© Provided by The Telegraph Hayley McElhinney and Mark Coles Smith in Mystery Road: Origin – David Dare Parker
Saturday 7 January
Mystery Road: Origin
BBC Four, 9pm & 9.55pm
The 2013 Australian film Mystery Road followed brooding indigenous detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) as he tracked down the killer of a teenage Aboriginal girl. It proved so popular that it led to a spin-off TV show of the same name, which was set after the events of the film. You do not necessarily need to have watched either to enjoy this engrossing third series, however, which takes the form of a prequel origin story. The year is 1999 and a young Jay Swan (played this time by the commanding Mark Coles Smith) has returned to his hometown of Jardine to join the local police force.
The opening two episodes, which premiere alongside a six-part box-set on iPlayer, set up an intriguing plot involving a series of strange robberies by thieves wearing Ned Kelly masks. It is possible that they are connected to a local group of neo-Nazis, with Swan himself proving a focal point to explore the racial tensions that are brewing in the small town. Hence the subplot of a lawyer who is reopening the historic case of a murdered indigenous boy. It burns slow, but it is a stylish, moody neo-Western, bolstered by breathtaking shots of vast Australian landscapes. SK
David Copperfield
Drama, from 11am
This excellent 1999 BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’s classic novel, about an orphan exploring the world around him, stars a young Daniel Radcliffe in his first leading role. He is joined by an all-star cast, including Maggie Smith, Bob Hoskins and Ian McKellen. Curiously, it was originally broadcast in two parts, although Drama have split it into four hour-long episodes.
The Masked Singer
ITV1, 7pm
The second week of the fever-dream incognito singing contest introduces the latter half of this series’ 12 contestants. Last week, Ghost was unmasked as pundit Chris Kamara. Now Jacket Potato will be trying to bake Fawn; Pigeon will be attempting to take out Rubbish; and Rhino will be hoping Piece of Cake is, well, a piece of cake. As always, the panellists will also be on hand to offer terrible guesses at the singers’ identities.
Rod Stewart at the BBC
BBC Two, 8pm
BBC Two have prepared a feast for Rod Stewart fans. First up is this compilation of archive performances, which is then followed by a string of classics. These include Rod Stewart: Reel Stories at 9pm, where he speaks to Dermot O’Leary; Rod Stewart Live at Hyde Park is at 9.30pm, and then a 2013 interview with Alan Yentob that was recorded for Imagine, airing at 10.35pm.
Secrets of The Royal Palaces
Channel 5, 8.30pm
The documentary returns for a third series of fascinating facts. Tonight’s episode explores how the modern layout to Buckingham Palace was changed by the Second World War, while it is recounted how Prince Harry once found himself a suspect after two protected hen harriers were shot above Sandringham estate.
The John Bishop Show
ITV1, 9.30pm
The comedian kicks off a new series of his jolly chat show with guests pop star Mel C and comedian Guz Khan.
The Big Snow of 1982
Channel 5, 9.30pm
In 1982, the nation was brought to a halt by the coldest December in British history. This reflective documentary looks back on how plunging temperatures of -27 C resulted in icebergs floating down the River Severn, while seemingly never-ending snow in the Highlands resulted in villages that had to be air-dropped supplies by RAF helicopters.
Dunkirk (1958, b/w) ★★★★
BBC Two, 1pm
This retrospective look at the Second World War stars titans of British cinema John Mills, Bernard Lee and Richard Attenborough. It tells the story, retold in 2017 by Christopher Nolan, of the evacuation of more than 330,000 British and French troops from the beaches of Dunkirk through the perspectives of a reporter and a soldier. It’s worth watching for the evocative use of sweeping widescreen footage to convey a sense of scale.
Early Man (2018) ★★★★
CBBC, 5.40pm
Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park’s gloriously funny stop-motion animation, with every character model pushed to its expressive limits, follows a tribe of Stone Age villagers as they play a game of football more high stakes than Lionel Messi’s World Cup final; the match, against some bronze-using, brutish invaders, determines their land’s future. Eddie Redmayne and Maisie Williams lend their voices.
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) ★★★★
Channel 4, 9pm
Ay oh! Bryan Singer’s music biopic about the life of Freddie Mercury landed Rami Malek the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the Queen frontman and had Radio Gaga stuck in every cinemagoers head for weeks. It charts Mercury’s astronomical rise from awkward teenager to Live Aid-storming superstar, as well as his tragic Aids diagnosis. Though moving, it can seem to brush over the darker parts of Mercury’s life at times.
© Provided by The Telegraph The Duke of Sussex reveals all to ITV’s Tom Bradby – ITV
Sunday 8 January
Harry: The Interview
ITV1, 9pm
One of the inevitable consequences of writing an autobiography is the marketing campaign that must come with it. No doubt the Duke of Sussex will be spared the machine of press junkets and 10-minute slots chatting to radio DJs about his book, pointedly titled Spare, which is released on Tuesday. But, so far, there are two big sit-down interviews coming – one in the UK and one in the US. This, with ITN journalist Tom Bradby, just pips CBS’s Anderson Cooper to the post by dint of the UK being five hours ahead of the US’s east coast. Expect the headlines to be dominated by both tomorrow morning.
Bradby has known the Duke for more than 20 years and is the journalist who followed the Sussexes on their tour of southern Africa in 2019, and to whom the Duchess admitted that she was “not OK”. Filmed in California, this 90-minute interview sees the Duke go into unprecedented depth about his personal relationships, never-before-heard details surrounding the death of his mother and his rift with the Royal family. “I would like to get my father back. I would like to have my brother back,” he says. “They have shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile.” CG
The Great Pottery Throw Down
Channel 4, 7.45pm
Surprise fan Brad Pitt will no doubt be tuning in as 12 hopefuls join presenter Siobhan McSweeney (Derry Girls) in a sixth series of the pottery challenge. Keith Brymer Jones and Rich Miller judge their efforts to create a birthday tea set.
Call the Midwife
BBC One, 8pm
Cyril (Zephryn Taitte) finds a solution to Lucille’s (Leonie Elliott) loneliness, but news from Jamaica unsettles her further. Meanwhile, attending a breastfeeding clinic has consequences for expectant mother Lilian (Lydia Larson). As ever, Heidi Thomas’s medical drama is an adroit mix of soap and serious topics.
Twelfth Night From Shakespeare’s Globe
BBC Four, 8pm
This rollicking production, directed by Sean Holmes and starring Michelle Terry as Viola, was filmed in 2021 and was described by the Telegraph’s critic as “a caper that ably blends bluegrass, Cher and Tina Turner with Shakespeare’s comedy of mistaken identities”. It’s followed by Shakespeare in Italy with Francesco da Mosto, which explores the Bard’s use of Italian settings.
Happy Valley
BBC One, 9pm
After seven years away, last week we were finally launched back into the world of Sgt Catherine Cawood (an incredible Sarah Lancashire) and the criminals of Hebden Bridge. In this second episode, Catherine learns some bad news about her late daughter’s incarcerated rapist, Tommy (James Norton).
The Kardashians: A Billion Dollar Dynasty
Channel 4, 9pm
This informative, if dispiriting, two-part documentary charts the cultural phenomenon and dynasty that started with reality show Keeping Up With the Kardashians on a small cable channel in 2007, through surgical enhancements and sex-tape notoriety to a family business now estimated to be worth $1.2 billion.
Spector
Sky Documentaries, 9pm
Phil Spector – a famously gifted music producer who created the distinctive “Wall of Sound” in the 1960s – died in 2021 while in jail for the murder of Lana Clarkson, an actress he met a few hours before her death at his Los Angeles home in 2003. This fascinating four-part documentary tells the story of his downfall. VL
We Bought A Zoo (2011) ★★★
Channel 4, 1.25pm
Despite being loosely based on a true story, this sunny production from Cameron Crowe confirms that (alas) living in a zoo may in fact be a childhood dream better kept that way. The film skips along merrily, as father-of-two Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) attempts to rebuild his life following the death of his wife, and buys a new home in a working wildlife park on the brink of closure. Scarlett Johansson co-stars as the head zookeeper.
A Quiet Place (2018) ★★★★
E4, 9pm
In John Krasinski’s clammy-palmed, arm hair-prickling horror film, humanity is in hiding, and one sound will send scavenging aliens right to the door. Krasinski plays Lee, a hardy father who’s managed to keep his family alive in a remote house. Deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds) is key to their chances of survival: they all use sign language. But the star, in a bravura scene involving giving birth in silence, is the magnificent Emily Blunt.
Pulp Fiction (1994) ★★★★★
Channel 4, 10pm
Quentin Tarantino’s violent comedy thriller still feels exciting, thanks to career-best performances by some of its stars and that John Travolta/Uma Thurman dance scene; none of its imitators have since achieved such hard-edged glory. The multiple plots include two gangsters (Travolta, Samuel L Jackson) hunting for a briefcase, a boxer (Bruce Willis) after a watch, and two robbers (Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer) who hit up a diner.
© Provided by The Telegraph Franklin D Roosevelt signs the UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) in Washington, D.C. on 9 November 1943. – BBC
Monday 9 January
The US and the Holocaust
BBC Four, 10pm
No American documentary-makers make more thoroughly researched films than the team led by veteran directors Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. So, their assessment of America’s response to the Holocaust in this three-night, six hour-plus series (box-setted on iPlayer) was always going to be granular in its detail. What is less expected is how devastating a picture they paint of the lie at the heart of many Americans’ cherished myth of their country as a sainted place of refuge for the world’s poor and dispossessed.
This opening instalment has a lot of background to set out regarding the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in Germany, historical attitudes to immigration in settled communities in the USA, and the bleak socio-economic circumstances that saw the US government respond less than generously towards many Jews seeking to escape persecution by the Third Reich. Particularly sharp is the portrait of Franklin D Roosevelt, whose instinct to condemn Hitler and oppose deep- rooted anti-Semitism in the US is shown to have been severely hampered by domestic political considerations and a need to turn the economic tide during the Great Depression. GO
Koala Man
Disney+
There’s lots of talent behind this witty new Disney animation about a middle-aged dad whose only superpower is a passion for following rules and snuffing out crime in the quiet Australian suburb of Dapto. Michael Cusack, Hugh Jackman and Sarah Snook are among the starry voices at work.
George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces
Channel 4, 8pm
In this new run of his popular renovation show, George Clarke meets a carpenter rebuilding a boat, a café owner turning a vintage caravan into a vegan retreat and, in Israel, the owner of an extraordinary apartment carved out of three tiny rooms in ancient Jaffa. Plus, his own most ambitious build to date: an Arts and Crafts caravan.
Hornby: A Model World
Yesterday, 8pm
The home of Hornby, Airfix, Scalextric and Corgi opens its doors again for another series. Today, product director Simon Kohler outlines his latest idea, to shrink the iconic Flying Scotsman to spearhead a new range created in partnership with the National Rail Museum.
Meet the Khans: Big in Bolton
BBC Three, 8.30pm
It is all change for the Khan family as a third series sees them back in the UK following Amir’s retirement from the boxing ring. With him finding a life of leisure in Bolton not easy to adapt to, Faryal is grateful for the distraction offered to her by her new venture, launching a make-up brand with bestie and business partner Khadija.
Silent Witness
BBC One, 9pm
When a lorry with several dead and dying people inside is found abandoned in a quarry, it looks like another tragic case of the awful but lucrative-for-criminals people-trafficking industry gone wrong. But as pathologist Dr Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) and her team set out to discover the identities of the victims, it soon becomes clear that the case is more complex than it first appears.
The Mayfair Hotel Megabuild
BBC Two, 9pm
The audacious project to double the size of Claridge’s, one of London’s grandest and most historic hotels, continues. We pick up half-way through the seven-year build, with the new five-storey basement well under way and ready to give way to phase two of the renovations. There’s also the addition of a new four-story roof extension to contend with – without closing or affecting current guests.
Operation Mincemeat (2021) ★★★
Sky Cinema Premiere, 11.25am & 10.25pm
Based upon Ben Macintyre’s book, John Madden’s drama takes place during the height of the Second World War as the Allies prepare to launch an all-out assault (Operation Husky) on Nazi-occupied Sicily. Colin Firth plays commander Ewen Montagu, while Matthew Macfadyen is brilliant intelligence officer Charles Cholmondeley. Paul Ritter also stars in his final film appearance.
Gran Torino (2008) ★★★★
ITV4, 9pm
Clint Eastwood directs himself as a curmudgeonly, recently widowed Korean War veteran who growls racist insults at the Asian family who have settled into his traditional, blue-collar Detroit neighbourhood. But after he catches a teenage neighbour trying to steal his lovingly cared-for car (a 1972 Gran Torino), he begins to find that he has more in common with the Hmongs next door than he thought. Clint’s 1985 Pale Rider follows.
The Dark Knight (2008) ★★★★★
Sky Showcase, 9pm
Part two of Christopher Nolan’s revamped Batman trilogy is an unforgettable ride that set the standard for superhero flicks. Christian Bale is slick as the story’s troubled hero, but the show is ultimately stolen by Heath Ledger’s Joker, who’s busy running rampant around Gotham City. Prowling, maniacal and captivating, Ledger’s extraordinary performance won him a posthumous Oscar. Aaron Eckhart and Gary Oldman support.
© Provided by The Telegraph Bradley and Barney Walsh head to Mexico and Panama City – ITV
Tuesday 10 January
Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad
ITV1, 9pm & 9.30pm
Few would have believed this wafer-thin travelogue would make it to a fourth series, but the longevity of Breaking Dad is a tribute to the unsinkable father-son charisma of Bradley and Barney Walsh: they take as much pride in each other’s achievements as they do glee in each other’s discomfort, with Barney pushing his father to try new things and Walsh Sr testing his son’s tolerance for what must have been a lifetime of dad jokes. As tourist-trappy as most of their destinations may be, there is nothing ersatz about this central relationship, which ensures a little goes a long way.
They begin their latest jaunt in a hot air balloon just outside Mexico City, then set off in a campervan through Central America to Panama City. The double bill is split by a literal cliffhanger, with Bradley understandably refusing to swing across a mountain crevice. Otherwise, from mariachi music to Lucha Libre wrestling, few clichés are left undisturbed, although there are the occasional left turns: a Cirque du Soleil troupe features a pair of twins from Wigan and Barney reveals the curious history of the Cornish pasty. GT
Waterloo Road
BBC One, 8pm
A tragic death, drug issues and fights rock the teaching team at Waterloo Road as this canny revival of the BBC’s popular mid-Noughties school drama, slotting neatly into the hole left by Channel 4’s Ackley Bridge, gets into its stride.
The Hairy Bikers Go Local
BBC Two, 8pm
Everyone’s favourite bearded cooks Dave Myers and Si King are in North Norfolk to help the owner of a pub with his menu: locally raised geese, homegrown tofu and plums are the order of the day, but will the regulars go for it?
Miriam Margolyes: Australia Unmasked
BBC Two, 9pm
The indefatigable Miriam Margolyes concludes her journey across Australia in the south, where she finds disheartening evidence that the most vulnerable are being left behind, whether through age, isolation or ethnicity. This being Margolyes, there is also, of course, a visit to a nudist club.
Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild
Channel 5, 9pm
Eleven series in and remarkably durable in its eye-opening stories and striking human-interest angles, New Lives in the Wild tracks Ben Fogle to northern Queensland, where redoubtable octogenarian Bette lives alone in the Outback. The longer he spends there, the more he learns about how and why she has ended up there, with her rationale both personal and environmental.
Tulsa King
Channel 5, 10pm
Following Steve Buscemi in Boardwalk Empire, Terence Winter brings another star of cinema into the world of small-screen gangsters in this wryly enjoyable Sylvester Stallone vehicle. Stallone plays a Mafia capo who emerges from 25 years in prison to find times have changed: rather than resume his post in New York, he is dispatched to Oklahoma to open a new branch of the family business. Darkly comic violence ensues, with the whole series available on Paramount+.
Life After Love Island: Untold
Channel 4, 11.05pm
For all its superficial glamour, the dark side of Love Island has been well documented after the deaths by suicide of host Caroline Flack and former contestants Mike Thalassitis and Sophie Gradon. Will Njobvu learns about whether the pot at the end of the rainbow exists for anyone on the show, as the goal of becoming a successful influencer proves ever more elusive.
The Pink Panther (1963) ★★★★
Film4, 12.55pm
This is the first of a number of cinematic adventures to feature bumbling French detective Jacques Clouseau, played here by a terrific Peter Sellers and directed by Blake Edwards. Funnily enough, in this he’s not even the main attraction – the show is stolen by David Niven as the Phantom, a jewel thief in pursuit of the fabulously valuable “Pink Panther” diamond. It’s still a great comedy after 60 years – and far better than the 2006 remake, too.
Crimes of the Future (2022) ★★★
Sky Cinema Premiere, 8pm
David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future sees the 79-year-old Canadian director return to a vein of overt body-horror similar to his Videodrome and The Fly. Saul (Viggo Mortensen) and Caprice Tenser (Léa Seydoux) are world-famous performance artists who, using the former’s ability to speedily regenerate new bodily organs, enrapture audiences with live dissections. Kristen Stewart co-stars.
As Good As It Gets (1997) ★★★★
Great! Movies, 9pm
A late-career Jack Nicholson hops through the streets of downtown Manhattan, trying to avoid cracks in the sidewalk in this James L Brooks-directed comedy. Nicholson plays the obsessive-compulsive novelist Melvin Udall, who befriends his gay neighbour (Greg Kinnear) and falls in love with a waitress (Helen Hunt) at a diner, all the while trying to stay true to his character as a reclusive brute of a man. All-round great fun.
© Provided by The Telegraph Kumail Nanjiani plays Chippendales founder Somen “Steve” Banerjee – Lara Solanki/Hulu
Wednesday 11 January
Welcome to Chippendales
Disney+
Robert Siegel’s biopic of the man behind the Chippendales tells the gripping – and at times scarcely believable – story of Somen “Steve” Banerjee, a mild-mannered teetotal Indian immigrant to California, who became the unlikely founder of the male-stripper empire in 1975. Kumail Nanjiani is instantly sympathetic as Banerjee, a put-upon but ambitious petrol station manager who, after several false starts as a business owner, has a lightbulb moment in a gay club when he realises that male strippers might go down a storm with women, too. Banerjee is too trusting at first – he believes hustler Paul Snider (Downton’s Dan Stevens) who says he can introduce him to his hero, Hugh Hefner – but as the series progresses, we realise the putative mogul was utterly ruthless when it came to business.
The first episode of eight is a cracker, as the show morphs from origin story to true-crime drama. Juliette Lewis is Denise, a co-producer at the club, while Nicola Peltz Beckham is Banerjee’s pal and former Playboy Playmate of the Month Dorothy Stratten, who meets a grisly end. And yes, Banerjee did name his original club after the “classy” 18th-century furniture designer. VL
Dogs in the Wild: Meet the Family
BBC One, 8pm
Dog lovers may anthropomorphise their pooches, but one item in this episode of the fascinating wildlife series shows that grief and loneliness is not confined to humans, as scientists discover why healthy wild dogs separated from their pack die.
Landscape Artist of the Year 2023
Sky Arts, 8pm
Joan Bakewell and Stephen Mangan return with the contest which is sometimes, well, like watching paint dry – but which also reveals some super-talented artists. This week the contestants try to capture one of the UK’s cultural gems, Blackpool’s North Pier.
Billion Dollar Downfall: The Dealmaker
BBC Two, 9pm
A one-off documentary telling the story of Pakistani businessman Arif Naqvi (currently in London fighting extradition to the US on fraud charges, which he denies), whose meteoric rise as head of the world’s biggest equity firm, Abraaj, was followed by a dizzying fall.
Next Level Chef
ITV1, 9pm
Gordon Ramsay is joined by Michelin-starred chef Paul Ainsworth and American chef Nyesha Arrington for this new culinary challenge, in which home cooks and professional chefs compete to receive a one-year mentorship from Ramsay. Also up for grabs is a £100,000 prize.
No Place Like Home
Channel 5, 9pm
This interesting series, which melds an individual’s personal recollections of a place with its broader history, continues in Greater Manchester. Broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire recalls growing up in Littleborough, a time marred by her father’s violence, and goes on to discover things she never knew about the area – including the local factory owner who saved German Jews from the Nazis.
The Caribbean: Billionaires’ Paradise
Channel 4, 10pm
A new series showing us how the other half live starts in Barbados – “a glimmering jewel only just bigger than the Isle of Wight” is the unintentionally funny descriptor – where the super-wealthy go for their fun in places such as the expensive Sandy Lane hotel. It isn’t just about flashy celebrities, though, as it shows how local food and hospitality entrepreneurs are capitalising on nature’s bounty right on their doorstep.
The Wackiest Ship in the Army (1960) ★★★
Film4, 5.10pm
US Navy Lieutenant Rip Crandall (Jack Lemmon) is tricked into taking command of, you guessed it, the “Wackiest Ship”: the USS Echo, complete with its goofily incompetent crew. But this ship has an important top-secret mission to complete, and Allied lives depend on their success. Expect lots of slapstick involving the sail’s boom, conveniently open hatches and sailors toppling overboard.
Beverly Hills Cop (1984) ★★★★
5Star, 9pm
Eddie Murphy is set to reprise the role of Axel Foley, the wise-crackin’, rule-breakin’ cop in a fourth film, currently in production at Netflix – three decades after the third film was released. In this, the first (and best) film in the popular franchise, Axel pursues a murder investigation from Detroit to Beverly Hills. It’s all very shouty and silly, but there are some amusing fish-out-of-water sequences that make it a classic.
The Accountant (2016) ★★★
BBC One, 10.40pm
This high-stakes action-thriller stars Ben Affleck as Christian Wolff, a maths-whizz more comfortable around numbers than people (and, as will come in useful later on, a martial arts expert). Wolff uses his numerical talents to “uncook” the books for a number of criminal organisations; however, the real action starts when he is employed by a mysterious, seemingly legitimate robotics company. Anna Kendrick co-stars.
© Provided by The Telegraph Ivanna Sakhno as Vinca Rockwell in The Reunion – ITVX
Thursday 12 January
The Reunion
ITVX
Given its decent, highly photogenic cast led by Ioan Gruffudd and Spiral’s Gregory Fitoussi, and some glorious French Riviera scenery, ITVX has been keeping pretty quiet about The Reunion. The reasons become clear early on in this early entry for guiltiest pleasure of 2023, adapted by Marston Bloom from Guillaume Musso’s bestselling potboiler: dual timelines, baffling edits, faux-philosophical voice-over, utterly bewildering bilingualism (the characters are French but Anglophone actors speak English, while French actors switch between two languages for no apparent reason).
The story worries away at the fate of Vinca Rockwell (Ivanna Sakhno), who disappeared one night on a university campus. What her friends may or may not have known will be revealed over six episodes, as they attend a reunion 25 years later having become successful in literature (Gruffudd) and politics (Fitoussi), among other well-remunerated careers. Was it the creepy philosophy professor? What about the nosey journalist? Is she even dead at all? A messy Europudding it most certainly is, but it’s also agreeably silly for those in an indulgent mood. GT
Vikings: Valhalla
Netflix
Just as ostentatiously brutal and subtly sophisticated as its parent show, Vikings: Valhalla enters its second season with Leif Eriksson (Sam Corlett) torn between deep mourning and a desire for bloody revenge after the death of his lover. In the meantime, Leif goes on the run with sister Freyd (Frida Gustavsson) and Prince Harald (Leo Suter).
The Apprentice
BBC One, 9pm
Week two is one of those tasks where success has less to do with business acumen than kitchen wizardry, as the candidates are left to make savoury bao buns for the public and sweet ones for corporate clients. Unsurprisingly, neither go exactly to plan.
Marie Antoinette
BBC Two, 9pm
As yet not overegging the much-trailed reinvention of Marie Antoinette (Emilia Schüle) as some sort of militant feminist, this handsome period drama addresses the dauphine’s rivalry with her father-in-law’s mistress, the veteran political operator Madame Du Barry (Gaia Weiss).
Britain’s Notorious Prisons: Strangeways
ITV1, 9pm; not STV
One of ITV’s increasingly frequent visits behind bars, this two-parter talks to former inmates and staff for some quality scuttlebutt in Strangeways, Manchester, while next week sees the programme head to Wormwood Scrubs: rampant racism, fiery riots, widespread violence, the devastating impact of Covid on inmates and staff members… It’s all here.
Colosseum
Sky History, 9pm
This bloodily informative eight-part docudrama examines the trajectory of the Roman Empire through the stories of the Colosseum and those whose fates were shaped by it, from slaves to spectators. This first instalment follows Emperor Titus’s plans to mark the arena’s opening with 100 days of gruesome entertainment. Fascinating stuff for any Classics buffs.
In the Footsteps of Killers
Channel 4, 10pm
A little surprising to see a second series of this bizarrely conceived and quite distasteful documentary with faux-dramatised elements: Silent Witness star Emilia Fox plays herself as a sort of Nikki Alexander-lite, cracking a cold case with the assistance of criminologist Professor David Wilson, framed as a police procedural but with real stakes and lives involved. Their first case involves the murders of two women in Dundee, less than a year apart.
From Russia with Love (1963) ★★★★★
ITV4, 8pm
Ah, those were the days: the certainties of the Cold War, a beautiful Soviet defector and a chase across the Balkans. Will Spectre avenge the death of Dr No? No chance. Sean Connery was in the swing of things in his second outing as James Bond, pursued by two all-time adversaries in “Red” Grant (Robert Shaw) and Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya). Terence Young directs with utter panache. What a thrill!
Witness (1985) ★★★★
BBC Four, 9pm
Harrison Ford stars as a disillusioned cop who must ingratiate himself with an Amish sect in this excellent, thought-provoking crime thriller from director Peter Weir (The Truman Show, Dead Poets Society). Big-city policeman John Book (Harrison Ford) takes on the case of a young Amish boy (Lukas Haas) who has witnessed a grisly murder while on his first trip to town with his mother (Kelly McGillis), and must get to the bottom of the case.
Legend (2015) ★★★
BBC Three, 10pm
Cinema’s resident tough-guy-for-hire Tom Hardy comes through with a twin dose of menace in this dramatisation of the lives of notorious East End gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray. As the siblings grow in infamy, controlling vast swathes of London’s criminal underworld, so does the number of their enemies. Christopher Eccleston plays Detective Leonard “Nipper” Read, the police officer intent on locking them up.
© Provided by The Telegraph Jon Richardson and Lucy Beaumont – Channel 4
Friday 13 January
Jon & Lucy’s Odd Couples
Channel 4, 9pm
Comedian couple Jon Richardson and Lucy Beaumont have carved something of a double-act from their seemingly stale and argument-filled seven-year marriage. He is the no-nonsense cynic who can never do anything right; she is the long-suffering romantic who wishes he was someone else. It’s an old-fashioned routine, but they are funny enough to make it work.Hence this lively six-part panel show, where the pair put their own flaws aside to judge the marriages of two celebrity couples.
The first contestants are Countdown’s Rachel Riley and professional dancer Pasha Kovalev, who met on Strictly Come Dancing, and comedians Richard Herring and Catie Wilkins. Along with a series of relationship-themed questions (how many times does the average couple have sex a week?), the couples’ chemistry is tested through challenges. The men, for instance, are tasked with giving the women a makeover, while they all must suffer through lie detector tests. Riley admits to weeing in the shower. Herring is asked if there’s porn on his laptop. In the words of Richardson, it’s “the show that looks at the 42 per cent divorce rate and says, ‘we can get that up a bit’”. SK
Hunters
Amazon Prime Video
The first series of this conspiracy thriller, starring Al Pacino and set around a group during the 1970s who hunt down surviving Nazis, was driven by a daring, if ultimately erratic comic book sensibility. Series two, which follows the hunt for the biggest Nazi of all, the secretly alive Adolf Hitler, faces a similar issue: a balance between serious and glib, kitsch and cruelty that can prove jarring. With Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Super League: The War for Football
Apple TV+
It has been just under two years since 12 European football teams announced that they were breaking away from traditional football to form a “Super League”: a competition primarily made up of the richest clubs. This new four-parter explores the growing divides in football that led up to the attempted coup, the uproar from fans and the eventual climbdown.
Break Point
Netflix
This 10-part documentary follows top tennis players as they compete around the world. Made by the team behind F1: Drive to Survive, the first episode focuses on Nick Kyrgios as he plays the Australian Open, while later episodes feature players such as Ons Jabeur and Casper Ruud. The first five episodes launch today, with the rest arriving in June.
Food Unwrapped
Channel 4, 8pm
The show returns for its 24th series. Tonight, Kate Quilton travels to Portugal to learn about peri-peri, the seasoning popularised by Nandos, while Jimmy Doherty digs into the layers of the nostalgic iced treat, the rocket lolly.
Travel Man: 48 Hours in Vilnius
Channel 4, 8.30pm
Comedian Joe Lycett is back for another series of wry mini-breaks. In this second episode, Sarah Millican joins him in Lithuania, where they visit the capital, Vilnius. The pair’s comic chemistry makes it a joy to watch them; they go off on a hot air balloon and do an amber jewellery workshop.
Death in Paradise
BBC One, 9pm
A death in a doomsday bunker prompts Ralf Little’s Neville to investigate a commune that is obsessed with the end of the world. Robert Webb makes a cameo as prepper Justin, who becomes a suspect after the revelation of an affair. There is also a droll subplot involving Neville’s holiday romance with Sophie (Chelsea Edge), who convinces him to try jetskiing.
Mary Queen of Scots (2018) ★★★★
BBC Three, 9pm
This ravishing period piece from regular theatre director Josie Rourke offers a close inspection of the internal whirrings of the Scottish monarch’s early reign, rising above the martyr-temptress image of legend. Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie are both equally excellent as Queens Mary and Elizabeth, butting heads over personal and political baggage. It’s an admirable treatment of a tricky plot, faithful to the historical period.
Gangs of New York (2002) ★★★★
Film4, 9pm
Martin Scorsese’s 19th-century epic tempted Method master Daniel Day-Lewis out of retirement and introduced Leonardo DiCaprio as the new post-De Niro fixture in his films. He plays the son who returns to New York to avenge the death of his Irish immigrant father at the hands of Day-Lewis’s Bill the Butcher, only to be sucked into the city’s gang culture. It’s loud, brash and violent, and rightly considered a flawed 21st-century classic.
Beautiful Boy (2018) ★★★★
BBC One, 11.30pm
This biographical drama based on the real memoirs of its two protagonists is a heart-rending ode to fatherhood. Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet star as David and Nic Scheff; after David splits from his first wife, signs appear that Nic has been abusing drugs. What follows is a poignant tale of addiction and recovery. Carell’s performance as a conflicted father shines – while the film signalled Chalamet’s impending stardom.
Television previewers
Jack Taylor (JT), Catherine Gee (CG), Veronica Lee (VL), Stephen Kelly (SK), Gerard O’Donovan (GO), Chris Bennion (CB), Rachel Ward (RW), Poppie Platt (PP) and Gabriel Tate (GT)