How To Lose Weight Well, Channel 4, 8pm

YES, it’s that time of year again when diet programmes pop up. Many of us over-indulged over Christmas, and so resolved on January 1 to put a stop to it all, start eating healthily and maybe even take up exercise to help shed those pounds. Perhaps we may even be inspired by what we see when this series returns for its third run. Dr Xand van Tulleken and dietician Hala El-Shafie oversee the proceedings once again. The opening edition focuses on short-term eating plans, six-week programmes, a four-month trial and an investigation into diet pills.

My Astonishing Self: Gabriel Byrne On George Bernard Shaw, BBC4, 9pm

ACTOR Gabriel Byrne learns more about the life and works of George Bernard Shaw, a literary giant who, like Byrne, had to leave Ireland to make his voice heard. The documentary follows Shaw’s life from the bed he was born in to the one he died in. Along the way, it explores his passions, as well as his ability to observe and puncture the society around him.

Silent Witness, BBC1, 9pm

NIKKI struggles to come to terms with life back home and seeks out fellow pathologist Sally Vaughan for support, only to learn she is nowhere to be found. National Crime Agency investigator Guy Bernhardt asks Nikki to help him by employing pathologist David Cannon, the chief suspect in Sally’s disappearance. Meanwhile, a body found in a reservoir is linked to a murder case from 16 years previously.

Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life, BBC2, 9pm

CAMERAS follow surgeons, anaesthetists, theatre staff and patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham’s surgical unit, where 700 operations are carried out every week. In the first edition, maxillofacial surgeons Tim Martin and Sat Parmar prepare for a marathon operation on 53-year-old Teresa, who was diagnosed with a fast-growing cancerous tumour in her face a month previously.