Jonathan Creek (BBC1); Clocking Off (BBC1);Faking It USA (C4)

A killer wearing a Davy Crockett hat. A woman strangled inside a locked gynamsium. Gunshots fired at a policewoman taking part in a crime reconstruction. And the presenter of a Crimewatch-type TV programme telling viewers: "Without wishing to alarm the public, the maniac will strike again."

We're back in Jonathan Creek territory with the sleuth described here as a "long-haired magic geek". With his trademark curly hair and duffel coat, Alan Davies slips back easily into the role and, if the first of three new hour-long episodes wasn't classic Creek, there was much to mystify and amuse.

With the departure of Caroline Quentin, Creek has a new female sidekick - Carla Borrego (Julia Sawalha), with whom he enjoys the same love-hate relationship as his previous lady friend. She's married to a dreadful TV producer wonderfully played by Adrian Edmondson, thankfully curbing the excesses he displays in Bottom.

Back too was Clocking Off, the series set in a North-West factory where, each week, the one worker's story takes pride of place. Oddly, we didn't begin with the new owner - that's next week - but the disastrous love life of forklift trucker driver Suzie (Nicola Stephenson). She was seen legging it on the day of her marriage, leaving bridegroom Jamie and the guests waiting at the church. This single mother's problem was that she'd slept with her son's father a few days before her wedding.

Stephenson cried a lot, went clubbing, cried some more, drank a lot, almost had sex with a stranger, cried yet again, and finally decided she wanted Jamie after all. Oh yes, and her father had a heart attack after she told him: "Dad, I think I've made the biggest mistake of my life".

This was, by no means, classic Clocking Off. Suzie was plain tiresome. Old flame Stuart (Hugo Speer) was such an obvious bastard, it was difficult to understand why she'd jilted the much more sympathetic Jamie.

Back too, but in a slightly different form, was Faking It - the USA on the title indicating that Americans have been persuaded to adopt a new identity to try to fool the experts. The first guinea pig was Lesley Townsend, Harvard graduate and self-confessed geek. Her task was to transform herself into a cheerleader, those girls with the teeth, breasts and smiles who jump around waving their pom-poms at sports matches.

This was never going to be easy physically as Lesley had never worn make-up, didn't even own a hairbrush, and felt self-conscious dancing in public. The psychological journey was even tougher as she rehearsed routines with the Atlanta Falcons Cheerleaders and learnt to believe in herself.

I particularly liked voice and drama coach Judith, drafted in to help her "put the cheer into her cheerleader". Soon she had Lesley dancing around the garden shouting, "Yes, I can", in a bid to instill confidence in her ability to wave her pom-poms.

She was ordered to smile, smile, smile. But it was a tearful Lesley after a publicity photo shoot in her skimpy cheerleading outfit. She hated her body and the experience revived memories of the bad time this skinny, boyish and geekish girl had at school when she was tormented by more glamorous cheerleaders.

She set out thinking that cheerleading was "really trashy - I don't see how people want to show off their stomachs and breasts and upper thighs", and ended returning home to New York on a mission to make people give cheerleaders the respect she thought they deserved.