Some great documentaries on this week starting on Sunday night with the return of Louis Theroux to our screens with LA Stories (BBC2, 9pm). This three part series is set in LA and the first episode explores the city’s love affair with their four legged friends. The canine population of the city of angels runs to a quarter of a million pooches. The documentary looks at the thankless work involved in animal rescue. With  so many strays needing to be re-homed, hundreds are destroyed each week. The “Cesar Milan” effect is also highlighted with owners of delinquent pets hiring in behavior guru’s to solve their problems.

BBC4’s fantastic Storyville series (Monday, 9pm) continues with America’s Monster Hunters, a documentary about the people who make their lives work hunting Bigfoot. Still a very popular myth, the fabled creature seems to be getting a lot of screen time recently with Channel 4 series Bigfoot Files and a new Spike TV series in the states called “10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty”- I imagine they’re not too concerned they will have to pay out the actual bounty.

There’s a new series starting on Watch on Thursday night (9pm) “Believe”, created by director of Children of Men and Y Tu Mama Tambien, Alfonso Cuaron. A supernatural thriller, it revolves around a little girl with super powers who is being hunted down by a nefarious bunch wanting to put those powers to evil use. She heads on the run with her guardian and ex-con Tate, an inmate of death row that was broken out just to take care of her. The series seems not to have had a good critical reception, but a popular audience response.

More 4 are jumping on the Nordic series bandwagon and are offering Mammon (Friday, 9pm), a Norwegian thriller. This six part series has been described as a Scandinavian “All The President’s Men”. It follows six days in the life of a journalist for one of the countries most respected newspaper, who uncovers a financial fraud involving the political elite. Mammon pulled in huge audience figures in its home country, including the highest ever ratings for a crime series. Set your series link now.

LAW