Monk (BBC2) - William And Mary (ITV1) - My Dad's The Prime Minister (BBC1)

ADRIAN Monk is a detective for the 21st century - a man so messed up by life it's surprising he can function at all, never mind solve complicated police investigations.

Still suffering after his wife's murder, Monk has an obsessive-compulsive disorder and seems to take no notice of what is going on around him.

His illness seems to have heightened his awareness and, coupled with his ingenious mind, he is now a cop to be reckoned with.

So despite being on extended leave from the San Francisco police, his reputation results in him being called as a consultant to solve particularly complicated crimes.

Following one murder he walks in to the victim's apartment and at a glance can tell the computer has been used by the killer (keyboard wiped clean and seat lowered so a tall person can use it). He can also tell one of the detectives on the case is having marital problems simply because he cut himself shaving and hasn't ironed his shirt. Monk is a refreshing US cop show - no fast cars, shoot-out or glamorous sex scenes - just wry humour, fantastic acting and a clever plot.

There was less originality with ITV's new romantic drama William And Mary - the tale of an undertaker and a midwife who met through a dating agency.

Martin Clunes and Julie Graham play the couple who are trying to juggle their jobs, children and a new relationship.

There were some good moments in the show but they were thin on the ground. Mary's first date from the agency, a man who offered to whisk her away for a romantic weekend before she had taken her coat off, would have made single women across the country cringe with horror, but that was the only scene worthy of note.

The obligatory drama came from Mary's work where a pregnant woman died from cancer soon after birth. Sadly this was turned into a crass plot device when William arrived to remove the body and Mary realised what her new boyfriend did for a living.

It's just difficult to see how this joke can be stretched out for another five epsiodes.

There was much more family-friendly humour with the new children's series My Dad's The Prime Minister .

Dillon has the ususal problems of a 12-year-old dealing with an embarrassing dad, except his dad is the Prime Minister so he has even more excruciating situations to cope with.

His pleas for his dad, a perfectly understated Robert Bathurst from Cold Feet, not to win on school sports day fall on deaf ears as the PM's spin doctors try to portray him as a winner.

The epsiode started and finished with Dillon posing as the new Jeremy Paxman grilling his dad on such important issues as homework and bedtime.

A great premise for an light-hearted show that will strike a chord with kids and parents everywhere.