Midsomer Murders (ITV, 8pm)

EVEN though he's been filming death-fest that is Midsomer Murders for the past five years, Neil Dudgeon says he's still surprised by the strange worlds he delves into and the bizarre murders his character DCI John Barnaby has to solve.

"The first time I read a script I always try to shut myself away for a couple of hours so I can read the episode right through because that's the first and only time I get to see it like an audience where you have no idea what's going to happen," he says.

So far he's tackled a murderous UFO; been trapped in a nuclear bunker with a mad gunman and been forced to track down a body that has disappeared.

"It is a great challenge for the writers and producers of the show to keep trying to find what we can do within the parameters of Midsomer. Finding new stories, new ways of telling stories, new angles on stories, otherwise you are in danger of it feeling too familiar. And they do manage every series to come up with exhilarating new worlds and bizarre ways of killing off the characters.

"We started filming a week after the clocks went forward so it was quite chilly; we started in thermals and we finished in thermals again at the end of October. There were two days at the end of March where there howling gales all over the country and we were filming on the top of a cliff that's where the denouement played out," he says.

Tonight, Barnaby has to give a talk at a local school, but is waylaid when an art lover is found murdered. As always, the victim has plenty of enemies and there are extreme artistic temperaments, a surprise benefactor to the will and several illicit romances to negotiate as the body count begins to mount once more.

Cherie Lunghi, The Royal's Denis Lill and Adrian Scarborough are an ideal trio to argue the toss over artistic outrage.

Dudgeon finds MM fans are really close to home these days.

"My children, Joe, 12, and Greta, ten, have started pestering me constantly, asking if I have the new episodes. They love it, they're mad for it. They're that bit older now and Midsomer Murders is pretty perfect family viewing, there's nothing too graphic," he says.

And has his team dynamic changed with the introduction of new pathologist Dr Kam Karimore, played by Manjinder Virk?

"Both Kam and Nelson seem to be vying for Barnaby's attention this time around. Kam is portrayed as being very hardworking, meticulous and competitive. Whereas Barnaby is older and more distant he feels it's good to have someone on his team who is eager and talented and competes to come up with the answers as quickly and as best they can. Nelson finds that more of a challenge when she treads on his toes."

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off (BBC1, 8pm)

JENNIFER Saunders hosts as ex-Labour politician Ed Balls, writer and presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell, sports commentator Chris Kamara and singer and actress Kimberley Walsh face three challenges set by judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry. For the signature challenge, they must bake 24 identical American-style muffins, before making football pies in the technical. Finally, they must create tiered cakes representing an extreme sport.

Camila's Kids Company: The Inside Story (BBC1, 9pm)

FOR many years the charity Kids Company was held up as a success story, while charismatic founder Camila Batmanghelidjh was feted by celebrities and politicians alike. However, that began to change last year, when it emerged that the charity was on the edge of insolvency and that the government had demanded that Batmanghelidjh stand down as the CEO. Award-winning documentary director Lynn Alleway was following Batmanghelidjh when the story broke, and her documentary depicts the founder's fight to save her charity and resist the pressure to downsize. Ultimately Kids Company shut down leaving everyone searching for answers.

Viv Hardwick