The Honourable Woman (BBC2, 9pm)

THE latest US actress to adopt a middle-class English accent is Oscar-nominated Maggie Gyllenhaal, who has film credits from raunchy cult drama Secretary to blockbusters like The Dark Knight. This eight-part political thriller, set against the backdrop of Middle East intrigue, captured her attention because creator and director Hugo Blick (of Shadow Line fame) is truly interested in reflecting the lives of women.

The gifted supporting cast includes Stephen Rea, Eve Best, Lindsay Duncan and Andrew Buchan, which also helped Gyllenhaal to make up her mind about filming in London and Morocco. She says: "When I read the scripts I thought they were incredible. Hugo Blick is such a talented writer and I'd never read anything like them before. On one hand they had the thriller aspect, with the twists, turns and secrets but underneath that there is this ocean of realistic human emotion."

Gyllenhaal stars as Nessa Stein, who as a child witnessed the assassination of her father, a Zionist arms dealer. Understandably, it's an event that shapes the rest of her life. The actress explains: "Nessa is a very powerful, smart and emotional woman but at the same time she's broken and confused with a deeply troubled past. She is deeply conflicted about past events, events that have haunted her and it is the reason why she is constantly battling a consuming internal conflict - this internal struggle for reconciliation with her past and her search for personal equilibrium - is manifested in her political activities - to try to reconcile a conflict that has equally haunted a region of the world, countless lives, and political agendas for many years."

As an adult, Nessa has taken the family business in a new direction, laying high-spec data cabling networks between Israel and the West Bank. But when she's made a life peer, apparently because of her work to promote the peace process, it causes a political row - and that's only set to intensify when her company awards a lucrative contract to a Palestinian businessman who is later found dead. With such an intriguing set-up, it's becoming easier to see why Maggie wanted to get involved - and it seems it might just have given her the small-screen bug.

The star says: "Having worked in films for so long and becoming used to the regular two-hour rhythm, I found it difficult initially, to get my head around regularly shooting scenes out of order. But as time passed it felt really wild and unpredictable and that excited me."

Tour de France Live (ITV4, 7.30pm)

THE long-awaited arrival of the Tour De France in Yorkshire is almost here. The event runs from Saturday to Sunday, as the cyclists cover a total distance of 3,664 kilometres made up of 21 stages.

Last year's race saw Chris Froome crowned the winner with an advantage of 4mins 20secs after a final rush to the line. Tonight, though, as the riders prepare to make history for our region, there are the formalities to get out of the way, and Jill Douglas and Sebastien Piquet present coverage from Leeds Arena, where the teams are presented. Music comes courtesy of Kimberley Walsh, Opera North and Embrace.

Inside Asprey: Luxury By Royal Appointment (ITV, 9pm)

THIS programme does what it says on the tin... offers an exclusive insight into the daily running of the high-end London designer, jewellers to the royal family since Queen Victoria's reign, and the rest of the world's wealthiest people. Bond Street's Asprey serves the super-elite at ground level, while upstairs, some of the country's top craftsmen make the products with their finely-honed skills which are becoming very rare today. The sales team must find VIP customers to attend a 'private handbag sale', which features jewel-encrusted bags with an average price tag of £33,000. Actor Samuel L Jackson is one of the regular visitors and has a £55,000 solid silver safe in the shape of a gorilla.