Joss Whedon fans (and they are legion) will need no encouragement from me to catch this airing of the spin-off movie from his incredibly rich and popular (but nevertheless cancelled) TV series Firefly. For the rest of you, the news that it features most of the original TV cast, including Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite and Summer Glau (more recently seen as the friendly Terminator in the Sarah Connor Chronicles) may help.

But really, whether you are familiar with the original series or not, any fan of SF, space opera, or the more traditional Earth-bound westerns will find something to enjoy in this rip-roaring yarn from Whedon's incredibly fertile imagination.

Following on from the end of the Firefly series, the crew of the 03 Firefly-class light space-freighter Serenity have been hiding Simon Tam and his traumatised telepathic younger sister River from the Alliance (the name for the totalitarian government in the 26th century), taking jobs on the edge of legality to survive.

When the true extent of River's mental powers becomes clear, Simon decides they have to leave the Serenity for the sake of everyone's safety. But River mutters "Miranda" and suffers a mental seizure during which she almost shoots Serenity's captain. On top of this, the Alliance has sent a new Operative to track River down and make sure she doesn't reveal what she knows. What does "Miranda" mean? What is the Alliance hiding? Captain Reynolds is determined to find out, but will he be able to do that before the Operative catches up with River and kills her?

Serenity: ITV4, Monday 5 January, 10pm

Worth a look:
The Untouchables: Film4, Saturday 3 January, 9pm
What Women Want: BBC One, Saturday 3 January, 10.10pm
Independence Day: Film4, Sunday 4 January, 9pm
The Descent: C4, Wednesday 7 January, 11.05pm