The Halcyon (ITV, 9pm)

TWO of the UK’s most acclaimed actors, Steven Mackintosh (Luther, The Sweeney, Inside Men) and Olivia Williams (Anna Karenina, Hyde Park On Hudson, The Sixth Sense) join forces in a new ITV drama series, The Halcyon.

The Halcyon tells the story of a bustling and glamorous five star hotel at the centre of London society and a world at war. The eight-part drama series also features Kara Tointon (Mr Selfridge, Sound Of Music Live), Alex Jennings (The Lady In The Van, The Queen), Matt Ryan (Constantine, Arrow), Hermione Corfield (Knights Of The Roundtable: King Arthur, Pride and Prejudice And Zombies) and Mark Benton (Eddie The Eagle, Waterloo Road).

The drama, set in 1940, shows London life through the prism of war and the impact it has on families, politics, relationships and work across every social strata with a soundtrack of music from the era. Multi award-winning singer-songwriter Jamie Cullum

American journalist Joe O'Hara (Ryan) arrives in town and makes a beeline for the Halcyon Hotel. Meanwhile, the manager, Richard Garland (Mackintosh) and concierge Dennis Feldman (Benton) wait outside the hotel to greet the owner Lord Hamilton (Jennings).

Garland registers with some surprise the addition of Charity Lambert (Wakefield), a young, glamorous blonde, and they're followed by several other mystery men, all upper-class and white-haired. Upon his arrival, O'Hara begins asking questions about the "serious cars" coming in earlier, and immediately smells a rat.

Lord Hamilton is holding a closed meeting, with Lords, MPs and influencers plotting how to instate Lord Halifax as Prime Minister, but it's clear that the room contains more than its fair share of appeasers and Nazi sympathisers.

A surprise guest arrives at the hotel, in the form of Lady Hamilton (Williams), and the staff frantically collude to keep her out of the Royal Suite where her husband is with Charity. Garland manages to cut her off and she departs, but the damage has been done.

Next, the Hamiltons' twin sons, Freddie (Jamie Blackley) and Toby (Edward Bluemel), arrive. Freddie and Emma Garland (Hermione Corfield) are childhood friends and go down to their old haunt in the basement, where she senses a moment between them. Later she confides in Betsey (Tointon) who tells her to put it out of her head – he's an aristocrat and she's just the manager's daughter.

O'Hara strikes up a conversation with Toby and gets the young Hamilton to spill the beans about his father's business interests, and Charity's connections to the Fuhrer.

Great British Railway Journeys (BBC2, 6.30pm)

MICHAEL Portillo is back, as he embarks on three new railway journeys using a 19th-Century Bradshaw's Descriptive Railway Guide, with each playing out over five episodes. Tonight, a once-in-a-lifetime journey aboard the most famous train in history – the Flying Scotsman – begins for Michael before dawn at King's Cross. Excitement builds on the platform as the world's media, fans and 300 passengers await the arrival of railway royalty. Boarding a vintage carriage, Michael recaptures the glamour of the 1930s, when the train's passengers dined, sipped cocktails and had their hair done en route to Scotland. Among his fellow passengers are a former Flying Scotsman driver and a previous owner of the locomotive. However, all does not go to plan and the historic non-stop service is forced to halt for trespassers on the track. Nevertheless, Michael eventually arrives at York, where he meets the restoration team and gets his hands on the hallowed controls.

Silent Witness (BBC1, 9pm)

NEW series. Part one of two. A severed finger is brought to the Lyell Centre by DCI Rory Goodchild and immigration enforcement officer Pia Butler, who ask Nikki and Thomas to test for a DNA match with 17 year-old Syrian illegal immigrant Akka Khoury. The teenager was sent the digit by a people-smuggler who claims to have her mother and is demanding money for her safe return. Emilia Fox stars.

Viv Hardwick