Our Zoo (BBC1, 9pm)

THE nice warm feeling you get watching poor George Mottershead (probably Lee Ingleby’s finest character to date), as long as you’re out of range of the camel, is that you know his efforts to create Chester Zoo end up in success.

Not that it looks this way in episode five because the evil vicar, the Rev Aaron Webb (Stephen Campbell Moore) has been plotting behind the scenes to raise a petition which sees the family refused planning permission. As if that's not bad enough for poor George, the whole situation is threatening to tear his family apart, meaning he's on the brink of losing everything.

However, Lady Katherine might just be able to help. She offers to call on her connections in Whitehall, taking George away to London where they meet up with the Deputy Minister of Health and set about trying to convince him to grant an appeal.

While he's gone, though, the rest of the family have their work cut out dealing with an unexpected new arrival thanks to those bears which tests the resolve of Albert (Peter Wight) and Lucy (Anne Reid). June (Honor Kneatsey) adds further drama by offering the villagers free camel rides with disastrous results.

Ingleby, who plays the Manchester-born founder, had no idea about the zoo’s background until he received the script. “I went there on a school trip when I was seven or eight, but I’d never heard the history of it,” the Burnley actor says.

“I found it really fascinating how this guy just had a vision. In the first episode, Lizzie says, ‘People like us don’t do things like this’. I think he just thought, ‘There’s an opportunity here’. It wouldn’t happen now. There’d be so many hurdles to jump over,” adds Ingleby, 38, who has starred in the North-East set Inspector George Gently.

“I think the idea was so romantic and made complete sense to him that he just grabbed it,” says Ingleby. “I don’t think they made any money for years, it was a real labour of love.”

The Great British Bake Off (BBC1, 8pm)

WITHOUT a doubt, the Bake Off is bigger than ever this year, after moving to BBC1. But extra exposure means that Bingate caused a storm and a subsequent episode led to accusations of cheating. We are about to have our cake and eat it in the semi-final stage.

Just four remain, and they have their mettle severely tested in Patisserie Week, as they have to create two types of signature baklava, a tricky technical in the form of a German Schichttorte, and a showstopper which involves the semi-finalists baking non-stop to create two entremets in which they should utilise as many skills and techniques as they can.

Scott & Bailey (ITV, 9pm)

UNTIL now Rachel Bailey (Suranne Jones) has been the volatile maverick, and Janet Scott (Lesley Sharp) the comparatively sensible, steady one. Now Rachel has been promoted to Sergeant of Syndicate 9, and Janet is out speed dating, there is a chance that the roles might be reversed.

"The speed dating and online situations get Janet into a few scrapes that are wittily handled and were very enjoyable to play. Janet is a 3D character who always appears to be in control, but as in life you have to keep learning how to bend and shape to the issues," says Sharp

This week Gill (Amelia Bullmore) accidentally lets slip that Rachel only got the promotion after Janet turned it down. And then the new Sergeant bumps into a high-flying blast from her past. When Scott and Bailey aren't worrying about their own love lives, they are about to delve into someone else's after a woman's body is discovered in a hotel room, which may be linked to personal ads on a website.