I’ve been trying to catch up with some tv after my fortnight hiatus due to study – yeah the leaving cert really blows….I imagine the highlight for a lot of people this week will be the start of Fifa World Cup 2014, which kicks off on ITV on Thursday at 7pm with Brazil facing off to Croatia. Sure it could be anyone’s game.

A happy return to BBC4 on Saturday nights has been the new series of Wallander. I’m finding this season terribly confusing as they seem to have changed some of the actors, particularly the actor who plays Wallander’s daughter and fellow police woman Linda. I particularly loved her story line in season one with Stefan. However, tonight’s episode deals with Wallander seeking medical intervention for his memory problem and he is told to take things easy. Easier said than done as he gets pulled into a case with the discovery of the dismembered body of a young Eastern European woman. Krister Henriksson shines in the lead role and it is one of the finest police procedurals that I have ever had the pleasure of watching.

Orange is the New Black is back on Netflix with the whole of season 2 now available for streaming. I know a few people who will be bulk watching this over the weekend. For those of you unfamiliar with this series, it is based on the true story of Piper Kerman, a woman from a wealthy Boston family, she was sentenced to 15 month in prison for drug trafficking and money laundering offences. So far, so not very humorous. In 2010 she turned this experience into a bestselling memoir called “Orange is the New Black: My year in a women’s prison” which attempted to put a human face on the 2.4 million people incarcerated in the US prison system. Netflix then produced this comedy drama series loosely based on her book and it became their most popular original show. Taylor Schilling plays the lead character based on Kerman, renamed Piper Chapman. Piper has to do battle with prison bureaucracy, abusive guards, prison etiquette and fundametalist bigots. Well worth the subscription costs alone.

Also returning to our screens is The Mindy Project on E4 on Tuesday at 9.30pm. The Mindy Project revolves around the life of a young Ob/Gyn doctor trying to balance her professional life with her personal life surrounded by her quirky co-workers in her practice. Rotten Tomatoes is giving the series an 87% approval rating and James Franco is staring in the opening episode as Mindy returns from Haiti for emergency surgery and must decide if she should stay in New York or return to Haiti.