Speed with Guy Martin (Channel 4/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Sunday 5th January 2014)

Motorcycle racer and lorry mechanic Guy Martin loves pushing the boundaries of speed in search of a buzz. He claims that nothing can match the adrenaline rush he gets when he’s racing on public roads around the Isle of Man TT course at 200mph. Now he wants to see if he can find anything that can give him the same kick. In this new series, he creates four-speed based challenges, exploring the boundaries of physics and learning about the science of speed. Guy attempts to set the world record for riding a motorcycle on the surface of water. With the help of a Cambridge professor and a team of marine engineers, Guy’s stunt hinges on Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion: that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If he can maintain enough speed on his bike, the 250-year-old theory says he should be able to achieve the seemingly impossible: to ride on water.

Sherlock (BBC 1/HD | 8:30pm to 10:00pm | Sunday 5th January 2014)

Contemporary crime drama, based on the stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock faces his biggest challenge of all – delivering a best man’s speech on John’s wedding day.

Operation Grand Canyon with Dan Snow (BBC 2/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Sunday 5th January 2014)

Dan Snow and team take on the rapids of the Grand Canyon in antique wooden boats to rediscover one of the wild west’s great adventures of discovery.

Great British Railway Journeys (BBC 2/HD | 6:30pm to 7:00pm | Monday 6th January 2014)

Michael Portillo embarks on a new journey from Manchester, birthplace of George Bradshaw, the publisher of his trusted guide, to Chesterfield, burial place of George Stephenson, the father of the railway. In the first leg of the jourey, Michael finds out how the world’s first industrialised city also gave birth to a revolutionary political movement and hears how railway workers founded one of the most successful football clubs in the world. Along the way, Michael does the washing in Port Sunlight and discovers the legacy of an American named George Francis Train in Birkenhead.

Secrets of the Sales (BBC 1/HD | 10:35pm to 11:35pm | Monday 6th January 2014)

With exclusive access to some of Britain’s biggest high street chains, Cherry Healey goes behind the scenes to find out how the sales work from the inside. Cherry goes backstage in the John Lewis summer sale, gets inside a critical mark down meeting where sale prices and sale strategy are set, and she discovers the addictive way bargain hunting can affect our bodies. Cherry also uncovers hidden sales offering huge price cuts, learns how major high street retailers use scent to try and influence our behaviour, and meets with a sofa manufacturer willing to admit furniture sales can be a psychological trick.

Great British Railway Journeys (BBC 2/HD | 6:30pm to 7:00pm | Tuesday 7th January 2014)

Michael Portillo continues his journey through the North West of England. He begins in the elegant Lancashire resort of Southport, where the railways brought thousands of visitors to enjoy the pier and all the fun of the fair. Michael discovers Victorian entrepreneurship in Wigan, traces the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in Bolton and drives a hundred-year-old commercial vehicle in Leyland.

Great British Railway Journeys (BBC 2/HD | 6:30pm to 7:00pm | Wednesday 8th January 2014)

Michael Portillo continues his journey through the North West of England. He celebrates Victorian trade with the Preston Guild then heads to Rochdale where he discovers a pioneering movement that helped improve the lot of working families. Michael follows in the tracks of swathes of nineteenth-century working people who made day trips from the industrial towns to Hebden Bridge to walk in the beautiful Calder Valley.

The Restoration Man (Channel 4/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Wednesday 8th January 2014)

Alan Appleby and his wife Dora might be restoration experts, but they’ve never taken on a project as ambitious as this. They’ve saved a flint mill in Stone, Staffordshire, which was about to fall down. Since Alan is a building surveyor, he shouldn’t have a problem fixing the massive structural damage. But his passion for old buildings soon takes over and they end up ploughing everything they have into this build. George Clarke helps them every step of the way and uncovers its unique history and the link between this building and the world-renowned pottery and ceramics of Josiah Wedgwood.

Waterloo Road (BBC 1/HD | 8:30pm to 9:30pm | Wednesday 8th January 2014)

The school drama returns, and chaos descends when what appears to be a masked intruder disrupts the start-of-term assembly. However, the intruder is soon revealed to be new PE teacher Hector Reid. Meanwhile, new girl Gabriella Wark causes a bit of a stir.

24 Hours in A and E (Channel 4/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Wednesday 8th January 2014)

The award-winning series, filmed round the clock at King’s College Hospital in South London, returns with an episode filmed on Red Nose Day. For most of the people being treated at King’s it may be no time to laugh, but patients and staff reflect on the importance of being able to focus on the brighter side of life. Dilson, who’s 33, is rushed in by ambulance with severe knife wounds after being repeatedly stabbed in the head and neck as he tried to stop a fight outside a nightclub. Dilson is agitated when he arrives and the staff have to calm him down before they can properly assess his injuries. It’s vital he has a CT scan as it’s incredibly difficult to judge how serious a stabbing is from a visual inspection.

Great British Railway Journeys (BBC 2/HD | 6:30pm to 7:00pm | Thursday 9th January 2014)

Michael Portillo begins this leg of his journey from Manchester to Chesterfield at the home of the three Bronte sisters in Worth Valley, Yorkshire. He then moves on to Oakworth where he learns how the station and its heritage railway line secured a starring role in one of the most popular films ever made. In Bradford, Michael finds out how nineteenth-century workers could save to buy a home of their own, and in Halifax discovers how the railway contributed to the town’s sweet success.

Dolphins: Spy in the Pod (BBC 1/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Thursday 9th January 2014)

Remote-controlled Spy Creatures reveal dolphins as never before, as we meet the orca and discover the intimacy of its remarkable family life. There are also the dolphins that wear sponges on their noses, and the Dall’s porpoise, the fastest dolphin in the world. There is the story of a real dolphin secret agent that carries a camera into the pod to uncover their mysteries of communication and interactions, and a young bottlenose begins a life on his own.

Silent Witness (BBC 1/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Thursday 9th January 2014)

This episode of the crime drama sees Nikki delivering ground-breaking testimony in the high-profile appeal court case of David Bennetto, a convicted killer who has spent the last six years behind bars for the murder of two gay teenagers. But bitter DI Rachel Klein remains unconvinced that she caused a miscarriage of justice and cannot hide her contempt, especially when another young man is found dead bearing the same hallmarks of the previous murders. Meanwhile, Nikki’s professionalism is brought into question due to her increasingly close relationship with lawyer Greg Walker.

Great British Railway Journeys (BBC 2/HD | 6:30pm to 7:00pm | Friday 10th January 2014)

On the last leg of his journey from a notorious slum in Manchester to the grandeur of a ducal seat in Derbyshire, Michael Portillo tunes in to the music of the mills and collieries of Victorian England, testing his puff with the brass band at Honley. In Holmfirth, Michael finds out about a nineteenth-century tragedy that struck the town and led to a tourist boom on the railways. At Chesterfield, Michael pays homage to the father of the railway, George Stephenson, before finishing his journey in style at one of the first stately homes to welcome visitors by rail – Chatsworth.

Silent Witness (BBC 1/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Friday 10th January 2014)

Nikki’s professional reputation is on the line in the latest episode of the forensic crime drama, as her romantic involvement with lawyer Greg Walker leads her face-to-face with a raging Bennetto. Thomas is under mounting pressure from DI Rachel Klein and the Home Office as he battles to save the Lyell Centre’s reputation in the midst of a media storm. Grieving for the death of his murdered son, newspaper hack Peter Masham strikes an unlikely deal with Bennetto’s brother-in-law. Meanwhile, Jack and Clarissa uncover the true identity of murder victim Byron Lee.

All TV guide information taken from DigiGuide — www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=15119.