What’s on TV tonight: Bafta Film Awards, Death in Paradise, and more

Your complete guide to the week’s television, films and sport, across terrestrial and digital platforms

Bafta Film Awards 2024BBC One, 7pmFollowing a couple of years of bold but misconceived hosting experiments with Rebel Wilson and then Richard E Grant and Alison Hammond, David Tennant should provide a safe pair of hands for 2024’s instalment of the annual awards ceremony. Having said that, there could be drama elsewhere depending on whether or not the assembled masses can keep their clothes on for Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s performance of Murder on the Dancefloor (as seen in Saltburn). Film curator June Givanni and actress Samantha Morton will deservedly receive the Outstanding Contribution Award and the Fellowship respectively, with Bridgerton’s Phoebe Dynevor and How to Have Sex’s Mia McKenna-Bruce among the nominees for the Rising Star award. 
Oppenheimer and Poor Things are the big hitters in the main nominations, closely followed by The Zone of Interest and Killers of the Flower Moon (although the latter’s star, Lily Gladstone, remains a surprising absentee in the shortlists). Perhaps most baffling of all: no hair and make-up nod for the cultural titan that is Barbie? Not to worry – this should be a night to remember, with plenty worth celebrating in a fantastic year for cinema. GT
World’s Most Dangerous RoadsDave, 8pmRhod Gilbert, in his first big jaunt since undergoing gruelling cancer treatment, joins Angela Barnes for a trip into the Western Alps, where routes are steep, twisty and populated by drivers with a rather casual attitude towards road safety.
Death in ParadiseBBC One, 9pmGuest star Gordon Kennedy doesn’t last long in tonight’s episode; his star chef is found poisoned shortly after the grand opening of his new hotel on the island – with several cooks in the firing line. With one of them a close friend of Catherine (Élizabeth  Bourgine), cooking and policing really don’t get any tougher than this.
Miners’ Strike: A Frontline StoryBBC Two, 9pm; not WalesFollowing Channel 4’s authoritative three-parter, this lengthy but absorbing feature inevitably covers much of the same ground, but does so carefully, talking to 15 men and women from South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, made up of miners from both sides (those who went on strike, and those who continued to work) as well as family and police.
Trigger PointITV1, 9pmLana (Vicky McClure) and the team become ever more desperate as Alex’s (Tomiwa Edun) tip-offs become more obtuse and the attacks accelerate in intensity and ambition.
Into the Congo with Ben FogleChannel 5, 9pmAn old-fashioned travelogue, this, featuring scenes that would have Comic Relief, hyper-alert to imagery hinting at white saviours, running for the hills. But Fogle’s intentions are pure and thirst for discovery unquenchable as he explores the Congo, looking to learn from its people’s attitudes to community and the natural world. He begins in the hectic capital Brazzaville, before heading into the rainforest to meet the Mbendjele – an experience equally inspiring and sobering. 
FDRSky History, 9pmBest not to expect much in the way of fresh insight or analysis from this three-part documentary (executive produced by Bradley Cooper) beyond a hagiographical account of Franklin D Roosevelt, who steered the US through the Great Depression and the Second World War. Mixing strong archive with talking heads and reconstructions, it is nonetheless a solid primer. 
Fiddler on the Roof (1971) ★★★★★BBC Two, 1.40pm  Norman Jewison translates this classic Broadway musical into an equally enthralling family movie, following the life of Tevye (the Israeli actor Chaim Topol, reprising his London stage role), a milkman who must juggle the toils of life with the harsh realities of being poor and Jewish in Tsarist Russia in 1905. Despite its jolly reputation, it has a tragic core that Jewison was wholly attuned to. Also on Thursday, BBC Four, 10.10pm.
Coco (2017) ★★★★★BBC One, 2.55pm  Pixar’s animation tip-toes up to subject matter where most films rightfully fear to tread – it’s a zingy family adventure about what it means to be dead. When its young hero crosses over to the Great Beyond during the Día de Muertos festival, he must find his way back by daybreak or risk being trapped there. Its characters may be skeletons, but this fast-paced, colourful adventure brims with life. Plus, the songs are delightfully energetic.
Bruce Almighty (2003) ★★★ITV1, 3.05pm  Jim Carrey stars in this comedy as Bruce, a television reporter who moans to God (Morgan Freeman) that He is treating him unfairly. So the Almighty grants Bruce His powers, to teach him how hard it is to run the world. Bruce’s girlfriend (Jennifer Aniston) ends up ignored while he enjoys his newfound power. There are times that the plot stretches a little thin, but you’ll find yourself giggling along regardless.
Benediction (2021) ★★★★BBC Two, 11pm  Terence Davies’s sensual, heartbreaking biopic of First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon is his best film since Distant Voices, Still Lives. Slow Horses’ Jack Lowden takes on the lead role with phenomenal feeling, harnessing both Sassoon’s position as soldier and artist; one particularly stirring moment comes with Sassoon being awarded the Military Cross in 1916 (which, it was later claimed, he chucked in the River Mersey). 
BreathtakingITV1, 9pmThe phenomenal outrage that followed ITV1’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office is a testament to the power of television drama. We are, after all, social creatures. We respond to faces more than names; we empathise with people more than facts. Journalism can inform you that a tragedy has happened, but fiction can make you feel it. This is most certainly the case with Breathtaking, set amid the horrors of NHS hospital wards at the height of the Covid pandemic. 
Told over the next three nights, and boxsetted on ITVX, the drama follows protagonist Abbey (Joanne Froggatt), an NHS doctor working in a hospital that is both under-equipped and overwhelmed. The characters are fictional, although their stories are based on the memoir of doctor Rachel Clarke; she viscerally adapts for TV alongside Prasanna Puwanarajah and Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio. Tonight, it’s March 2020 and doctors such as Abbey are grappling with the official advice from prime minister Boris Johnson (real footage is spliced with devastating effect). As more and more patients are admitted, PPE runs low and nurses are put on ventilators, the dread is unbearable. A waking nightmare awaits. SK
True Detective: Night CountrySky Atlantic, 2am & 9pmThis series has proved divisive. Many viewers, including critics, have loved its slow-burning supernatural mystery; others have found it a frustrating mishmash. Tonight’s finale, at the very least, finally answers its central question: what could possibly have made the scientists run naked into a deadly blizzard?
Panorama: Hamas’ Secret Financial EmpireBBC One, 8pm; NI, 8.30pm; Wales, 10.40pmJournalist John Ware investigates the secretive financial network of Palestinian militant group Hamas. Ware discovers a web of influence which stretches well beyond Gaza, including aid from UK-based supporters.
The WayBBC One, 9pmCreated by actor Michael Sheen (who directs), playwright James Graham (who writes) and film-maker Adam Curtis (role less obvious), this ambitious drama follows a family caught up in the civil uprising of a Welsh town. It is, at times, pleasingly dreamlike, although rather let down by thin characters and heavy-handed social commentary. All three episodes are on iPlayer.
The Space Shuttle That Fell to EarthBBC Two, 9pmShortly after Columbia launched in 2003, a camera caught a piece of debris striking the space shuttle. This week’s episode examines how concerns about the footage were ignored within Nasa, which was paralysed by bureaucratic inertia – and later had to reckon with the shuttle’s devastating explosion upon reentry.
Killer Crocs with Steve BackshallChannel 5, 9pmBackshall dances with death in this exhilarating two-part exploration of crocodiles. Tonight, he travels to South Africa’s Ndumo Game Reserve, where an armed guard escorts him into a Nile crocodile “kill zone”.  
The UnBelievable with Dan Aykroyd   Sky History, 10pmIf there’s something “UnBelievable” in your neighbourhood, who you gonna call? Dan Aykroyd! The Ghostbuster himself is on camp form in this deliciously trashy look at weird events and strange places. Tonight? The Lake Michigan Triangle, which has claimed many ships, and a deadly hellhole off the coast of Brazil called “snake island”. Stick around afterwards for The UnXplained with William Shatner. 
The Iron Lady (2011) ★★★Film4, 6.55pm  Whatever your political leanings, best to put them on hold for Phyllida Lloyd’s fuzzy biopic of Margaret Thatcher, starring Meryl Streep. Those on the left will think Abi Morgan’s screenplay ignores her socially divisive free-market policies that decimated mining towns, while loyal fans are unlikely to appreciate a framing device that paints her as a vulnerable old woman rather than an influential wartime Prime Minister.
Night of the Demon (1957, b/w) ★★★★Talking Pictures TV, 9pm  Jacques Tourneur’s (Cat People) fine horror film of MR James’s short story Casting the Runes may have an American star (Dana Andrews), but it’s a quintessentially British ghost story – and all the better for it. Niall MacGinnis plays the bearded but affable villain who puts a hex on Andrews, a psychologist determined to discredit his devil worshipping cult. Her initial scepticism ends up being spookily eroded, bit by bit.
The Keeper (2018) ★★★BBC Two, 11.15pm  The story of Bert Trautmann, Luftwaffe paratrooper turned Manchester City goalkeeper, feels ready-made for the big screen, and director Marcus H Rosenmüller very nearly hits the back of the net with this handsome period weepy. PoW Trautmann (David Kross) is shipped off to the north of England where he finds a new calling minding the nets for a local team. John Henshaw and Michael Socha co-star.
Joe Lycett vs SewageChannel 4, 9pmOf the many scandals afflicting this country, there can hardly be one (other than the Horizon scandal, since ITV1’s Mr Bates and the Post Office) that people are more aware of, and disgusted by, than the appalling quantity of raw sewage that our water companies pump into our rivers and along our coastlines. So, if it feels like comedian Joe Lycett is leaping aboard the bandwagon a little late in the day, at least we can applaud the fact that – unlike most of the official agencies tasked with safeguarding the environment – he is determined to do something about it. And in typically mischievous, confrontational fashion. 
This always entertaining, often downright revolting film sees him “investigating” how Britain’s sewage system should work, and why it has been allowed to go so badly wrong for so long. Who’s to blame: greedy companies or the government? Along the way he discovers that he actually – if unknowingly – owns shares in a water company himself, urges the Church of England to offload its large water company holdings and sets up a podcast and website to encourage the public to directly petition their suppliers insisting that they should either “stop the spills or stop the dividends”. GO
The Pet Psychic: What’s Your Dog ThinkingChannel 5, 7pmAn amusing (not always intentionally) series featuring self-styled pet psychic Beth Lee-Crowther as she travels across the UK helping owners understand their pets’ ailments and odd behaviours. First, Petal, a chicken that’s stopped laying, and Yogi the dog who hates walkies.
Sort Your Life Out with Stacey SolomonBBC One, 9pmSolomon and her team are back to help more families rebalance their lives by sorting through the vast accretions of stuff hoarded in their homes. In Redhill, Surrey, they help a bereaved father and his daughters sort through 197 teddies and dolls, 373 items of unopened mail and 1,239 books.
BoardersBBC Three, 9pmA rapier-sharp six-part comedy, created by Timewasters’ Daniel Lawrence Taylor, about a handful of south London teenagers invited to broach the barricades of class and white privilege via scholarships to a leading public school. Josh Tedeku, Myles Kamwendo, Jodie Campbell, Sekou Diaby and Aruna Jalloh are all note-perfect in the lead roles.
Laura Whitmore Investigates: Rough SexITV2, 9pmThe first of three reports in which the presenter sets out to illuminate some dark topics about sex. Getting to grips with how, for some people, pain can be a form of pleasure, she also asks whether pornography’s normalisation of practices such as choking during sex is providing men with an excuse for abusive behaviour.
Perfect Pub Walks with Bill BaileyMore4, 9pmEver since Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, men talking to men in the great British countryside has become a thing. Here, comedian Bill Bailey swaps rods for hiking boots and invites fellow celebrities to join him on a series of walks. First up, a gentle three-day trek through the Peak District with his close pal, Alan Davies. 
Total Trust: Surveillance State: StoryvilleBBC Four, 10pmDirector Jialing Zhang explores the Orwellian levels of state surveillance in China. The extent to which the Chinese people have been inculcated into accepting state control without question is one of the film’s most staggering revelations – and feels like a warning to the wider world. 
Saving Private Ryan (1998) ★★★★★Film4, 9pm  Steven Spielberg’s epic vision of the Normandy invasion stars Tom Hanks and Matt Damon, and chronicles a GI squad who are ordered to track down James Francis Ryan (Damon) so that they can get him home to his mother, who’s already lost three sons. The Omaha Beach scenes are still a wonder to behold: they remain among the most visceral battle sequences ever shot. Could it be Spielberg’s all-time greatest film?
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) ★★★★★BBC Two, 11.15pm  Director Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) delivers a heart-stopping adaptation of James Baldwin’s 1974 novel, charting the fallout on a Harlem family and the pregnant Tish (KiKi Layne) when her husband Fonny (Stephan James) is unjustly incarcerated. Gorgeously romantic and melancholic, with a stirring score by Nicholas Britell, it deserved a bigger showing than its three Oscar nominations (and one win).
Hot Fuzz (2007) ★★★★ITV4, 11.20pm  Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright’s excellent follow-up to the cult comedy-horror Shaun of the Dead (and the second chapter in the Cornetto Trilogy) reunites Pegg with Nick Frost in the story of two policemen who uncover a conspiracy in a Somerset village. Timothy Dalton is a triumph as a millionaire baddy. Sharp, funny and explosive, it’s a very British action-comedy that does everything it should.
ConstellationApple TV+With one hit space-drama, For All Mankind, already on the roster, the arrival of Constellation on Apple TV+ should come as no surprise. But unlike Ronald D Moore’s excellent counterfactual history, this eight-part drama (three episodes are available today) forgoes pulpy fun in favour of something chillier, invoking the likes of Solaris, Interstellar and Gravity. At its heart is the gimlet-eyed Noomi Rapace as Jo, an astronaut preparing for her first spacewalk on the ISS when the craft is hit by something and an on-board experiment goes bafflingly awry, eventually leaving Jo alone and plagued by hallucinations. 
All the while, her husband (James D’Arcy) and daughter wait anxiously on Earth, where Cold War rivalries resurface and Jonathan Banks’s quantum physicist insists that the ISS experiments should continue. Constellation does not want for ambition, but the pacing is occasionally ponderous, as if unsure how much science to blind us with, only gathering dramatic force upon Jo’s return to Earth – an event foreshadowed by the prologue, and coming at perhaps fatal cost to her sanity. Superb special effects make this worth sticking with, even so. GT
Can I Tell You A Secret?NetflixOffering a refreshing spin on the televised true-crime podcast, this two-part series (based on a Guardian investigation) examines the impact on the lives of several female victims of Matthew Hardy, a prolific cyberstalker brought to justice by his victims’ bravery and diligent policing.
Marcus Wareing’s Tales from a Kitchen GardenBBC Two, 7pmThe chef learns from the experts about cider-making, livestock rearing and pumpkin harvesting, also taking time out to rustle up a delicious platter of sausages and fried potatoes in his outdoor fire pit.
Bring the DramaBBC Two, 9pmThis charming reality series, which attempts to find untapped acting talent, turns its attention to one of the BBC’s most enduring hits as the hopefuls visit the set of Silent Witness and attempt to fill Emilia Fox’s shoes as Dr Nikki Alexander. Such a role requires rapid mastery of medical jargon and the ability to emanate authority. Series star Genesis Lynea (who plays Simone Tyler) will offer her assessment of their performances.
Alice & JackChannel 4, 9pmThe longer it goes, the tighter this unorthodox romantic drama grips, thanks in no small part to the assured, spiky chemistry between stars Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson as the titular (occasional) lovers. But are they star-crossed or fated to be together? As their paths intersect once again, years on, the jury is out. Continues tomorrow and Friday.
Small IslandBBC Four, from 10pmA more recent repeat than many of the archive treats on BBC Four’s Wednesday nights, but this excellent two-part adaptation of Andrea Levy’s 2009 novel is both impeccably cast and timely in its exploration of the Jamaican diaspora in the UK through the intertwined lives of Hortense (Naomie Harris), Michael (Ashley Walters), Bernard (David Oyelowo), Queenie (Ruth Wilson) and Gilbert (Benedict Cumberbatch). 
Inseparable SistersBBC One, 10.40pm; Wales, 8pm; NI, 11.40pmConjoined twins Marieme and Ndeye have defied the odds to reach the age of seven under the care of their father Ibrahim. This sensitive film documents both the many challenges they face every day and the joy in the lives of two girls whose personalities are as different as they are infectious. 
Nicholas Nickleby (1947, b/w) ★★★Film4, 4.50pm  Director Alberto Cavalcanti’s (Went the Day Well?, Die Windrose) adaptation of one of Charles Dickens’s more uneven novels, starring wooden Derek Bond as the eponymous hero and the far superior Cedric Hardwicke as the uncle who packs him off to work at a brutal boys’ boarding school, is well-paced – but suffers somewhat from the particular Ealing brand of sentimentality that was Cavalcanti’s stock-in-trade.
The Fault in Our Stars (2014) ★★★BBC Three, 9.45pm  Josh Boone’s film, adapted from the phenomenally successful young-adult novel by John Green, is about two American teenagers who are both diagnosed with cancer. It’s tenderly performed, by Shailene Woodley in particular, and though the basic storyline is well-worn now – Love Story told it 55 years ago – it comes with more than enough quirks to give it the appearance of freshness.
The Outsiders (1983) ★★★★★Film4, 10.55pm  This adaptation of SE Hinton’s novel (which she wrote when she was just 16-years-old) features a veritable galaxy of up-and-coming Brat Pack stars. Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Tom Cruise and Ralph Macchio play the members of a gang whose rivalry with another turns deadly. Despite the realism of the source material, director Francis Ford Coppola takes a stylised approach in this portrayal of vulnerable male youthhood.
Gymnastics: A Culture of Abuse? ITV1, 9pm“I can’t watch gymnastics because I know what I’m watching is child abuse,” says one former gymnast in this documentary exploring the dark side of a sport dominated by youngsters – and follows similar shocking reports of widespread abuse in the US. It is at times a tough watch as it chronicles victims’ fight for justice, with some claiming that they were physically, emotionally or sexually abused by their coaches and are now suing the sport’s governing body, British Gymnastics, for allegedly ignoring their allegations. 
Many of the accusers say that not being believed forced them to leave the sport they loved; others had to live with a range of devastating consequences, including failed relationships in adulthood, anorexia and alcohol addiction. The contributors – gymnasts, parents, coaches and experts, including Anne Whyte KC, who wrote a damning review into allegations of abuse in the sport – tell harrowing stories of bullying and worse by coaches that have gone largely unpunished for decades. In a year when we will see dedication bringing the ultimate reward of Olympic gold medals, it’s a sobering reminder of the dark side of sport. VL
Avatar: The Last AirbenderNetflixNo previews were available of this live-action reimagining of the animated series about Aang, the young Avatar, as he learns to master the four elements – water, earth, fire and air – and restore balance to a world threatened by the warmongering Fire Nation. However, trailers promise a thrill-ride packed full of cutting-edge CGI. Gordon Cormier plays Aang.
The Family StalloneParamount+A second series of this Kardashians-lite reality show following Sylvester Stallone and his wife, Jennifer Flavin, and their three adult daughters, Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet. This time around, the Stallone clan are selling their Los Angeles home and preparing to move to Florida.
Great British MenuBBC Two, 8pmThe top two Welsh chefs from this week’s heats prepare their delectable six-course menu again for the judges – Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge, restaurateur Nisha Katona and comedian and Off Menu podcaster Ed Gamble. The guest judge is former Olympian Colin Jackson.
Murdered at Home: TonightITV1, 8.30pm; not STV/UTVJulie Etchingham presents this report on domestic homicide sentencing, before a public consultation on the subject ends early next month. The figures are shocking: in the UK, two to three women are murdered by a partner or ex-partner every week, while nearly 1.5 million are victims of domestic abuse each year, with campaigners saying sentences are too lenient.
The ApprenticeBBC One, 9pmIt’s the buying and haggling round and the candidates are off to Jersey to secure nine items for the lowest price – cue more frantic running around – under the watchful gaze of Lord Sugar’s aides Karren Brady and Tim Campbell. You’re Fired – in which comedian Tom Allen talks to the candidate who has taken the solo taxi ride home – follows on BBC Two at 10pm.
JuliaSky Atlantic, 9pmSadly, no third series of this gorgeous biography of chef and television trailblazer Julia Child is on the menu, so have your fill of Sarah Lancashire giving another meaty performance in the title role. In tonight’s final episode, The French Chef is under threat when its makers are accused of un-American activities and the FBI pays the TV station a visit. 
A Room With A View (1985) ★★★★★Film4, 3.55pm  James Ivory’s finest hour, this film epitomises the Hollywood studio’s affection for the repressed, emotionally starved Brit. A pitch-perfect Helena Bonham Carter plays Lucy Honeychurch, EM Forster’s heroine who must negotiate the Edwardians’ complex hypocrisies on matters of love, first in Florence, then the English countryside. The startingly fine cast includes Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench, and Daniel Day-Lewis.
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) ★★★★BBC Four, 8pm  Norman Jewison’s classic adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s controversy-fuelled rock musical tells the story of the week before the Messiah’s crucifixion through the eyes of Christ’s betrayer, Judas. Ted Neeley stars as Jesus, while Carl Anderson is the Biblical bad egg. The rip-roaring soundtrack, including hit song I Don’t Know How to Love Him, won a Bafta. Also on Sunday on BBC Two at noon.
The Kid Detective (2020) ★★★★Film4, 9pm  Adam Brody stars in writer-director Evan Morgan’s absorbing neo-noir thriller. A drunken small town detective – once famous for his successes as a teenage sleuth, until he failed to solve the disappearance of his best friend – is given a chance to redeem himself when a high-school student (Sophie Nélisse) asks him to find out who killed her boyfriend. It’s blackly comic and surprisingly tense, plus Brody is terrific.
National Trust: My Historic HomeChannel 4, 8pmPlagued by criticisms from supporters who decry it for being too “woke”, the National Trust is surely thrilled with this enjoyable puff-piece celebrating some of its grandest buildings – and the people who keep them in tip-top shape. Faced with dwindling membership and ever-rising costs, how do they do it? Well, Castle Ward in County Down, Northern Ireland, has had a welcome boost from the TV industry, as a major shooting location in HBO’s Game of Thrones, reveals Collection and House Manager Neil. 
Over in Herefordshire, meanwhile, Ian must juggle the demands of family life with managing Croft Castle – where his family has lived for 17 years – and its 600 daily visitors, as well as other nearby Trust properties such as Berrington Hall. And in north Wales, Emily doesn’t just have Penrhyn Castle to contend with: she’s heavily pregnant and her dog Willow is as demanding as ever. It might serve mostly as an advertorial for new members, but this is also a warm celebration of the good people who have committed themselves to preserving Britain’s historical gems for future generations. PP
Formula 1: Drive to SurviveNetflixPetrolheads, rejoice: all 10 episodes of this sixth instalment of the Formula 1 docu-series drop today, and it has better access than ever – contributors include Max Verstappen, Guenther Steiner and Lance Stroll – as it takes us behind the scenes of the 2023 World Championship.
Here We GoBBC One, 8pmTom Basden’s sitcom continues to delight, with the big day – Robin (Basden) and Cherry’s (Tori Allen-Martin) wedding – finally here. Of course, it’s not all smooth sailing: first up is the stag do, hampered somewhat by Rachel’s (Katherine Parkinson) insistence that they’re anti-feminist – resulting in a gender-neutral party and her lining herself up to be best man. What could possibly go wrong?
Monty Don’s Spanish GardensBBC Two, 8pmSwapping the shared limelight of Gardeners’ World for his own time in the sun, Monty Don heads to Spain to visit some of the nation’s most beautiful gardens. Tonight, that means the vast palatial enclosures of the El Escorial, near Madrid, and a flower-filled public park formed out of a disused river bed.
Martin Compston’s Norwegian FlingBBC Two, 9pm; not WalesThe amicable Line of Duty star becomes the latest celebrity to join the travelogue club; Compston and presenter pal Phil MacHugh take on the slopes at Norway’s favourite ski location, Holmenkollen, before heading back to capital city Oslo to meet with the country’s youngest MP, 23-year-old Maren Grøthe. The sights are stunning and their banter pleasingly good-natured. All six episodes are available on iPlayer now.
Sue Perkins: Lost in AlaskaChannel 5, 9pmIn tonight’s finale, the comedian concludes her Alaskan voyage by venturing even further into its expansive, snowy wilderness. Perkins meets a Native family in the ancient village of Tanana, before facing her fear of flying head-on in order to view the mesmerising Kennicott Glacier from above.
The Graham Norton ShowBBC One, 10.40pmGraham Norton (armed with stiff drinks aplenty) welcomes popstar Dua Lipa and actresses Kate Winslet (talking about her new political satire The Regime) and Cate Blanchett (about to star in period drama The New Boy). 
Wild Rose (2018) ★★★★Film4, 9pm  Tom Harper’s stellar country music drama is noteworthy for several reasons – not least its transportation of the all-American genre to a Glaswegian estate – but mostly for its heralding of a new star in Jessie Buckley. She plays a recent parolee with a great singing voice (and two kids and an overbearing mother) who’s desperate to hit the big time. For further proof of her brilliance, catch her in Beast (2017) afterwards.
Film of the Week: Asteroid City (2023) ★★★★Sky Cinema Premiere, 9pmSit down and tuck into Wes Anderson’s starriest film yet. The American director is as well known for his ensemble casts – take your mind back to The Grand Budapest Hotel, with Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman, or The Royal Tenenbaums, led by Owen Wilson, Gene Hackman and Gwyneth Paltrow – as his whimsical, pastel-hued cinematography. Prior to the release of the Palme d’Or-nominated Asteroid City, Anderson was already having a cultural resurgence thanks to TikTok, with users uploading their own makeshift videos, designed in his trademark aesthetic; but, of course, they were no match for the real thing. This dreamlike play-within-a-film is set in two places: an American desert town in the 1950s where people are descending for a children’s astronomy meet-up, and a theatre production being staged years later in NYC about it. The leads are all captivating, which isn’t hard when you consider they’re played by Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks and Jeffrey Wright; but what makes this a worthwhile watch, above all, is Anderson’s unwavering commitment to making intelligent films that look, and make you feel, beautiful. 
Only You (2019) ★★★★BBC Three, 10.05pm  British up-and-comer writer/director Harry Wootliff made her feature debut with this engrossing love story, starring Josh O’Connor (The Crown) and Laia Costa. He is wide-eyed romantic Jake; she is cynical Elena, 10 years his senior and far less convinced that their affair will last when they bump into each other one night in Glasgow. A tentative relationship blossoms, however, with often heartbreaking results. Both leads are impeccable.
The Eiger Sanction (1975) ★★★BBC Two, 11.05pm  Clint Eastwood starred in and directed this action-thriller based on a novel by Trevanian. He plays professor and mountaineer Dr Jonathan Hemlock, who has a murky past as an assassin. After he’s blackmailed into taking on one last hit, involving an expedition up the Eiger mountain in Switzerland, the job becomes complicated when Hemlock isn’t sure which of the group is his target. Vonetta McGee is great in support.
Purple Rain (1984) ★★★BBC Four, 11.20pm  Prince, or “his purple highness” if you’d rather, plays a fey musician with father issues and a crush on girl singer Apollonia in this pop-star vehicle packed with dopey dialogue, gauche performances and hilarious hairdos aplenty. An early pioneer of the rock musical, it starred Prince in his acting debut and features some brilliant concert scenes; it was directed by Albert Magnoli, who later became the singer’s manager.
Television previewers
Stephen Kelly (SK), Veronica Lee (VL), Gerard O’Donovan (GO), Poppie Platt (PP) and Gabriel Tate (GT)