Tonight in HD: November 14

SoHo Highlight: Game of Thrones (Sky 10, 8.30, 5.1) Ned probes Arrynís death; Jon tries to protect Sam; Tyrion is caught in the wrong place. If you’re new to this malevolent medieval malarkey, the Los Angeles Times has a terrific “cheat sheet” to identify who’s who. Time magazine said episode four, Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things, neatly sets up a “swords-drawn cliffhanger” while The Daily Telegraph thought the highlight was the jousting tournament, “which was everything good about the series so far. Loud, dirty, expensive and excessively gory“. The Guardian agreed it was another strong episode: “This show is proving increasingly adept at marrying subtle character development with addictive wham-bam plotting which makes it near impossible to resist getting carried along for the ride.” ✭✭✭✭

Shameless (TV2, 11.00)

Friends (TV2, 6.30, R) Monica and Chandler creep out a potential sperm donor; Phoebe runs into old flame David; Rachel is mean to Charlie. ✫✫✫

Shortland Street (TV2, 7.00) Lana plays doctor; Daniel finds his inner homosexuality; Luke makes a sinister discovery. ✫✫✫

Criminal Minds (TV One, 8.30, R) The BAU team tracks a serial killer who keeps the eyes of his victims as souvenirs. ✫✫

The Mentalist (TV2, 8.30) When a man believing to have experienced an alien abduction is found dead, the CBI team must track down his killer – even after the victim’s body is stolen from the coroner’s van. ✫✫

Shameless (TV2, 11.00) When Frank is nowhere to be found on the day his disability cheque arrives, panic sets in and the family begin a manhunt. The New York Times succinctly summed up the difference between the US and UK versions of Shameless when it said: “The characters on the British Shameless speak in rough working-class accents and are tough on outsiders and on one another. American television is more squeamish about stereotypes — the Chicago Gallaghers live a life of petty crime in sordid squalor, but they speak without accents or vicious slurs. They are blind to prejudice as opposed to inured, and the Showtime version, while raunchy and impious even by premium-cable standards, is still less cruel than the original.” ✫✫✫