Madeleine's TV Week

This week television is thinking about space, in more ways than one. We're talking space in the astrology sense, and also in the arty sense. This week we have a four-course feast of programmes on the subject of modern art and its practical place in our homes and worlds; gratifyingly, the programmes take more prime-time slots than art is generally given. And in astrology, well, for some reason - gosh, I can't put my finger on why - we will be learning rather a lot about the planet Mars on Sunday night...

If you've been following all the insider info, general buzz, trailers and pictures on DOG, you'll be all set for possibly the most sinister episode ever of Doctor Who, called The Waters of Mars (BBC1, Sun). I'm interested in what's happening around the episode that evening because there is more and more ‘event TV' happening these days; programmes rarely stand alone without some sort of theme or related show happening on a sister channel.

What's nice and quite original about the way things are happening on Sunday is that, where we might have expected the BBC to cram in loads of programmes about the Doctor Who phenomenon, the history and the making of, they've actually opted for a whole evening on BBC4 exploring and analysing the planet Mars. Yes, BBC4 is having a full-on ‘Mars Night'.

I should mention that between the episode and the launch of the Mars-athon, you could watch Doctor Who Confidential, which will give some insight into the making of the show, but if I were you I'd just enjoy the programme and not turn to an analysis that might immediately kill the magic. Have some dinner and a glass of wine and come back to the TV an hour later for your comprehensive education about Mars.

Or, for super geeks who want to get a truly expansive and multimedia Mars experience, use the hour to blast out Gustav Holst's Mars: The Bringer Of War in a full orchestral version on CD. Cor, that'll get your heart pounding at the sheer majesty of the red planet.

The schedule starts with Mars: A Horizon Guide (9pm), which is a gathering together of some 45 years of Horizon material about a planet that tempts humans with its potential for habitation. We'll find out about the atmosphere that has led experts to believe that it isn't entirely bonkers to imagine a sort of life existing there - though not, hopefully, anything as scary as the living water monsters in Doctor Who - and there'll be discussions about failed missions to the planet.

Then To Mars By A-Bomb (10pm), not a new programme but relevant and interesting on a night like this. It recounts a secret American attempt in the 1950s to create a spaceship that would be propelled to Mars by actual nuclear bombs. That's more than a little bit frightening as a concept, isn't it? The documentary will show that the mechanics of the spaceship, Project Orion, wasn't the problem; everyone agreed it would work. The moral dilemma is the thing that bothered the engineers involved, the implication being that using nuclear weapons for space exploration would give them a positive sheen in the public perception.

Lastly, we have Patrick Moore in The Sky At Night Special: Exploring Mars (11pm) in which Moore and Chris Lintott look at more details of the atmosphere and beauty of the red planet. So that's your Sunday night Doctor Who and Mars extravaganza taken care of!

To art, then, and a season called ‘Modern Beauty' that spans the whole week, giving the subject of art some nice slots in the schedule, starting with What Is Beauty? (BBC1, Sat). Critic Matthew Collings outlines his ten criteria for beauty in art, using ten examples of works of art from across many different eras to illustrate his points. This feels like one big snooty boast from Collings, as he pares down all the subjectivity and emotional reaction attached to works of art and creates a sort of scientific tick-box system. Pattern? Check. Unity? Check. Symmetry? Check. How boring! Why do we need to answer the question ‘what makes art?' Any technical answer we might come up with is redundant without taking a survey of every single person's response to an artwork. I just don't really care about Collings' system for checking if something is beautiful. Why do we need his guidance?

The next programme in the season, The Art On Your Wall With Sue Perkins (BBC2, Mon), looks interesting. It analyses our developing British approach to having art in our homes. Why do we have a thing about a picture above the mantelpiece or in the hallway? Is it a status thing or do we genuinely want to look at artworks every day? These really are interesting questions, and I'm sure Sue will be a very funny guide. Sue was excellent, in The Supersizers go..., at poking fun at British lifestyle habits and I've no doubt that's why she was chosen to present this programme, which will perhaps be more about our funny trends and conceits than about the art itself.

Imagine... (BBC1, Tue) will be a bit more serious, following the artist and sculptor Anish Kapoor as he fills the Royal Academy of Arts gallery with his work, a bigger task than any artist has undertaken before. The exhibition - currently open - features, totally madly, a canon that fires red, blood-like wax onto a wall in the corner, leaving it to drip down the wall into a pool. Why and how? Alan Yentob helps us into Kapoor's world.

And who is making waves in the art world other than Kapoor? Where Is Modern Art Now? (BBC4, Wed) finds out the current trends in art, the price pieces are going for, and who are the exciting artists emerging from current graduate shows.Aa very practical, informative programme to round off all this themed programming that feels rather like an enjoyable week spent perusing an art magazine.