PODCASTS have made true crime so in vogue there is a late to the party scramble among big name journalists for cases to call their own. Last week we had Fiona Bruce and The Parachute Murder Plot; this week it was Trevor McDonald and the Killer Nurse (STV, Wednesday, 9pm).

The former News at Ten anchor revisited the case of Beverley Allitt, the nurse who murdered four children and attacked a further nine at Grantham Hospital in Lincolnshire. Her conviction was reported by McDonald during his first year on News at Ten. It was shocking then, and 25 years on it had lost none of its power to disturb.

McDonald came bearing more than a cuttings job. He had access to the police interview tapes and had lined up interviews with some of the victims, a few speaking for the first time.

Despite the programme’s factually accurate but over the top title, McDonald told the story in his own, low key, dignified way. Nothing else was required. He spoke to the detective who secured the conviction. Now retired, Stuart Clifton looked like he had seen it all, but this case had clearly been the hardest to bear. As we heard in the tapes, Allitt coolly denied over and over having anything to do with the spate of sudden deaths. McDonald left the audience with the knowledge that Allitt is serving her time not in a prison but in a secure hospital, a place where she can be secured and feel secure. The irony was enough to make you weep.

54 Hours (BBC4, Saturday, 9pm) was based on another true crime, a bank robbery in Gladbeck, Germany, in 1988. This two parter, which finishes tonight, started as it went on, at a blistering pace. The thieves were discovered mid-robbery and the police called. One might have expected the police to storm the bank, but the robbers had taken two hostages. Under official rules, nothing could be done that would put the hostages in jeopardy. So the police could only watch as the duo asked for and received money and a getaway car, and drove off with the hostages for a destination unknown. If this was not ludicrous enough, the media had arrived and was joining in the chase. OJ’s white Bronco chase looked sane in comparison.

Only Connect (BBC2, Monday, 8pm) was back and as jolly hockey sticks as ever. It’s the quiz that likes to think of itself as one of the lads, but between Victoria Coren as host, the classical theme tune, and a tendency for the questions to be rather tricky, it is definitely more Ask the Family than The Chase.

This week a team called Hotpots took on the Poptimists, with each player introduced by Victoria with a fascinating fact about their lives. Paul, for example, grew his own veg. Joe, a civil servant, was once charged by a rhino. In normal circumstances this would have been impressive, but it turned out Matt of the Poptimists had also been charged, in his case by an elephant. Does an elephant trump a rhino? Alas, that was not one of the questions asking contestants to connect the seemingly unconnected.

Ms Coren was awfully kind to everyone, especially when they were wrong. “That’s very nicely constructed,” said the Mary Poppins of quiz shows, “but I can’t give you a point.” Watch and learn, Jeremy “Crotchety” Paxman, watch and learn.

100 Days to Victory (BBC2 Scotland, Tuesday, 9pm) had the difficult task of taking a well-covered subject, the First World War, and finding a new angle. A co-production between BBC Scotland, Foxtel Australia and The History Channel in Canada, 100 Days concentrated on the final offensive, when fresh thinking from “the Empire”, allied with new technology such as the tank, combined to invent modern warfare. Blending dramatised scenes with excerpts from soldiers’ diaries and contributions from historians, it rattled along in fine style. As the first part ended, the Hindenberg Line stood between the allies and victory. The toughest test was yet to come.

100 Days was a superb example of an international co-production. I would have liked to have heard some German voices in the mix, but perhaps that was a diplomatic stretch too far.

You’ve had your Bodyguard, and now you’ve had The Cry (BBC1, Sunday, 9.00pm). Based on the novel by Scots writer Helen Fitzgerald, this tale of a missing baby grew stronger as it went on. The final instalment took a big risk in being so slow, but all the storytelling effort paid off in a piece that called to mind one of those Hollywood melodramas where the dames had the last word. Let there be no tears spilled over this smart calling card for Scottish-made drama.