In The Sinner and the Sandman, a retired local psychic inadvertently makes the most amazing and impossible prediction of his career.

As Creek and Polly strive to settle into rural life, they find their apparently serene country village is riddled with all manner of strange and disturbing undercurrents . . .

Trouble is already brewing in the nearby community centre - recently reopened after a major facelift - where a sordid sex scandal is about to break, casting a pall of gloom over the celebrations.

And at the vicarage, the arrival of a new baby is overshadowed by tales of a "weird hump-backed beast" that has been seen prowling in the garden by night and foraging through the rubbish bags for foodstuffs.

Even the Creek residence is struck by misfortune, as the prospect of a plague of deadly Japanese knotweed threatens to trigger widescale panic throughout the village. And after a whole slew of other unfortunate events, there are fears that some strange parochial apocalypse is about to dawn.

Jonathan Creek, meanwhile, finds himself paying a charitable call on the eccentric Mr Eric Ipswich - aka "The Amazing Astrodamus" - an ancient and reclusive former psychic magician who will shortly bring the village to a standstill by pulling off the most baffling act of clairvoyance in history.

And what is behind the macabre recurring dream that continues to haunt Creek's wife Polly, in which the kindly children's nursery character The Sandman is transformed into a dark and chilling figure of evil?

The channel has carved out a special place in the cultural TV landscape – from in-depth science and documentary to groundbreaking comedy and drama. Across these two screenings we take a look at the first fascinating week of BBC2 via surviving archive programmes that show an astonishing range of subjects and ambition, and which laid the foundations for the channel we all know and love today.

This selection of archive clips aims to capture the flavour of the opening week (including the first night's power cut, and the hilarious newsreader forced to stay on air with nothing to cut to!). Clips include light entertainment shows such as Jazz 625: Duke Ellington in Concert, comedy from The Alberts' Channel Too and Arkady Raikin (the Soviet Union's leading comedian), and drama with Julius Caesar (the National Youth Theatre production with original jazz score).

This lavish production of the famous Cole Porter Broadway musical was commissioned to kick the channel off with a bang, and to showcase the better picture offered by BBC2's brand-new 625-line system (until then, all UK television had only been 405 lines). Add to this a superb cast (Howard Keel and Millicent Martin), some spirited dance routines and numbers - including, appropriately enough to open a new national TV channel, "Another Op'nin', Another Show" – and we guarantee you a toe-tapping televisual extravaganza!

The BFI's Missing Believed Wiped initiative exists not only to highlight recovered TV material but to provide a showcase for the public. These screenings serve multiple purposes: to allow enthusiasts to see the titles; to inform cataloguers and archivists of the survival status of the material; and - perhaps most importantly - to alert schedulers, programme-makers and commercial distributors to the finds, leading to greater exposure.

To that end, this Missing Believed Wiped special will focus on the zany, pre-Python comedy series The Complete and Utter History of Britain - Michael Palin and Terry Jones' 1960s precursor to the much-loved TV show Horrible Histories. Here, we find sketches such as Richard the Lionheart relating his exploits in the Crusades in the manner of a laddish holidaymaker, and William the Conquerer engaging in post-match analysis.

Fans will be delighted that all the surviving material from this seminal series, along with new complementary material from Palin and Jones, will now be made available on DVD (thanks to Network Releasing).

When a classic locked-room novel is turned into a West End musical, one of its stars falls victim to a real-life "impossible crime".

The Mystery of the Yellow Room, based on a 19th-century story by Gaston Leroux, is currently thrilling London theatre audiences with its enticing blend of music, romance and sizzling Gothic melodrama.

But events take a sinister turn one night when the show's glamorous singing sensation Juno Pirelli is found horribly stabbed inside a locked dressing room, from which no assailant could possibly have escaped.

No weapon or any other evidence of an intruder can be found, nor any rational explanation for the victim's wounds.

As the actress's life hangs in the balance, her producer and colleagues remain baffled. And attention once again turns to the lateral-thinking Jonathan Creek for a solution to the whole grisly puzzle.

But can Creek - now a happily-married man - even be persuaded to embark upon the investigation? As he and his wife, Polly, struggle to come to terms with a sudden personal tragedy, a series of dark and disturbing family secrets is about to emerge that will throw the couple's whole world into turmoil . . .

I'm completely thrilled to be able to continue the journey we have begun on The Musketeers. Writing and helping produce the show has been one of the greatest challenges and joys of my professional life.

Drama in 2014 has got off to a great start on BBC One and The Musketeers has really brought something fresh and new to the channel. I can't wait to see how things will develop in the next series.

I am delighted that Jessica Pope, Adrian Hodges, Colin Wratten and their team are able to go back to 17th-century Paris, round up those superb Musketeers and fight some more good fights for the BBC One audience.