How does an actor on a long-running series know they are truly loved? Because the powers that be let them live.

It was not looking good for Charlie in Casualty (BBC, Saturday). After nearly 40 years on the medical soap, and earning a reported six-figure salary, everyone’s favourite nurse in a crisis was a prime candidate for the chop. Enter a wrong ‘un with a knife.

Looking pained as ever - though this time he had good cause - Charlie lay on a trolley in A&E as his life ambled by in a series of flashbacks. Just when it seemed like curtains for our twinkly-eyed hero, the great controller in the sky let him live. Come episode end Charlie walked out the door, the cheers of his colleagues and a grateful nation ringing in those ever-listening lugs of his.

Charlie, played by Derek Thompson, had a good old run. Mourn him well, but not for too long - Thompson returns to TV soon as a retired detective in the second series of the hit drama Blue Lights. He’s only 75, you know.

The Herald: Derek Thompson as CharlieDerek Thompson as Charlie (Image: free)

The blues and twos were working overtime in Coma (Channel 5, Monday-Thursday). Jason Watkins (we like him) played put-upon Simon, a man trying to do his best in a world full of yobs and blowhards who scratch your car or make you redundant and think they can get away with it.

During an argument, Simon takes a swing at one of the yobs. The lad cracks his head on the road, and ends up in a coma. This is not just any yob, though. And no, he’s not an M&S yob. He’s a yob with a gangster dad who may or may not smell something iffy about Simon’s claims to have found the kid lying in the street, already injured.

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From that point on the drama was chock full of people exchanging funny looks and seeming to know stuff while pretending they didn’t. Had Simon been rumbled or not?

Arriving at an answer took us all round the houses for the best part of a week. Hey, four hours of drama have to be filled somehow, but this was pushing it. Even Watkins was becoming a trial by the end.

For my money it was the paperweight that gave her away. Elizabeth Holmes, as seen in The Dropout (BBC1, Tuesday), a dramatised account of the Silicon Valley con-woman’s rise and fall, was fond of motivational sayings. “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” she had inscribed on a paperweight.

She needed such dopey charms to keep going when everyone said her idea for a blood testing machine wouldn’t work. They were right, she was wrong, and a lot of people lost money.

Played by Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia!), Holmes is made to seem an intriguing character, a complex, driven, outsider who dreams of being “a billionaire like Steve Jobs” someday. But underneath it all she’s a Del Boy, if Del Boy had gone to Stanford and wore black polo necks.

The Theranos story has been told many times in print, podcast and documentaries, which might make you wonder if another version was worth doing. Yes is the answer, mostly because of Seyfried’s performance and a slick execution overall. If you are the type of person who thrills to the sight of a vintage iMac clamshell laptop (blue), this cautionary tale of capitalism is a nerdy treat.

It has been at least two minutes since a couple of celebrities went on a licence fee-funded jolly, so welcome back Anton and Giovanni’s Adventures in Spain (BBC1, Monday). Spain is where Anton Du Beke’s mum hails from and she’s given him tips on where to go and what to see. Mum says this, mum says that, and did he mention mum was Spanish?

I would have been quite happy if mum took Giovanni’s spot and they left Gio at the nearest bus station. It’s the forced jollity that’s the killer. Anton just about gets away with it, though if you are tiring of his Strictly monologues, watch out.

But Giovanni is the Ann Widdecombe of banter, having to be dragged along like a sack of potatoes. I don’t recall a song and dance spot in the last series, but they have one here, and it’s just as bizarre as it sounds to see the pair capering around a pool. Lord knows what Alan Whicker would say.

Much excitement this week at the arrival of 3 Body Problem (Netflix, from Thursday), an eight-part drama from the same folk behind Game of Thrones, a moderately successful affair as I recall.

The story whips back and forth in time, there are sparkly numbers written in the sky, and scientists all over the world think humankind is doomed. I have not a Scooby what is going on, but I did see Brad Pitt listed as an executive producer so there must be something to it, right? I’ll keep you posted.