The Planets

ABC, 7.40pm

Let's face it, fellow humans: Earth is stuffed and Mars is our next best chance. On that cheery note, better tune into Professor Brian Cox's sweeping saga about our solar system, which this week lands on the red planet for a thorough examination of where we might be spending our summer holidays by 2050. The augurs aren't entirely good. As the enthusiastically engaging Professor Cox explains, Mars is a failed world that once upon a time (about four million years ago, give or take) had the same potential as Earth, with a temperature of around 25 degrees and large standing bodies of water. On the downside, it has little oxygen – but then no planet is perfect. A journey backed by the wonders of CGI, this series promises to do for space what David Attenborough did for the natural world.