part documentary exploring the history of the Western world's first training school for spies. Established by the British during WW2 and imported to North America to help the US war effort, Camp X not only played a crucial role in the Allied victory, it also laid the groundwork for the CIA. Jam-packed with fascinating facts and fabulous characters (several of the original trainees are still around to tell their stories) it's an intriguing and sometimes chilling insight into the realities of being a spy in wartime.