NEW SERIES TONIGHT - Lie To Me

Lie To Me

Sky 1, 10pm

Tim Roth is an expert in deception detection who works for clients including the FBI, spotting ticks and tells to get to the truth. 

OK, we've seen a lot of this type of show recently: expert in some obscure pseudo-science (this one is lie detection through body language and linguistic analysis) helps cops/Feds, some of whom are dismissive but proved wrong, others of whom say "he's a nutjob but he gets results". But this is more fun than The Mentallist (though, of course, not in the same league as the great kooky genius, the OCD-suffering Monk, or indeed the original... Columbo). My problem with The Mentallist (see review below) is that it doesn't explain how the "genius" is making the mental leap – it doesn't do the Holmes or Poirot exposition. There's no problem with that here – in fact, just in case you think that convenient body language ticks are being made up for the sake of the plot, they flash up images of notorious liars like OJ Simpson and Dick Cheney to illustrate the point.

Roth plays it pretty straight, not trying to do a crazy/genius thin-line high-wire act. Instead, it's the support cast who do quirky – his junk food-guzzling business partner (who presumably is bulimic, since despite her calorie intake, she's slim and hot); and a guy who indulges in "radical honesty" (his excuse for being late for work is that he was in bed with a hangover fantasising about a TV anchorwoman).

One piece of advice: don't watch this with your partner – you'll be under scrutiny after every episode. Men in particular - keep your hand away from your nose. You'll see why in this first episode...