Top 10 shows to watch this week, from Spy Among Friends to I’m Ruth.

slow horses

Friday, December 2, Apple TV+

Second series slow horses looks just like the first one: dark, funny and absolutely addictive. Unfortunately for those who like to watch avidly, Apple releases episodes weekly (although two came out today). Jackson Lamb, a cursing spy for Gary Oldman, returned to his desk in Slough House when another former MI5 agent, now owner of a sex shop, was found dead on a new train bus.

Earthshot Prize: Fixing Our Planet

Sunday 4 December, 5:30 pm, BBC One.

Prince William will present a second Earthshot Award (and £1 million) to a project that aims to restore the environment and protect the planet from future climate change. Finalists include a British manufacturer of low-carbon concrete, indigenous women defending the Great Barrier Reef, and all of Amsterdam committed to building a “circular economy”.

my corpse

Monday, December 5, 22:00, Channel 4

Before 30-year-old mom Tony Crews died of a rare cancer, she donated her body to scientific research and allowed filmmakers to document the research. In this groundbreaking film, the medical team examines Tony’s illness, dissects her body, and chronicles her illness from diagnosis to death. But it’s not all that simple, as Tony’s friends and family celebrate her selfless, potentially life-saving decision to share her life and death.

How to crack the ceiling in the classroom

Tuesday 6 December 21:00 BBC Two

Journalist Amol Rajan continues his 2019 documentary. How to break into the elite find out just how difficult it is for working class youth to make their mark in traditional middle class occupations with this lesson. He meets with those who are trying to break into public service, law and banking by attending school etiquette courses and interpersonal skills seminars, and asks if the system is too set against them to break through to the top.

Rosie Molloy gives up everything

Wednesday, December 7, 22:00, Sky Comedy

After delivery four lives as well as Teacher, Sheridan Smith returns to comedy as Rosie Molloy, a successful woman who lives life to the fullest and never gives up sex, alcohol, drugs or cigarettes. But when she wakes up in the hospital after an embarrassing incident at her brother’s wedding, Rosie vows to give up all her vices. Trying to shake off her hedonism, she begins to wonder who she really is without him – and if all this drinking and fucking was a problem.

Gino loves to cook

Wednesday, December 7, 21:00, ITV1

Food has been a key moment in the love lives of four generations of the D’Acampo family, and Chef Gino wants it to be that way in other novels as well. In this new two-part dating series, D’Acampo takes six single foodies to Sardinia, where they learn how to cook Italian food, eat together, and (hopefully) fall in love.

I am an alcoholic: recovery from the inside

Wednesday 7 December 21:00 BBC Two

In the midst of holiday party season, this behind-the-scenes documentary on Alcoholics Anonymous can be a timely and sobering viewing. For the first time in the organization’s 75-year history, cameras are allowed at an AA meeting in the UK, where members share their own addiction recovery experiences and ever-changing relationship with alcohol.

Spy among friends

Thursday 8 December ITVX

This is the main offering of the new ITV streaming service, which launches on Thursday. Guy Pearce plays Kim Philby, a notorious British spy who defected to the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War and became a double agent. Damian Lewis is Philby’s spy Nicholas Elliott, who had no idea that his friend was operating under Soviet command.

Confessions of Franny Langton

Thursday 8 December ITVX

Based on the 2019 bestseller by Sarah Collins. Confessions of Franny Langton follows the heroine of the same name, born into slavery, from a Jamaican plantation to Georgian London. When she is “gifted” to a famous scientist, Franny (Karla-Simone Spence) is forced to work in his kitchen and soon falls in love with his charming wife, Marguerite (Sophie Cookson). But one morning she wakes up next to Margarita and finds her – and her husband – murdered in her bed…

I am Ruth

Thursday, December 8, 21:00, Channel 4

Dominic Savage’s stunning anthology series returns with a lengthy storyline starring Kate Winslet and her real-life daughter Mia Tripleton. Winslet plays Ruth, who begins to notice that her daughter Freya (Tripleton) is becoming increasingly withdrawn due to the pressure social media is putting on her.