The Shows Must Go On - A roundup of September's best TV

SLOW HORSES ( Apple TV+)

“Thrills and chills, surprises, double backs, backstabbing and the decay of social order” are promised as Jackson Lamb and his team of colossal fuck ups return in this adaptation of Mick Herron’s fifth Slough House novel, London Rules. We therefore know that much of the action centres around the spectacularly inept Roddy Ho, an antihero for the times who shocks his colleagues by acquiring a glamorous new girlfriend. Cast additions include Nick Mohammed of Ted Lasso renown who plays a fast-rising politician with Downing Streets in his sights.

WAYWARD (Netflix)

Toni Collette stars as the seriously creepy lead counsellor at Tall Pines, an academy for wayward teens who can look forward to “groundbreaking therapeutic techniques, rigorous academics and a transcendent connection to nature to solve the problems of adolescence.” After running in to two of the aforementioned teens, the latest addition to the Tall Pine Police Department, Officer Alex Dempsey, suspects that these mightn’t end up being the happiest days of their lives.

MITCHELL & WEBB ARE NOT HELPING (Channel 4)

Having been on life support these past few years, the sketch show comes roaring back courtesy of David Mitchell and Robert Webb who are older than when we last saw them Peep Show-ing together but no less silly. Intergalactic supervillains, exploding chihuahuas, puritans, Ludwig Van Beethoven, psychiatrists, and a very sweaty Prince Andrew are all grist to the duo’s comedic mill with former Taskmaster contestants Stevie Martin and Kiell Smith-Bynoe aiding and abetting.

IT: WELCOME TO DERRY (Netflix)

Nope, Pennywise hasn’t gone on a clown exchange programme to Northern Ireland. The Derry in question is in Maine and gets the fright of its sleepy rural life in 1962 when a local boy disappears and other very bad things start to happen. A prequel to Stephen King’s 1986 source novel and subsequent cinematic adventures, it once again features Bill Skarsgård as a coulrophobe’s worst nightmare. And if they do ever decide to relocate to Stroke City, I’m sure they’ll get a warm welcome from the locals.