The Widow, UTV, Monday at 9pm
THERE was a time, not that many years ago, when British drama was being lamented.
A decade ago it seemed that everyone was watching shows produced in the US and it was being suggested that this side of the Atlantic was incapable of producing quality TV drama.
Drama was said to be too expensive to produce for our terrestrial television companies.
Now there is so much stuff being made on these islands that it's impossible to keep up with.
Take the start to this week.
On Sunday evening Line of Duty was competing with Victoria, a cop show filmed in Northern Ireland on the BBC versus a period drama about the reign of Queen Victoria on UTV.
On Monday another two dramas had their launch nights.
BBC had The Victim, a thriller running for four straight nights; while ITV has The Widow, an eight part series running over consecutive Monday and Tuesday nights for four weeks.
Meanwhile, Sky Atlantic has the best of US-produced drama and Netflix and Amazon are spending billions in a subscription war.
Who has the time to watch that much television?
I opted for The Widow which brings Kate Beckinsale back to TV screens.
She plays Georgia who travels to the Congo from her remote home in Wales to try to find her husband who died (or did he?) in a plane crash three-years previously.
The Widow opens intriguingly with scenes of child soldiers in the equatorial heat of the rain forest and then cuts to Beckinsale in the cold and remote Brecon Beacons where Georgia proves her toughness by dragging herself miles to the local town after falling and badly injuring her leg.
This kind of mental strength is needed when she gets back to the Congo, when her luggage is stolen at the airport and shadowy forces try to kill her and her friends.
She is convinced her husband Will is still alive after seeing a picture of him wearing a distinctive hat at a Kinshasa demonstration. At first her family and friends think grief is refusing to allow her to let go, proclaiming that "no one survives a plane crash," but gradually it appears that she is right.
There are sub-plots galore. Ariel, an Icelandic man who lost his eye sight in a plane crash has signed up for an experimental treatment programme in the Netherlands and a South African man who said he lost his brother on the flight gave a false name and is involved with the child soldiers in the jungle.
Then there's the Congolese minister for transport who says a rival politician was on the plane when it crashed. Was it blown up?
British people travelling around the world to find missing people is strangely a common plot on TV drama.
The Widow isn't the finest example, but it's watchable, if you have the time.
***
Derry Girls, Channel 4, Tuesday at 9pm
"Being a Derry girl is a f***ing state of mind," Michelle tells James in one of the best and final scenes of the second series of Derry Girls.
James's absent mother Cathy (of the glorious eyebrows) finally turns up and James is being whisked back to England to work in her new sticker business.
While the girls are waiting to see Bill Clinton, James tells them that he always felt he didn't belong in Derry.
But Michelle steps in: "You're a Derry girl now James. I'm serious. It doesn't matter that you've got that stupid accent, or that your bits are different to mine. It's because being a Derry girl is a f***ing state of mind. And you're one of us."
Brilliant.
