Eight-part Nesbitt thriller reaches gripping finale

If you’ve been keeping up with the crime thriller The Missing on BBC1, have you guessed the outcome of the case?

This gripping, eight-part series ends next Tuesday, but the BBC is keeping up the tension by having recorded several alternative endings they could screen in this whodunnit about a determined father (James Nesbitt) who has never given up hope in his eight-year hunt to find his son, Olly, who went missing while the family were on holiday in France.

If you would rather wait and see the whole series at one sitting, then promise yourself an extra Boxing Day present when RLJ Entertainment’s Acorn Label release the 480-minute thriller on three discs for £24.99.

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But, if you’re after a pre-Christmas gift then fans of Salvo in Inspector Montalbano (currently showing on BBC4) should search out the five-disc set The Luca Zingaretti Collection which goes on sale next Monday for £39.99 with two of the titles being available to buy as single discs for £12.99 each.

This Odyssey DVD set, which picks out five of his finest films from a 30-year career in movies, TV and theatre, includes two set in Sicily - By the Light of Day in which he plays a priest keeping kids off the street in a Mafia-infested neighbourhood, and Borsellino: The 57 Days as a judge targeted by the Mafia.

Rome is the setting for Calling Inspector Marotta in which he goes undercover to solve a breath-taking robbery at the Vatican, while different aspects of World War II feature in the remaining two titles - Perlasca: Courage of a Just Man the story of an Italian hero who saved the lives of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust, and the award-winning Cefalonia about captured Italian troops stationed in Greece who choose to fight rather than surrender to their former German allies.

Switch back to the present day and here’s just a sample of what’s on TV for the week before the festive overload.

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Wednesday - The Apprentice (BBC1). Creating sweet desserts sorts out the winners from the losers.

Thursday - The Lost Honour of Christopher Jeffries (ITV1). Concluding part of this fact-based drama about the Bristol landlord wrongly accused of the murder of his tenant, Joanna Yeates, shortly after Christmas in 2010.

Friday - A Night in with Olly Murs (ITV1). Essex lad and X Factor runner-up is joined by John Bishop and Nicole Scherzinger in this one-off special.

Saturday - TV’s 50 Greatest Magic Tricks (Channel 5). Three-hour lowdown on the tricks of trade.

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Sunday - The X Factor Results (ITV1). The title says it all.

Monday - Steph and Dom Meet Nigel Farage (Channel 4). Is this a vote winner as the “posh couple” from Gogglebox host a booze-fuelled evening with UKIP’s leader when he drops in at their guest house?

Tuesday - The Apprentice: the Final Five (BBC1). Time to check who is still in the running for Lord Sugar’s £250,000 prize ahead of tomorrow’s final.

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