Updated: Wednesday, 21st July, 2010 4:54pm

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What's On the Box this week?

by John Daly

Rupert Graves is Inspector Lestrade in the new BBC crime drama 'Sherlock'.

'Sherlock' (BBC 1, Sunday, 9pm) - Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman play Holmes and Watson in what is advertised as 'a Sherlock updated for a new generation'.

Holmes was always a modern man, it's the world that got old. Now he's back as he should be: edgy, contemporary, difficult and dangerous, in three new dramas. Watson, a doctor and war hero, is fresh from military service in Afghanistan. The two men couldn't be more different, but Sherlock's inspired leaps of intellect, coupled with Watson's pragmatism, soon forge an unbreakable alliance.

A woman in pink lies dead in a derelict house, the fourth in a series of impossible suicides. DI Lestrade is the best Scotland Yard has got, but even he knows he can't compare to the young man who can tell a software designer by his tie or an airline pilot by his thumb. Across three action-packed episodes, the pair navigate a maze of cryptic clues and lethal killers to get at the truth.

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'This Sporting Life' (RTE 1, Thursday, 7pm) - The stories of six of Ireland's most eminent sportsmen and women - Christy O'Connor Jnr, Catherina McKiernan, Trevor Brennan, Tony Cascarino, Paul Carberry and Dessie Farrell - are told in this series.

It looks at their greatest achievements in sport but also chronicles the all too human stories behind some of the sporting headlines where the six talk candidly about their successes and failures in arenas where so much is expected by their fans and the public in general. The first programme tells the story of controversial Irish rugby player Trevor Brennan who started his rugby career playing for Bective Rangers and then St Mary's where he captained the side to AIB League glory in 2000.

Brennan went on to get 13 caps for Ireland before moving to French side, Toulouse, with which he went on to win two Heineken Cup medals.

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'Love Virtually' (Ch4, Friday, 7.30pm) - Rosie Walsh explores the fascinating world of love in the digital age. Lucy Robinson's online diary, The Final Countdown, entertains thousands of marieclaire.co.uk readers with tales from the frontline of internet dating.

Actress Claire Wood portrays Lucy in a fictional documentary at critical moments in her cyber love life. As well as following Lucy's experiences, the documentary interviews several other internet-dating-savvy women, and provides an absorbing and comical glimpse of love in the 21st century.

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'Skippers' (RTE 1, Sunday, 8.30pm) - A new documentary series which takes the viewer aboard working fishing vessels in the Irish fleet to meet the men who lead these boats: the skippers.

Crews in pursuit of their lucrative catch, involving long absences from home, 24-hour shifts, huge waves, 80mph gales and the unpredictability that is the ocean itself are part and parcel with this job. The series ventures out on the high seas bringing the action and turmoil, wave by wave, roll by roll, as these knights of the ocean ply their trade in one of the world's most dangerous occupations.

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'Baby Beauty Queens' (BBC 3, Tuesday, 8.30pm) - From tiaras to diamante eyelashes and spray tans, this new series focuses on the burgeoning world of the child beauty pageant industry.

Exploring the pressures on young people to grow up too quickly, 'Baby Beauty Queens' shines a spotlight on life for aspiring pageant queens and child models in an image-obsessed world. This first episode features seven-year-old Amber and six-year-old Eden as they prepare to become two of the youngest competitors in Mini Miss UK, while their motivated mothers Sally and Fathom go head-to-head in the yummy mummy section.

Amber has never entered a pageant before, but she is serious about fashion, and won't be told what to wear by anyone. Sally supports her daughter in whatever she wants to do, but she also believes she's got the looks to make it, too. Mother and daughter's strong personalities mean sparks fly when it comes to making decisions.

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Movie Of The Week: 'Marjorie Morningstar' (Ch4, Monday, 3.55am) - An oldie but goodie with Natalie Wood playing a young Jewish girl unsure of herself who is romantically drawn to Gene Kelly, a drama coach at a summer camp and a dreamer whose aim is to see his musical on Broadway. Unfortunately, the musical is awful and Airman is only after Marjorie for her connections. Based on Herman Wouk's bestseller, it was Wood's big role after 'The Wild One' and made her a star, while Kelly plays against type as the older man after her for all the wrong reasons.