TV Preview: Doctor Foster (BBC1, Tuesday 9pm)

Plus: The Great British Bake Off (Channel 4, Tuesday 8pm), Dragons' Den (BBC2, Sunday 8pm), Cold Feet (ITV, Friday 9pm), Back (Channel 4, Wednesday 10pm), People Just Do Nothing (BBC3/iPlayer from 11am Tuesday and BBC1, Saturday 11.45pm), Quacks (BBC2, Tuesday 10pm), The X Factor (ITV, Saturday 8pm)

Gemma (Suranne Jones) finds out if her ex Simon (Bertie Carvel) still finds her attractive (BBC)

Infidelity. Touchy sort of subject, and, thus, ideal for TV drama, combining suspense, betrayal and, of course, sex. That is, after all, what it’s about, n’est ce pas? The aftermath of infidelity no less so, if the return of Doctor Foster is anything to go by. Here we find Suranne Jones as Gemma Foster, divorcée now, in her best role so far (including her memorable work on Coronation Street), for which she deservedly won a Bafta for the first series of this production. It’s taut and tense, and the essential factor in its success is that we continue to feel for Jones’ character, and develop an even deeper loathing for her ex, Simon, (Bertie Carvel) who is now unaccountably rich as well as smug and arrogant, and has returned to live in the Doctor’s neighbourhood. Because we feel for her we really want to know what happens to her and her son, Tom, who is both victim and weapon in the continuing civil war. So worth watching for the five episode run, and congratulations to writer Mike Bartlett on the script and the producers/directors for the stylish filming and title sequence. It’s so good it reminded me of Life and Loves of a She Devil, the BBC’s TV adaption of Fay Weldon’s wonderful novel, back in 1986. (And which I would love to see on BBC iPlayer).

Having lived through all the excitement and hype of The Great British Bake Off I can now take a bit of a step back and recommend this new series, especially on the basis of the first episode last week. Channel 4’s new team of presenters is, to be honest, a bit mixed, and we could usefully do with some extra smut being tossed into the baking bowl, but the key thing is that the contestants draw you into the show, whether you’re into flans or not. I like scouse nan Flo particularly, because she is both extremely good at her craft and she is very charming, but there are three other front runners in my book (Tom, Liam and Steven) and it’s too early to write off Siberian Julia. I don’t know if Channel 4 will ever make back the scarce-believable £75m the spent acquiring the show, but at this rate they at least have a chance.

Another format with remarkable longevity is Dragons' Den, which, like Bake Off, features members of the public, in this case the ones who want to make money and, perhaps for that reason, display sometimes quite dizzying strangeness. Sometimes it seems to be much more about inventing than business, but I suppose that’s what the dragons are there to put right. Make what you will of the giant knitting kits and a device to keep champagne fizzy featured this week.

There are other welcome returnees too. Cold Feet is back, a little greyer around the temple maybe, and it is certainly nice to have John Thomson back on our screens. Some people do spend a long time searching for love. David Mitchell and Robert Webb will be labouring under a great weight of expectations in their new comedy series Back, which has a sort of cuckoo in the nest premise to it – a long lost foster child who may not be quite what he seems.

I make no apology for yet again going on about People Just Do Nothing, one of the best things to hit the screens this decade. This week’s instalment of the Kurupt FM saga is especially rich, with another confrontation with rivals Kold FM, a bizarre kidnapping, and “no foreplay ultrapaneer” Chabuddy G actually finding employment and hanging on to it. This week also sees quite a bit of child actor Olivia Jasmine Edwards excelling as Angel, Grindah and Miche's young daughter, and, to Miche’s mind, a fast track to riches and a move from the Lavender hair salon in Brentford to life in LA. Miche, you see, is now Angel's "mumager" (i.e. mum and manager). Quacks, too, delivers excellent comedy entertainment, with Rory Kinnear as a showman Victorian surgeon, who you wouldn't want to have dealing with your gall stones. Whatever else is wrong with British television, and The X Factor returns as if on cue to prove that quite a bit is, it can still make the nation smile.