Tuesday 3 September
Colin from Accounts
BBC Two, 10pm; NI, 11.05pm
One of last year’s most unexpected delights, this glorious Australian romcom returns witha smart piece of misdirection, another traffic-related incident and the titular Colin (a border terrier) still estranged from his natural owners, medical student Ash and microbrewery owner Gordon (married co-creators Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall). Determined to win him back from the family who are the dog’s unsuitable custodians, their inept machinations comprise only the start of another wonderful eight boxsetted episodes (available from Tue 3).
In the meantime, there are prime examples of hopeless alpha maledom, some vintage passive-aggression, a stunning-cum-bathetic revelation for Gordon and a cameo from Kevin Bacon to enjoy. All the key players from season one are back – notably Gordon’s hopeless co-workers and Ash’s mother’s awful boyfriend, while the balance of dark and funny, gross and profound remains intact. Any tension lost in the knowledge that Ash and Gordon are now clearly in it for the long haul is more than compensated for by narrative daring, and the comforting sense of being back among familiar faces. GT
Wang in There, Baby!
Netflix
The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse hosts the excellent Phil Wang’s second stand-up special for Netflix. Expect his wryly delivered thoughts on octopuses, reheating rice, fact-checking and the key differences between American and British audiences.
Patricia Routledge Night
BBC Four, 8pm
A feast of Patricia Routledge tonight, as she shares her recollections of her big hits, followed by well-chosen repeats of each, beginning with Keeping Up Appearances at 8.15pm. Then at 8.45pm is her rarely shown turn as Barbara Pym in Miss Pym’s Day Out, a docu-drama depicting the day when the author won the 1977 Booker Prize. After Hetty Wainthropp Investigates at 9.35pm, we end with an Alan Bennett triple-bill: A Woman of No Importance at 10.55pm, then two editions of Talking Heads.
Alec Guinness: A Class Act
Sky Arts, 8pm
As enigmatic a presence off-stage and off-screen as he was compelling on them, Alec Guinness is here insightfully profiled by friends and family (including Tom Courtenay and Sian Phillips) alongside astutely chosen extracts from his own interviews and writing to examine his fascinating life and career.
Secrets of the London Underground
U&Yesterday, 8pm
The enthusiastic double-act of Tim Dunn and Siddy Holloway wind up their fourth series at Old Street and Hampstead stations, where they find numerous nooks and crannies and gaping shafts full of bounty.
Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams on Tour
BBC One/BBC Two Wales, 9pm
Freddie Flintoff takes a few gambles as his young cricket team concludes their tour of India against a gifted academy side while facing uncertain futures. Hoping that they return home as men, Flintoff takes unorthodox steps to impart the sort of life lessons that would be trite in almost any other context, but here land with real authority and emotional impact.
Child Snatchers: A Day at the Fair
Channel 5, 9pm
Concluding tomorrow, this grim slice of true-crime recounts the abduction and murder of seven-year-old Mark Tildesley from a Wokingham funfair in 1984 – an appalling case only solved a number of years later.
It Should Happen to You (1954, b/w) ★★★★
Film4, 11am
Judy Holliday reunites with Born Yesterday director George Cukor for this glorious comedy. She plays smalltown girl Gladys Glover, who spends her savings on getting her name splashed across a New York City billboard and finds herself the talk of the town, guesting on chat shows and fêted by the rich and powerful. Jack Lemmon makes his big-screen debut as the film-maker who falls in love with her.
Videodrome (1982) ★★★★
Sky Cinema Greats, 10pm
David Cronenberg crafted one of his finest – if oddest – body horrors here. It’s full of visceral images: VHS tapes being inserted into people’s stomachs; TV sets exploding into human entrails – but Cronenberg also throws in some profound ideas (about mass media and society) to get your brain whirring. It’s unbelievable now that the movie bombed at the box office. The cast includes James Woods, Debbie Harry and Max Renn.
Suite Française (2014) ★★★
BBC Two, 11.05pm
Kristin Scott Thomas stars in this jarringly sweet Second World War romance, adapted from Irène Némirovsky’s epic novel. Michelle Williams, playing an unhappy housewife awaiting news from her prisoner-of-war husband and dealing with her haughty mother-in-law (Scott Thomas), does her best to hold the story together with one of her tense performances.
Wednesday 4 September
Slow Horses
Apple TV+
The chattering classes’ current favourite TV drama (as it deserves to be) returns for a fourth series following the antics of the execrable Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) and his team of “reject” MI5 agents. Adapted from Mick Herron’s fourth Slough House novel Spook Street, the principal focus is yet again on the undeservingly sidelined River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) whose difficult relationship with his grandfather David (Jonathan Pryce), a former MI5 grandee now beginning to display signs of dementia, is brought to the fore.
To reveal more would risk spoiling the nail-biting set-up played out across today’s opening episode (of six, the rest landing weekly), though it all ties into a car-bombing in London, which web-weaving spookmaster Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) is worriedwill reflect badly on the service. Apart from the usual amusem*nt provided by Lamb and the horses, the dynamic between Taverner and her newly appointed boss Claude Whelan (James Callis) adds another layer of sharp-witted comic relief and Hugo Weaving has heaps of fun as the villain. A treat from start to finish; luckily a fifth series is already on its way. GO
Amol Rajan Interviews
BBC Two, 7pm
The Today presenter’s TV interviews have mainly featured stars from the world of sport, media and entertainment. This time, he’s landed a political heavyweight: Tony Blair. Could the former New Labour prime minister be feeling a little left in the shade just now?
Petrol vs Electric Cars: Which is Better?
Channel 5, 8pm
It’s a question facing everyone buying a car at the moment. Motoring journalists and tech experts put vehicles to the test to see whether petrol cars or EVs are faster, more reliable, more economical and, above all, more affordable – now and in the long run.
Celebrity Race Across the World
BBC One, 9pm
Past the halfway point after 16 days travelling through Brazil, the next leg of the race sees the teams (Jeff Brazier and his son Freddy, Kelly Brook and her husband Jeremy, Kola Bokinni and his cousin Mary, and Scott Mills and his fiancé, Sam) tackling border crossings, different currencies and a new language as they cross into Argentina.
The Zelensky Story
BBC Two, 9pm
Starting with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the opening episode of this excellent three-part profile sees friends and colleagues of the Ukrainian president, and Zelensky himself, retracing his journey from teenage tearaway to comedy star – and then president, all the while contrasting his progress with that of his nemesis Vladimir Putin.
A Nation Denied: Ukraine’s Battle for History
PBS America, 9pm
If you need context for the BBC’s new series on President Zelensky, look no further than this two-part docu-series exploring the tangled history between Ukraine and Russia, and how Putin has recently weaponised that history in a propaganda campaign aimed at denying Ukraine’s right to independence. Concludes tomorrow.
Blue Bloods
Sky Witness, 9pm
The long-running New York police saga, starring Tom Selleck as NYPD Commissioner Frank Reagan, sets off on its 14th and final season with family golden boy Jamie (Will Estes) embarking on a dangerous undercover job. Meanwhile, Frank finds himself in a political bind over the mayor’s new policy on illegal immigrants.
The Admirable Crichton (1957) ★★★
Film4, 3.10pm
Based on JM Barrie’s stage farce, this romping adventure comedy is untaxing but good company. Director Lewis Gilbert was panned by some critics for his featherweight plotting, but this shows that a light touch is no bad thing: a South Seas yarn, starring Kenneth More and Diane Cilento, it follows a butler, Crichton, proving his worth when his employees are shipwrecked.
Hampstead (2017) ★★★
Film4, 6.55pm
From director Joel Hopkins (The Love Punch) comes this twee British romcom in the Love Actually vein, inspired by the true story of Harry Hallowes, a homeless man awarded the deed to a plot of land on the fringe of Hampstead Heath in 2007 after he’d squatted there for 20 years. Brendan Gleeson is Hallowes and Diane Keaton is Emily, a (fictional) widow and north London resident who – implausibly, as is often the romcom way – falls for him.
What We Did on Our Holiday (2014) ★★★
BBC One, 10.40pm
This supremely modest yet heartfelt film, brought to the screen by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin (Outnumbered), springs off from the same formula as their beloved BBC sitcom: there are three wisecracking children and a couple of harassed parents (Rosamund Pike and David Tennant). It’s virtually Outnumbered: The Movie, with a different cast and unexpectedly dark plot. Billy Connolly co-stars.
Thursday 5 September
The Perfect Couple
Netflix
There are shades of Big Little Lies and The White Lotus in this deliciously glossy six-part murder mystery, adapted from Elin Hilderbrand’s novel. It stars Eve Hewson as Amelia Sacks, a humble zookeeper who is marrying into one of America’s wealthiest families. They are “child sex ring on an island rich,” as one character tells the police; “kill someone and get away with it rich”. Amelia’s snooty future mother-in-law Greer Garrison Winbury, played with camp panache by Nicole Kidman, disapproves of the marriage but has spared no expense in hosting an opulent wedding on her beachfront estate in Nantucket.
Everything is going perfectly – until a body is discovered floating in the sea on the eve of the ceremony. The central whodunit is made all-the-more compelling by the Winbury family itself: a dysfunctional morass of strife and secrets. There are the domestic troubles of Greer and husband Tag (Liev Schreiber); the indebted son Thomas (Jack Reynor) and his snobby wife Abby (Dakota Fanning); and Amelia’s own cold feet. Add in the spice of a scandalous affair and you have yourself a perfect summer watch. SK
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Amazon Prime Video
The budget-busting Lord of the Rings prequel gives Tolkien nerds a treat this week: Rory Kinnear’s debut as the legendary Tom Bombadil. The character became a fan favourite after his appearance in 1954’s The Fellowship of the Ring as a jolly bushy-bearded omnipotent fellow who liked to rhyme; here, Kinnear adds a strong West Country accent.
Apollo 13: Survival
Netflix
This gripping feature-length documentary employs vivid archive footage to tell the storyof Apollo 13, the near-disastrous 1970 Nasa mission which resulted in three astronauts stranded halfway to the moon.
Michael Mosley: Wonders of the Human Body
Channel 5, 8pm
The concluding part of Michael Mosley’s posthumous exploration of the human bodycovers everything from the science of being tickled to the journey that our food takes through the digestive system. Yet it is, above all, a testament to Mosley’s smart and likeable personality.
Who Do You Think You Are?
BBC One, 9pm
Tonight’s subject is deaf EastEnders actress and Strictly Come Dancing winner Rose Ayling-Ellis, who wants to investigate a family rumour of Italian ancestry. Who proves more intriguing, however, is her great-great-great-grandmother, a formidable woman who was famed for throwing men out of her Birmingham pub. She would have been right at home in the Queen Vic.
Emma Willis: Delivering Babies
U&W, 9pm
Bubbly The Voice presenter Emma Willis also moonlights as a maternity care assistant, with this fourth series of her behind-the-scenes reality show following her as she begins training for a bigger job in a bigger hospital, Watford General in Hertfordshire.
Couples’ Therapy
BBC Two, 10pm
This recurring glimpse into the reality of couples’ therapy sessions is one of the most fascinating documentaries on TV. Tonight’s fourth series premiere, for instance, gives us insight into the unusual mechanics of a polyamorous relationship. Just as interesting however is Korean couple Rex and Joey. The latter’s Christian mother believes that Rex is the devil, which has put strain on their marriage.
The Fallen Idol (1948, b/w) ★★★★
Film4, 3.10pm
This mystery thriller marked Carol Reed’s first foray into directing the brilliant works of Graham Greene (they collaborated again on The Third Man). Bobby Henrey plays a rich kid who begins to suspect his beloved butler (Ralph Richardson) of murder. Like much of Greene’s work, it raises chilling questions about British class, crime and childhood, and was deservedly nominated for Oscars for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Porridge (1979) ★★★
BBC Four, 9.15pm
Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais successfully brought their small-screen charm to a feature-length format. It’s very much a 1970s artefact – with cameos from The Goodies, a final appearance by Richard Beckinsale and, of course, a marvellously lugubrious turn from Ronnie Barker as inmate Norman Stanley Fletcher. But, of course, that’s what makes it so hilarious: it harks back to a simpler, less fraught time in comedy.
Trading Places (1983) ★★★★
Film4, 11.15pm
Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd star in this uproarious morality tale in which the lives of Aykroyd’s upper-class broker and Murphy’s penniless bum unexpectedly intertwine. Pulling the strings are the Dukes (Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche), corrupt millionaires whose social experiment blows up in their faces in satisfying style. Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis provides spirited support.
Friday 6 September
Funny Woman
Sky Max, 9pm
After her meteoric rise to fame last season, it’s time for a reckoning with reality for Sophie Straw (née Barbara Parker and brilliantly played by Gemma Arterton) – the newest star in 1960s British TV comedy. Kept apart from her creative partners by contractual wrangles – and from her secret lover, Asher Ali’s geeky Dennis Mahindra – her new sitcom flops and our heroine is left adrift both personally and professionally. Written by Morwenna Banks and based on Nick Hornby’s hit novel, this second series, reduced from six to a tighter four episodes, is another curate’s egg: at times blindingly obvious, at others more subtle.
Some guest stars also work better than others – Tim Key’s turn as an incompetent divorce lawyer falters, but Lydia Leonard’s careless aristo and Gemma Whelan’s tabloid hack are deftly sketched. But all pale alongside Arterton, without whose comic gifts it’s impossible to imagine any of this really working. The eye for period detail also remains as keen as ever, driven along by an irresistible soundtrack spanning Dusty Springfield to The Easybeats, but comparisons to Amazon’s superior The Marvelous Mrs Maisel remain unfortunately hard to avoid. GT
Pachinko
Apple TV+
The evocation of chaos as Japan’s defeat looms in the final months of the war is so potent in this endlessly rewarding drama that it is no wonder that Sunja (Minha Kim) is tempted by the offer of safety in the countryside by businessman Koh Hansu (Lee Min-ho). Yet as we know from the scenes in 1989, Koh has secrets both personal and professional that will at some stage emerge…
Our Lives: The Journey to Scotland’s Remotest Pub
BBC One, 7.35pm; Wales, 8.05pm; NI, 8.35pm
In another amiable slice-of-life instalment, two friends, Ally Turner and Glynis Mattheisen, undertake the forbidding three-day hike to The Old Forge, a resident-run pub in the remote Scottish village of Inverie.
Gardeners’ World
BBC Two, 8pm
Tonight’s dispatch comes from Norfolk, where Arit Anderson and Adam Frost are visiting the glorious gardens of Ruston Old Vicarage, maintained by an army of volunteers. Elsewhere, a couple in Walsall celebrate the colour green and Rekha Mistry considers a trying year growing vegetables in the Peak District.
Mancini, Bacharach and Friends at the Proms
BBC Four, 8pm
Edwin Outwater conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in a performance (from Monday) of lounge classics by Henry Mancini, Burt Bacharach and more. While the highlights will surely be Moon River and the Pink Panther theme, listen out too for Les Baxter’s Shooting Star and Julius Wechter’s Spanish Flea.
Hostage
More4, 9pm
The engrossing Swedish thriller set aboard an aeroplane approaches its endgame with Eden (Ana Gil de Melo Nascimento) assailed by intransigent superiors and ghosts from her past as hopes begin to fade for Karim’s (Zardasht Rad) missing family. Tightly written and directed, and perfect for fans of Apple TV+’s recent series Hijack, this is superior fare from the Walter Presents team.
Guy Garvey: From the Vaults
Sky Arts, 10pm
The Elbow frontman begins his fifth series of enlightening, enjoyable archival excavationsof interviews and performances from musical decades past with a timely look at protest songs through the eras, written in response to various wars and conflicts: expect Eddy Grant, Simon & Garfunkel, Public Enemy and Aswad.
Rebel Ridge (2024)
Netflix
Green Room director Jeremy Saulnier returns with this thriller about a former Marine (Aaron Pierre) who takes on small town corruption. Cycling into town armed with a bag full of cash to bail out his cousin, Pierre’s Terry finds himself arrested and at the centre of a knotty conspiracy that threatens his (and his hometown’s) very existence. AnnaSophia Robb, Don Johnson and Erin Doherty all star. Perfect for fans of The Bank Job or The International.
The 39 Steps (1959) ★★★★
Talking Pictures TV, 7.10pm
Kenneth More stars in this stylish thriller from Ralph Thomas, loosely based on John Buchan’s 1915 novel (and Hitchco*ck’s excellent film). Richard Hannay (More) saves a London nanny from a hit-and-run before discovering that she’s actually a spy. When she’s killed, Hannay goes to Scotland to stop the plot’s leader himself. Cue police chases and wild action sequences – and getting handcuffed to a girls school instructor (Taina Elg).
The Three Musketeers: Milady (2023) ★★★★
Sky Cinema Premiere, 8pm
Martin Bourboulon directs this zippy, swashbuckling French-language spin on Alexandre Dumas’s novel, which pushes Eva Green’s Milady de Winter to the fore – and she is perfect in the role. When musketeer D’Artagnan’s (François Civil) lover is kidnapped, he and his fellow heroes (Pio Marmaï and Romain Duris) rush to save her. The frisky first part of the two-part film – subtitled D’Artagnan – is streaming on NOW.
Lady Macbeth (2016) ★★★★★
BBC Two, 11.05pm
The title may suggest a spin on the Scottish play – for that, see Joel Coen’s brooding black-and-white offering, The Tragedy of Macbeth – but it’s actually based on a novel by Nikolai Leskov and it’s more like a wild Lady Chatterley. Katherine (Florence Pugh, exceptional) is a young bride in 1860s England whose boredom leads to sexual rebellion. As she locks eyes with stable-hand Sebastian (Cosmo Jarvis), passion and violence erupt.
Television previewers
Stephen Kelly (SK), Veronica Lee (VL), Gerard O’Donovan (GO), Poppie Platt (PP) and Gabriel Tate (GT)
