Top 10 TV picks: September 23-29

Fairfax Media

DISHING THEM OUT: Presenter Kevin Milne fronts the Fair Go Ad Awards on Wednesday night at 7.30pm.

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Television critic Philip Wakefield chooses the 10 best shows on the box this week, for Tuesday, September 23 to Monday, September 29.

1. 1. TVNZ 7 Internet Debate: Agenda's Damian Christie moderates an innovative election debate about digital dilemmas that will be streamed as well as televised, complete with live webchat and polling.
TVNZ 7, 9.10pm Tuesday.

2. Sunday Theatre: Torn: Child abduction drama that could have been torn from the headlines of the Madeleine McCann case - but then fast-forwards 12 years to the mother thinking she’s seen her missing daughter. Coronation Street’s Bradley Walsh (Danny Baldwin) stars. Part one of two.
TV One, 8.30pm Sunday.

3. Fair Go Ad Awards: Here’s one awards show you won’t want to skip.
TV One, 7.30pm Wednesday.

4. The Big Food Fight: The Diet That Time Forgot: Four junk-food junkies from Britain spend a month in Northern Pakistan going cold turkey on prehistoric tucker that’s healthy but unappetising.
TV One, 9.30pm Tuesday.

5. Real Life: Someone Somewhere Loves Me: Documentary about a Queenstown woman who founded an orphanage in Romania.
TV One, 9.30pm Wednesday.

6. Midsomer Murders: Inspector Barnaby’s back to solve more bizarre murders. The 11th season opens with a wedding that turns into a funeral.
Prime, 8.30pm Saturday.

7. Strictly Baby Fight Club: Troubling but balanced British documentary about Thai boxing for tots. While The Daily Telegraph acknowledged the sport “looked a lot safer than traditional boxing ... there was always the suspicion that many of the watching adults were getting a nasty voyeuristic thrill from it.”
TV3, 9.30pm Thursday.

8. Doctor Who: Double-episode finale in which the Time Lord reunites with Torchwood’s Captain Jack to confront his ancient nemesis, the Daleks. Watch for a cameo by Richard Dawkins.
Prime, 7.30pm Sunday.

9. Personal Services Required: Quipped The Independent of this hired help take on Wife Swap, in which families give servants a trial run: "It isn’t personal compatibility that is at issue here, but whether the modest desire of the applicants to retain a scrap of human dignity can be successfully married to the lunatic demands of their prospective employers."
TV One, 9.30pm Friday.

10. Criminal Intent: Yet another swan song for Chris Noth’s Detective Logan (he quit the original Law & Order in similar circumstances 13 years earlier). Observes L&O creator Dick Wolf, whose franchises have survived countless casting changes: "I’d like somebody to come up with the first indispensable person, let alone actor."
TV3, 9.30pm Sunday.