TV weekend: 'Althea,' 'Arthur,' 'Sherlock'

Althea

PBS, Friday, 9 ET/PT (times may vary)

A strong PBS weekend kicks off with this American Masters profile of Althea Gibson, the first African-American athlete to play — and win — at Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals. Among those interviewed is Billie Jean King, who's also one of the film's producers.

Arthur & George

PBS, Sunday, 8 ET/PT (times may vary)

Here's potentially good news for fans of Doc Martin and Sherlock Holmes, as Doc's Martin Clunes steps out as Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle. Adapted from Julian Barnes' fact-based novel, the three-part production finds Doyle enraged by what he believes is the unjust arrest of an Anglo-Indian solicitor — and determined to use the fiction tricks he invented for Sherlock to solve a real-life case.

Sherlock

PBS, Sunday, 9 ET/PT (times may vary)

Cleverly, PBS is teaming Arthur with a repeat of this witty Sherlock installment from 2014, which brought our hero back from the (supposed) dead. There are many reasons Steven Moffat's and Mark Gatiss's splendidly enjoyable update has been so popular, but one surely must be their fresh take on the bond between Benedict Cumberbatch's socially adrift Sherlock and Martin Freeman's equally lonely John Watson. That crucial, central relationship is treated with proper respect in an episode that blends meta-jokes about Sherlock's disappearance with an honest exploration of the strain it placed on the duo's friendship.