Sunday 27 October
Generation Z
Channel 4, 9pm
Ben Wheatley’s foray into small-screen satirical horror hews closer to the grunge-y aesthetic of his 2011 film Kill List than the likes of 2016’s Free Fire (see Film4, 10.55pm), with the sort of deliciously unexpected casting in which he excels – this has Sue Johnston and Anita Dobson as you have never seen them before. Those unfamiliar with Wheatley’s splendidly challenging oeuvre should approach Generation Z with caution, but approach nonetheless. Its six episodes are drenched in gore (one encounter with a cockapoo is both hilarious and appalling) while having pressing points to make about self-reliance, the pandemic, toxic masculinity and a generation gap gaping wider than ever.
The small English town of Dambury is on the cusp of calamity: an army truck overturns, releasing its toxic contents and turning the residents of a retirement home into flesheaters. Yet these are not lumbering, empty-headed zombies but creatures torn between an overpowering hunger for human flesh and still flickering embers of empathy. With generation X floundering, it is left to the titular teenagers to lead the fight back against the boomers. Continues tomorrow and all episodes are available now. GT
Lioness
Paramount+
After what feels like mere hours, Nicole Kidman is back on our screens for another big-budget series of the spy thriller, starring alongside Zoe Saldana and Michael Kelly as three badass CIA operatives who spring back into action when a government official is captured by a cartel. High-octane airport fiction, and the safest possible recommission.
Leeds International Piano Competition: Grand Final
BBC Four, 7pm
Five pianists compete for the Leeds gold medal in this highlights show of last month’s contest that took place at St George’s Hall in Bradford, with Petroc Trelawny and Alexandra Dariescu introducing impressive performances of concertos by Bartók, Beethoven, Prokofiev Rachmaninoff and Brahms. Domingo Hindoyan conducts the accompanying Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Showtrial
BBC One, 9pm
Michael Socha continues to offer a gloriously unstable anchor to this deeply bingeable series, with his loose canon copper Justin facing a prosecution firing on all cylinders and his defence lawyer Sam (Adeel Akhtar) on the back foot. What follows is consummate courtroom drama.
Highland Cops
BBC Scotland, 9pm
Narrated by James Cosmo, the second series of this docusoap (also airing on Tuesday at 8pm on BBC Two) follows the hunt for a missing Munro bagger on Skye’s Cuillin mountains in appalling weather, an attempted bust of a drugs den on Orkney and an avian emergency near Glencoe.
DI Ray
ITV1, 9pm
Running until its climax on Tuesday, this solid policier picks up with Rachita (Parminder Nagra) unable to trust anyone as gang tensions mount, Clive (Steve Oram) unearths a dangerous new enemy and the investigation founders. From Gemma Whelan’s Kerry to Ian Puleston-Davies’s Beardsmore, shifty behaviour abounds.
Kingdom Uncovered: Inside Saudi Arabia
ITV1, 10.15pm
Important, courageous reporting from the pseudonymous “Noura”, a Saudia-born journalist who goes undercover to scrape away the veneer of respectability and progressiveness carefully applied to the regime (and cravenly accepted by far too many) since the accession of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The Third Man (1949, b/w) ★★★★★
BBC Two, 12.15pm
Carol Reed confirmed his position as one of Britain’s greatest directors with this timeless film noir, written by Brighton Rock’s Graham Greene, which oozes atmosphere and crackles with suspense. American writer Holly Martin (Joseph Cotten) is offered a new job in Vienna by his friend Harry (Orson Welles). But upon his arrival, Holly is told that Harry is dead. Refusing to accept this, he begins his own investigation.
Monster House (2006) ★★★
Channel 4, 2pm
Get your spook on with this fun, family friendly animation from Gil Kenan (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire). Hallowe’en is fast approaching and three kids must convince their parents that a gloomy house in their neighbourhood actually turns into a deadly monster at night – before unknowing trick-and-treaters meet a grisly end. Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Schitt’s Creek’s Catherine O’Hara lend their voices.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) ★★★
ITV1, 4.30pm
This Abba sequel lacks the sparky original’s bolt of bewilderment that struck you at Money, Money, Money, when you realised that yes, they were really going through with this… But once you get over that, it’s another riot of song and dance in the Med, again starring Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep and Julie Walters, plus newbies Lily James and (believe it or not) Cher. You’ll be left singing and smiling, like it or not.
Malcolm X (1992) ★★★★
BBC Two, 10pm
Featuring an intense, Oscar-nominated performance from long-time Spike Lee collaborator Denzel Washington, this is a sprawling biographical drama, unfolding the life of the African-American Civil Rights leader. When the studio only gave Lee half the budget he wanted, he raised $20 million himself and finished the film. It tells the story of how X turned from a small-time gangster into leader of the Nation of Islam.
Football
Arsenal v Liverpool
Sky Main Event, 4pm (kick-off 4.30pm)
The Premier League title race took an unexpected turn last weekend as 10-man Arsenal lost to Bournemouth, falling away from Liverpool at the top of the table. The Gunners have an immediate opportunity to close the gap as they host the Reds at the Emirates. Arne Slot faces a huge test as both sides pit themselves as the main challenger to Manchester City. Earlier on Sunday, Chelsea face top-four rivals Newcastle (Sky Main Event, 2pm). On Wednesday, Liverpool take on Brighton in the last 16 of the English League Cup (Sky Sports+, 7.30pm), before Tottenham play Man City (Main Event, 8.15pm).
Rugby League
England v Samoa
BBC Two, 2pm
The Brick Community Stadium in Wigan hosts the first Test of this two-match series. The hosts will be eager for revenge after falling to Samoa in the semi-finals of the World Cup two years ago. On Saturday, England face France in Wigan in a repeat of the World Cup final two years ago (BBC iPlayer, 8.15pm).
Formula 1
Mexican Grand Prix
Sky Main Event, 7.30pm (start 8pm)
Lando Norris received a controversial five second penalty in Austin last weekend to finish behind title rival Max Verstappen. The Briton’s chances of overhauling the Dutchman before the final race in Abu Dhabi now seem increasingly thin. Norris needs a mistake from Red Bull at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez to rekindle his chances. Verstappen, however, has triumphed at this circuit in each of the last three seasons.
Monday 28 October
Panorama: Trump: A Second Chance?
BBC One, 8pm; NI, 10.40pm; BBC Two Wales, 11.05pm
There is a distinct possibility that next week’s US presidential election will end with the extraordinary return of Donald Trump. Tonight’s Panorama follows some of Trump’s most ardent supporters in order to explore his enduring popularity. Unsurprisingly, there is unwavering faith in Trump’s ability to “make America great again” once more. Yet the programme also examines whether Trump should even be given that second chance.
His supporters say yes, of course. Legal experts are not so sure. The 34 criminal charges brought against Trump in May’s New York hush-money trial make him the first politician/felon in American history to run for president. The US constitution does not forbid candidates with criminal records, yet the unprecedented nature of Trump’s campaign raises complex questions. What happens, for instance, to the hush-money case’s sentencing verdict? Or indeed the three other criminal cases that have been brought against him, two of which regard electoral interference? It is speculated that a re-elected Trump would instruct the Department of Justice to drop the cases. SK
Deal or No Deal
ITV1, 4pm
ITV1’s revival of the iconic game show returns for a second series, presented by the dependable Stephen Mulhern. Today’s contestant is familiar face Myles, who has waited 21 episodes for his chance to open the boxes. His initial luck is wretched, but you know what they say – it ain’t over until the fat cat banker rings.
Find It, Fix It, Flog It
U&Yesterday, 8pm
There is a soothing satisfaction in watching something old gradually become new again. Take tonight’s comforting return of upcycling bible Find It, Fix It, Flog It, in which the handy Simon O’Brien travels to the Peak District to repurpose a piece of old piping into trendy stools.
Mr Loverman
BBC One, 9pm & 9.30pm
The moving character-study continues with another deft double-bill. Tonight’s first episode explores the cynicism of daughter Donna (Sharlene Whyte), whose view of men has been poisoned by past experiences. The latter episode follows Lennie James’s haunted cad Barry as he is tasked with looking after his precocious grandson Daniel (Tahj Miles). The explosive final scene is James at his finest.
Solar System
BBC Two, 9pm
In this episode, Professor Brian Cox turns his attention to the solar system’s frozen wonders. On the dwarf planet of Pluto, for instance, mountains of solid ice float across its surface. While in the outer orbit of Saturn, the moon Iapetus creates a fantastic monochromatic image: half black rock, half frost. An awe-inspiring reminder of how small we truly are.
The Hardacres
Channel 5, 9pm
Julie Graham’s deliciously uncouth Ma continues to be the highlight of this largely low-rent period drama. Tonight, she gatecrashes the aspiring Mary’s (Claire Cooper) fancy meeting with the charitable ladies’ circle. The outing soon takes a dark turn however; they inadvertently find themselves back at the workhouse that they were once so desperate to leave behind.
Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose
Sky Documentaries, 9pm
In 1989, Major League Baseball player Pete Rose was handed a lifetime ban from the sport after he was caught gambling on games. This retrospective four-part documentary charts the downfall of one of baseball’s greatest and most divisive hitters, accompanied by the combative insights of Rose himself.
Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead (2024) ★★★
Sky Cinema Premiere, 6.05pm
Forever in the top drawer of Hollywood coming-of-age comedies alongside Tom Hanks’s Big and Jennifer Garner’s 13 Going on 30, 1991’s Don’t Tell Mom… is still a hoot. Little wonder, then, that it’s been remade: replacing Christina Applegate’s Sue is Simone Joy Jones as Tanya, whose summer gets ruined when her mother jets off on holiday and her babysitter dies. Dark, but funny.
Van Helsing (2004) ★★★
ITV4, 10pm
Stephen Sommers’s monster blockbuster is set (where else?) in 19th-century Transylvania. Count Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) has expanded his usual vampish brood and recruited the Wolf Man and Frankenstein’s Monster to help him create mischief. Up against him is fearless Gabriel Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) and a sword-wielding Kate Beckinsale, whose family have an age-old personal stake in killing Dracula.
Ophelia (2018) ★★
BBC Two, 11.05pm
Another non-Star Wars flop for Daisy Ridley, Claire McCarthy’s reframing of Hamlet (based on the YA novel by Lisa Klein) through a feminist’s eyes has the whiff of a high-school play about it. Ridley is given the task of bringing Shakespeare’s much-maligned heroine Ophelia to life as she transforms from put-upon lady-in-waiting to the Prince of Denmark’s chosen love. Naomi Watts, Tom Felton and Clive Owen co-star.
Tuesday 29 October
MasterChef: The Professionals
BBC One/BBC Two Wales, 8pm
The show that challenges chefs who have been in the industry for some time (two years full-time, minimum) to take their first steps towards gastronomic stardom returns for another epic run. The kitchen has been given a refresh, but the format remains much the same with judges Marcus Wareing, Monica Galetti and Gregg Wallace putting 32 contenders through their paces three nights a week in heats, before the intense semi-final and final rounds. In tonight’s opener, the first four competitors face the usual two-part challenge, starting with the fiendish skills tests which really do tend to winnow out the less experienced.
Two of them take on the task set by Galetti (to make a carrot schnitzel and serve it with a white bean hummus and Middle Eastern zhoug sauce) with the others tackling Wareing’s dessert-based challenge (baking pastry beignets served with lavender sugar and whipped orange cream). After that, the chefs have the opportunity to show off their personal style and talent by cooking a two-course signature meal for the judges in just 90-minutes. With a potentially career-making win at stake, there’s a pressure-cooker atmosphere from the start. GO
Between the Covers
BBC Two, 7pm; not Wales
Sara Cox is back with a new series of her celebrity book club. Tonight’s guests are comedians Adrian Edmondson, Alan Davies and Sara Pascoe and actor Taj Atwal, and the “book club choice” they’ll review is Chris Whitaker’s missing-person thriller, All the Colours of the Dark.
Mary’s Foolproof Dinners
BBC Two, 7.30pm; not Wales
Returning for a second run, Mary Berry’s first student is Alan Carr, who loves home-cooked food but lives on takeaways. Parma ham and cheese parcels, honey-mustard chicken and beef chow mein are among the dishes she tries to help him master.
The Martin Lewis Money Show: Live
ITV1, 8pm
In light of the winter fuel payments cut for pensioners and the energy price cap rise, the first show of the new run focuses on energy, highlighting the best money-saving offers available and other pound-stretching tips. There will be a look at some of the more likely impacts of Wednesday’s Budget on the pound in your pocket.
A History of Royal Scandals
More4, 9pm
Historian Suzannah Lipscomb presents an entertaining second series on scandalous events involving British royals down the ages. Tonight, she reopens the case of the Princes in the Tower, questions whether William the Conqueror’s son was killed by his brother and gets to grips with Mary Queen of Scots’ role in the death of her husband, Lord Darnley.
The Boy That Never Was
Alibi, from 9pm
Despite a powerful opening this four-parter, about a father (Colin Morgan) who believes he’s seen his missing son – presumed dead in an earthquake in Morocco three years earlier – on a station platform in Dublin, quickly descends into melodrama. Reminiscent of The Missing, but never as convincing, episodes one and two air tonight, the rest weekly.
Storyville: Eternal You
BBC Four, 10pm
Is artificial intelligence set to bring people back from the dead? Not as living, breathing beings, but as uncannily accurate avatars intended to comfort grieving loved ones. This unsettling film examines how close some technologies already are to achieving this and, more pertinently, the ethical risks and potential misuses.
The Book of Clarence (2023) ★★★
Sky Cinema Premiere, 5.45pm
This bawdy Biblical comedy from Jeymes Samuel (and produced by rapper Jay-Z, among others) follows Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield), down-on-his-luck, debt-ridden and living in AD33 Jerusalem, who tries to cash in on the rise of Jesus by claiming to be another Messiah sent by God. Micheal Ward, Benedict Cumberbatch and James McAvoy co-star.
Mad Max 2 (1981) ★★★★★
ITV4, 10.10pm
Mel Gibson reprises his role as Max the cynical ex-cop in this thrillingly intense sequel that proved to be that rare thing – better than the original (though 2015’s Fury Road, starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, definitely gives it a run for its money). Drifting through the Outback after a nuclear war, he finds a community menaced by a gang that aims to rob them of their oil. Can he defend them? The peerless George Miller writes and directs.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) ★★★★
BBC One, 10.40pm
Francis Ford Coppola directs this surreal retelling of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale. Gary Oldman is excellent as Dracula, left heartbroken when his wife (Winona Ryder) dies. Centuries later in Victorian London, Dracula is still searching for his lost love. The Oscar-winning costumes more than compensate for Keanu Reeves’s atrocious English accent. Anthony Hopkins is among the wider cast.
Wednesday 30 October
Prince William: We Can End Homelessness
ITV1, 9pm
The Royal family’s latest partnership with ITV follows the Prince of Wales in his pursuit of eradicating homelessness in Britain. The Prince has long since dedicated himself to charitable work – from volunteering for overnight charity “sleepouts” to fundraising events and initiatives – along with other members of his family, including his wife, Catherine, the Princess of Wales and his father, the King. We Can End Homelessness focuses primarily on his work with Homewards, a five-year programme set in six locations across the UK and three towns in Dorset.
Unlike Channel 5’s royal offerings, which tend to only feature gossip-loving talking heads, this has unbridled access to the Prince himself, who recruits a dedicated team, including former England footballer Fara Williams and TV presenter Gail Porter, to help families across the country. From moving scenes of him serving up Christmas dinner at homeless shelters, to encounters with people in the street, this offers essential insight to the future King’s moral compass – and the urgent need to solve Britain’s homelessness crisis. PP
Tú también lo harías
Apple TV+
Titled You Would Do It Too in English, this gripping Spanish drama follows a botched armed robbery in Barcelona and the web of deception that follows as detectives try to uncover who’s behind it. The first two episodes premiere today, then continue weekly.
Wizards Beyond Waverly Place
Disney+
Before she was one part of TV’s favourite crime-sleuthing trio in Only Murders in the Building alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short, Selena Gomez was the squeaky-clean Disney Channel star from Wizards of Waverly Place. The series, which ran from 2007 to 2012, centred on the magical Russo family as they juggled life in NYC with their powers. This family friendly spin-off catches up with the clan.
The Manhattan Alien Abduction
Netflix
This near-unbelievable documentary tells the story of Linda Napolitano, who says she was beamed up into a spacecraft hovering above NYC. Featuring an abundance of footage purportedly from the night itself, this film makes the question of whether it was an elaborate hoax or proof of alien life even knottier.
Witches: Truth Behind the Trials
National Geographic, 8pm
A fascinating six-part docu-series about the persecution of “witches” (spoiler: they were just ordinary women) throughout history begins today with a trip back to Jacobean-era Scotland, where King James VI spent much of his time poring over books about witchcraft. Historians offer their insight alongside various dramatic reconstructions.
Ludwig
BBC One, 9pm
David Mitchell bids farewell to his bumbling imposter detective. In tonight’s terrific finale, John (Mitchell) must help prove Lucy’s (Anna Maxwell-Martin) innocence and decide, once and for all, if his pesky twin brother is actually worth all this trouble.
Helmand: Tour of Duty
BBC Two, 9pm
An essential watch: 10 years on from the end of the war in Afghanistan, Tour of Duty honours the Welsh Guards who were sent to the frontline of the Helmand Province in 2009 and suffered colossal casualties and life-changing injuries. Moving testimony comes both from soldiers and family members who lost their loved ones in the war. As Platoon Sergeant Steven Peters reflects, “It’s a brotherhood… that bond stays strong for a lifetime.”
Midas Man (2024) ★★★
Amazon Prime Video
Joe Stephenson’s biopic of Beatles manager Brian Epstein offers a new route into the much-told world of the Fab Five. Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (Wolf Hall) plays Epstein; the film charts how he became one of the most important figures in British pop music in the 1960s – through his work with the Beatles, Cilla Black and Gerry and the Pacemakers – before his sudden death in 1967, aged just 32. Emily Watson and Eddie Marsan are excellent in support.
Pork Chop Hill (1959, b/w) ★★★★
5Action, 12.05pm
Lewis Milestone, who was responsible for the great anti-war film All Quiet on the Western Front, directs this solid, unfairly forgotten drama based on the true story of a battle in the later period of the Korean War. Gregory Peck stars as a gung-ho American who leads a unit attacking the Chinese-held Pork Chop Hill, while Rip Torn is professional as his concerned brother-in-law. This also marks Martin Landau’s film debut.
Ghostbusters (2016) ★★★★
BBC One, 10.40pm
Paul Feig’s female-led reboot captures the spirit of the original with sparky jokes, great special-effects and sparkler-bright cast chemistry – this Ghostbusters has a hot-air-balloon-sized sense of fun. Bridesmaids’s Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy reunite to play a physicist and paranormal researcher who attempt to scientifically prove ghosts are real. Chris Hemsworth co-stars.
Thursday 31 October
Ellis
Channel 5, 8pm
Award-winning actress Sharon D Clarke (currently also to be seen in Mr Loverman on BBC One) stars in this new three-part police procedural created by Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre with Paul Logue. Clarke plays DCI Ellis, a detective who is parachuted into murder investigations that have floundered for some reason. Not only must she bring fresh energy to a case but she also has to win over her new colleagues each time – not easy for a newbie in any workplace, but more difficult for a black female officer who, it soon becomes clear, is used to being underestimated. And Ellis, like all television detectives, must have character quirks; hers are a personal life we get only tantalising glimpses of and an almost Zen-like calm – even when she is dismissed as “DCI Lend a Hand” by an old-school cop whose investigation she is about to take over.
The three episodes are feature-length and in the first we see how the keen-as-mustard DS Harper (Andrew Gower from Outlander) becomes Ellis’s assistant – forming, as required by TV tropes, yet another odd couple – as they investigate the death of a teenager whose girlfriend has not been seen since he died. VL
The Diplomat
Netflix
The return of the glossy and entertaining series about US-UK relations starring Keri Russell as US ambassador Kate Wyler. The story picks up where the first series ended; the bomb in London has one fatality – and she doesn’t know if it’s her husband, Hal (Rufus Sewell). As more intelligence comes in, Wyler begins to suspect that the British Prime Minister (Rory Kinnear) may be involved in dirty tricks, but to what end? Allison Janney (The West Wing’s press secretary CJ Cregg) joins the cast of The Diplomat this season; she’s back in the White House but she’s much closer to power this time.
The Martin Lewis Money Show: Budget Special
ITV1, 8pm
Martin Lewis and his team crunch the numbers after Rachel Reeves’s Budget – the first Labour Budget since 2010 – to explain how it will affect your finances. He’s joined by financial experts to examine the nitty-gritty.
Ambulance
BBC One, 9pm
More from the men and women who work in the London Ambulance Service; this week, as well as responding to real emergencies, the call handlers have to deal with several nuisance callers.
A House Through Time: Two Cities at War
BBC Two, 9pm
David Olusoga’s excellent series telling human stories of the Second World War in London and Berlin continues. We reach 1940, and in Montagu Mansion one resident, Timothy Corsellis, has begun training as an RAF pilot but soon has doubts about bombing German civilians; while on Pfalzburger Strasse, we learn the fate of Jewish former residents, the Rosenfeld and Sallisohn families.
Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters
Sky Arts, 9pm
Using archive clips and talking heads, this sparky documentary delves into the history of Hammer Films, charting how from its inception in 1934 it “came to define the entire genre of horror cinema”. During its 1950s and 1960s heyday, it made international stars of actors including Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
Everyone Else Burns
Channel 4, 10pm
Passions run high as the congregation of apocalyptic Christians vote for a new leader – but the goings-on are less than spiritual as Fiona (Kate O’Flynn) flirts with Andrew (Kadiff Kirwan).
Film of the Week: Carrie (1976) ★★★★★
Great! Movies, 9pm
What better time to revisit Brian De Palma’s terrifying exposé of the dark side of American high-school cliques – and devout religion – than on Hallowe’en? Adapted from Stephen King’s first published novel – arguably still his best – the film follows societal outcast Carrie White (an Oscar-nominated Sissy Spacek), mousy, bullied by her classmates and relentlessly held back by her controlling, pious mother (Piper Laurie). When the most handsome and popular boy in school (William Katt) asks her to prom, Carrie can’t believe her luck – and sure enough, it turns out to be a callous joke dreamt up by the mean girls intent on humiliating her. Cue scarlet pig’s blood (it might be a classic, but nobody said the menstruation symbols were discreet), telekinetic revenge and a whole load of fire. Almost 50 years on, Carrie remains Hollywood’s most thrilling insight to the angst-ridden state of what it means to be a teenage girl. John Travolta and Amy Irving also star. Director Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) is adapting a TV version for Amazon Prime Video – here’s hoping that it’s better than the dire 2013 reboot starring Chloë Grace Moretz.
The Mummy (2017) ★★
ITV1, 10.45pm
No, no, not “that” Mummy, starring a muscled and charismatic Brendan Fraser. Nick Morton (Tom Cruise), full-time grave-robber and plunderer of valuable historical artefacts, teams up with archaeologist Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) to battle a long-dead Egyptian Princess (Sofia Boutella) whose powers have grown stronger in the grave. If they don’t put her back to rest, London will be reduced to ruins. Cruise fans will find something to enjoy.
The Omen (1976) ★★★★★
BBC Two, 11.05pm
Never before has a child been so devilishly terrifying and nightmare-inducing as in Richard Donner’s seminal horror film. Dealing with the tragedy of their stillborn child, Robert and Katherine Thorn (Gregory Peck and Lee Remick) adopt an orphan called Damien (Harvey Spencer Stephens). Far from being the angel of their dreams, this sinister boy induces a host of tragedies, which leads Robert to question his son’s identity.
Enys Men (2022) ★★★★
Film4, 11.15pm
Mark Jenkin’s Cornish psychodrama is a triumph: silently terrifying, stunning to look at, anchored by an excellent lead performance and expertly directed. Mary Woodvine plays The Volunteer, a lone woman who dedicates her life to researching rare flowers in Cornwall. When she becomes too obsessed with one flower in particular, she embarks on a metaphysical journey that quickly descends into madness.
Friday 1 November
Music by John Williams
Disney+
A profile of a composer admired and adored by some of the most famously nice people in showbiz – Steven Spielberg, Chris Martin, Ron Howard – could make for indigestible hagiography and, aside from the very occasional “pain” (the early death of his first wife, hints of sacrifices made in his family life, a public run-in with his Boston Pops Orchestra), this is indeed as purely cheering and enjoyable a 105 minutes as you could spend. Director Laurent Bouzereau ticks off all the big hitters (Jaws, Star Wars, Schindler’s List et al) but also hears from the great man, formidably sharp, charming and indeed still composing at 92, on how he goes about his art.
Williams’s early years as the oldest son of a musical family are a fascinating snapshot of a life mesmerised by and then working within radio, television and cinema, where he established himself first as a notable jazz pianist and then a composer of instantly memorable movie scores and occasional forays into conducting and classical work. The anecdotes tumbling forth attest to a total mastery of the highest of fantasies and darkest of realities which have brought him 54 Oscar nominations – so far. GT
Paris Has Fallen
Amazon Prime Video
After Washington, London and Los Angeles, Paris was perhaps a logical next target for the first television outing of the bombastic, basic Has Fallen film franchise. Sean Harris offers a spin on his Mission Impossible villain as Jacob Pearce, a terrorist whose grievance is much more acceptable than his method of addressing it. An attack on a French government minister brings together the latter’s protection officer Vincent (Tewfik Jallab) and a canny MI6 agent Zara (Ritu Arya); can they stop the vengeance of Jacob Pearce? Not without plenty of fistfights and explosions, that’s for sure.
Hope Street
BBC One, 2pm
The fourth series of the procedural introduces Derry Girls’ Tara Lynne O’Neill as Port Devine’s newest police inspector, who senses a connection between a kidnap and the reappearance of a dodgy copper. Superior daytime fare, well-performed and with a persuasive sense of community.
Secrets of the Lost Mines: Our Lives
BBC One, 7.30pm; not Scot
Another charming regional dispatch, Megan Roberts’s documentary has a touch of Detectorists about it in its portrayal of two mildly eccentric men searching for treasure. This time, it is not medieval hoards but abandoned metal mines that fascinate Ioan Lord and Al Tansey, who scour the Ceredigion hills in search of buried Victorian artefacts.
Susan Calman’s Grand Day Out
Channel 5, 8pm
Amiable schedule filler as always, Susan Calman’s latest travel series begins with a visit to the South Downs: cue amusing encounters with Winnie-the-Pooh, steam tractors, a colony of wallabies, 1066 and more.
The Cleaner
BBC One, 9.30pm
Greg Davies finds another fine comic foil in Sharon Rooney, playing Barbie the power-crazed housekeeper of a country pile which has recently played host to the unfortunate death of an estate agent. Racing against time to clear up before the lady of the house returns, Wicky uncovers a few secrets in a broad, entertaining episode.
The VP Choice: Vance vs. Walz
PBS America, 9.30pm
As one of the most consequential US elections in decades draws near, PBS examines the very different backgrounds, policies, temperaments and values of the two candidates for vice president – 60-year-old Governor Tim Walz and 40-year-old Senator JD Vance – and hears from those who’ve known them.
Freedom (2024)
Amazon Prime Video
Emily in Paris star Lucas Bravo leads Mélanie Laurent’s dramatisation of the life of notorious French robber, Bruno Sulak. Bravo portrays Sulak, who was often compared to a modern-day Arsène Lupin and became famous across France for a series of daring jewellery heists in the 1970s and 1980s. Yvan Attal plays the policeman determined to put him behind bars once and for all, while Léa Luce Busato is his love interest, Annie.
Lee (2023) ★★★
Sky Cinema Premiere, 8pm
Kate Winslet is brilliant as the American Second World War photographer Lee Miller in Ellen Kuras’s handsome biopic (heavily, overtly influenced by Pablo Larraín’s Jackie). We meet the elderly Lee in her living room, as a Vogue journalist (Josh O’Connor) grills her about her life’s work. It’s a solid tribute to a trailblazer who put her life at risk to document humanity’s darkest days – but it could do with asking more probing questions.
Flight (2012) ★★★
Film4, 9pm
Robert Zemeckis’s film, starring Denzel Washington as alcoholic pilot Whip Whitaker, is a long, earnest, sporadically excellent drama; much like the director’s best-known film, Forrest Gump. On a routine short-haul flight from Florida to Atlanta, Whip’s plane starts to tumble out of the sky – a dramatic sequence that will turn nervous fliers’ stomachs – and the pilot must fight to save the lives of those on board.
Testament of Youth (2014) ★★★★
BBC Two, 11.05pm
Alicia Vikander gives an astute portrait of Vera Brittain, the Oxford student whose ideals are beaten into shape – or, you might say, bitterly forged – by the incessant heartbreak and trauma of the First World War. James Kent’s direction gives his film a restrained cinematic polish that feels appropriate: this is a soberly accomplished, never voyeuristic piece of work. Game of Thrones’s Kit Harington co-stars.
Television previewers
Stephen Kelly (SK), Veronica Lee (VL), Gerard O’Donovan (GO), Poppie Platt (PP) and Gabriel Tate (GT)
