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Moving Wallpaper (ITV1, 9pm); Echo Beach (ITV1, 9.30pm); NCIS (five, 9pm)

AFTER just one series, it's probably too early to say that Jonathan Pope is up there with the likes of Basil Fawlty and David Brent as one of TV's most memorable comic creations.

But he's getting there, as Moving Wallpaper, the comedy set behind the scenes of soap Echo Beach, nears the end of its first season.

How amusing if, when the Bafta TV nominations are announced next week, they include a nod for Pope - or rather, actor Ben Miller who plays the vain, cocky and, in a strange sort of way, sympathetic producer. I couldn't wait to hear his acceptance speech if he won.

Being on ITV, not exactly known as the home of great comedy, Pope may not get the recognition he deserves. Meanwhile, in the penultimate episode, Jonathan is showing signs of vulnerability as he shares a bottle of wine with assistant Sam (female, before you start asking).

He's giving her the benefit of his experience in TV. "Stay long enough in this business and you get to know the types. Thin seam of talent at the top, big fat greasy wodge of fixed-grin sycophants underneath," he says.

One thing leads to another - a kiss, a hand on his knee and a request to the office junior the next morning to take his trousers to the dry cleaners.

An embarrassed Jonathan's mind isn't on plotting Echo Beach when executive Nancy comes to see him. "You've got a leak," she tells him.

"Who told you," he demands to know, getting hold of the wrong end of the stick and blurting out an account of the previous evening's sexual mishap to the entire production team, warning them: "I'm not Clinton, you can't impeach a TV executive."

Tony Jordan's Moving Wallpaper does for TV drama what Drop The Dead Donkey did for TV news. I remain ambivalent about its companion piece, Echo Beach, the soap that Jonathan and his team are putting together and which follows Moving Wallpaper.

This artful blend of Neighbours and Home And Away is well performed with admirably straight faces by a cast of mainly ex-soap stars, including Jason Donovan and Martine McCuthcheon, as they trot through all the soap cliches.

But the point of it eludes me, apart from being able to carry over jokes from Moving Wallpaper. Perhaps combining the two into one show, instead of two separate ones, would solve that problem.

If people talk about a US police forensic procedural series, it's usually CSI rather than its spin-offs or NCIS which, as the title suggests, is yet another variation on the theme. In this one, the corpses need to be sailors as NCIS stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Tonight, a dead matelot in a disused diner occupies their attention. A man takes his girlfriend there to propose and is surprised when his plea of "Will you marry me?" is followed by a piercing scream. She's seen the corpse with maggots crawling over its face.

"Nothing says I love you like a rotting corpse,"

suggests a cop on the scene.

These house flies in the larva stage are helpful in determining the time of death, even if they do put you off your tea. The order goes out: "If you find any more maggots crawling around, bag them - they're evidence."

Pathologist Ducky (yes, it's a silly name and David McCallum who plays him really should have demanded a better one) slices open the corpse and pulls out the liver of a 75-year-old man.

This was one alcoholic sailor who, on the evidence of the post mortem, also took ecstasy and other drugs. But he didn't go on a bender and overdose, as they first think. He was poisoned.

A note saying EXPECT MORE written in blood and another message in a boot print (very clever, this killer) saying DEAD WHORE provide clues to the killer.

The forensic team miss the vital clue until late in the day, which is careless but necessary if the episode must be stretched to an hour to fill the time slot.

10:14am Friday 14th March 2008

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