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FILM P The Great Escaper ★★★ 12 9.30pm BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer Bernard Jordan hit headlines around the world in June 2014 when, without the knowledge of staff at the Hove care home where he lived, he headed to Normandy to attend a D-Day commemoration ceremony. His carers thought the 89-year-old was off to meet friends in Portsmouth — but he was heading further afield. The home’s manager was quoted as saying: “He left his home and did what he wanted to do, just the same as you and I.” It was a story just begging to be made into a movie, and here it is, with Michael Caine as Bernard and fellow British cinema titan Glenda Jackson making her final screen appearance as his wife Irene. The 2023…

DRAMA The Night Manager 9.05pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer “I am the man who will not explode,” Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) says to his MI6 psychiatrist in a reassuring tone of voice, yet the nails digging into the flesh of his hand tell a different story. For despite many years having passed since Pine infiltrated the coterie of arms dealer Richard Roper, he’s still scarred by that undercover mission. Hence his current low-risk role overseeing a night-time surveillance team in London. Only, a quiet job with unsociable hours does not a spy drama make, and it isn’t long before a chance glimpse of a former Roper collaborator is upending Pine’s life of seclusion. What ensues makes for, on the basis of this opening episode at least, an engaging enough espionage…

DRAMA Call the Midwife 8.15pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer The Nonnatus House regulars are trading in their bicycles for rickshaws this Christmas, with the likes of Sisters Julienne (Jenny Agutter) and Veronica (Rebecca Gethings) seen making a mercy dash to Hong Kong following a disaster at the Branch House in Kowloon. But, as it turns out, the aftermath of this horrendous building collapse brings with it some unforeseen dangers, most notably the threat posed by organised crime in the neighbourhood. Dr Turner (Stephen McGann) may have stitched wounds inflicted by the Kray twins back home, but how will he fare with the Triad? Credit ought to go to writer Heidi Thomas for finding fresh ways of taking her characters way out of their comfort zone, though any viewer seeking the…

DRAMA Lynley 8.30pm BBC One Full series available on iPlayer NEW SERIES When the BBC axed NEW The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, it said it wanted to “move on”. But nearly two decades later, we find that it’s come full circle, hence this reboot starring Leo Suter as the aristocratic detective and Sofia Barclay as his working-class sidekick, DS Barbara Havers. Aside from that recasting, it’s pretty much business as usual, with Lynley still someone who’s concerned more with justice than he is with his title, while the tenacious Havers remains ever alert to the ways a suspect with wealth or privilege can use power to protect themselves. As such, theirs is an unusual partnership, though their first case feels highly conventional, dealing as it does with a suspicious death in…

DOCUMENTARY Christmas Treasures of the National Trust 9.00pm (not Wales) BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer While a blizzard of shows about Christmas decorations in stately piles covers the television schedules, this programme promises to be much more interesting, because it doesn’t simply show people putting up festive bling. Instead, it visits three National Trust properties: Arts and Crafts mansion Cragside in Northumberland, Tudor house Cotehele in Cornwall and Devon’s example of Arts and Crafts, Coleton Fishacre, as they prepare for the holiday season. The property curators share the historical inspiration for some of their festive experiences, such as a tiny paper dance card from 1894 that gives a glimpse into life for servants at Cragside. In Coleton Fishacre, a 1920s cocktail cabinet is being prepared for a Roaring Twenties party serving…

FILM P Operation Mincemeat ★★★★ 12 9.00pm BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen bring a wealth of period drama talent to this polished 2022 movie by director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love). It depicts the fanciful but amazing real-life wartime plan to fool the Germans about the proposed site of an Allied attack in 1943, which sent them to defend Sardinia, when the landings were made in Sicily.Previously filmed more prosaically as The Man Who Never Was in 1955, the story sees Firth and Macfadyen working together to prepare a back story and false papers to be left on a dead body, helped by assistant Kelly Macdonald, who becomes a romantic focus for both men. Although they had not met previously, the two men had both…

DRAMA The Serpent Queen 10.05pm C4 Series one and two on C4 streaming from today NEW SERIES That episode one of this historical drama — first streamed in the UK on Starzplay in 2022 — is entitled Medici Bitch gives you an idea of the tone. There are strong shades of The Great as Samantha Morton delivers a rollicking performance as Catherine de Medici, who marries into the French monarchy in the middle of the 16th century. But, by the time she has become queen, she’s surmised that the royal court is a cesspit of idiots, backstabbers and vicious sexists, so she’ll have to be the most ruthless of them all if she’s to survive and reign. The opening episode flashes back to the young Catherine (Liv Hill of Three Girls fame),…

DRAMA Prisoner 951 9.00pm BBC One Full series on iPlayer NEW SERIES In April 2016 charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was returning to Britain with her young daughter after visiting her parents in Iran. The country’s Revolutionary Guard detained her at Tehran’s airport, separating her from her child. She didn’t know why and they offered no explanation. It was six years before her family was reunited. Written by Stephen Butchard and based on Nazanin’s book about her experiences, this brilliantly — but distressingly — evokes the feelings of fear, uncertainty, helplessness and frustration felt by Nazanin (Narges Rashidi) and her British husband Richard (Joseph Fiennes) as she was moved from one filthy prison to another. Cruelly, she was told she would be freed in 24 hours, or on a Saturday, but never was.…

Never a good time for Microsoft to update Windows I understand the argument made by Les Hornby in Issue 657 that Microsoft should extend Windows 10 support beyond October 2025. By regularly updating the operating system, Microsoft has made it feel fresh and modern. The problem with Microsoft extending support is that it incentivises users to cling on to an old and rapidly decaying operating system. Also, if Microsoft can’t terminate support after 10 years, when can it? If a week is a long time in politics, a decade is an eternity in computing. Technology has already changed immeasurably since Windows 10 launched in 2015. The emergence of AI will accelerate this between now and 2025. There simply is never a good time for Microsoft to end support because there…

DRAMA Summerwater 9.00pm C4 Full series available on C4 streaming after tonight’s episode NEW SERIES If you fancy a relaxing holiday in some quiet spot so that you can get away from the stresses and strains of life, I wouldn’t recommend the loch-side cabins at Summerwater. It’s not because the site is remote, nor that it rains nearly all the time, nor that it’s surrounded by spooky woods or even its lack of mobile phone signal. It’s not even, as we see at the start, the fact that there’s a fire in one cabin and somebody dies in it. Although that may well put you off. No, it’s the people staying in the five cabins. As this adaptation of Sarah Moss’s heart-pounder of a novel gradually reveals, all have unresolved conflicts,…

FOOD A Mary Berry Christmas 9.00pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer With so many TV shows about preparing for the Big Day in the schedules, you could be forgiven for feeling a bit “bah humbug” about it all. However, it’s always undeniably delightful watching Dame Mary Berry prepare some delicious dish or other, but here she’s joined by celebrity pals to cook and to share the Christmas traditions that add so much to the festivities. “It’s the icing on the cake,” she says. She and Alison Steadman admire the elaborate twinkling lights at RHS Wisley before taking Harry Aikines-Aryeetey to watch The Snowman in the West End. Finally, she and Zoe Ball go to Windsor Great Park to choose a Christmas tree. She promises there’s a special reason for…

ENTERTAINMENT BBC New Comedy Awards 9.00pm BBC Three Catch up via iPlayer Thirty years ago, the winner of the inaugural BBC New Comedy Awards was crowned: Julian Barratt bested a line-up including Lee Mack and Daniel Kitson. Other winners have included Alan Carr, Lucy Beaumont and Lost Voice Guy; Sarah Millican, Joe Lycett and Peter Kay have been among the losing finalists. So it’s fair to say that this contest has maintained a decent track record for identifying up-and-comers with potential. 2025 will once again feature six heats of five comedians, filmed across the UK. The winners will then compete in the grand final at Bradford’s Alhambra Theatre, hosted by Guz Khan. Tonight’s first heat comes from St George’s in Bristol in an evening hosted by Josh Jones; this year’s…

DOCUMENTARY What’s the Monarchy For? 9.00pm BBC One Full series on iPlayer NEW SERIES The title asks what a king or queen is for, but we might also ask — what are royal documentaries like this for? 5 has a deep shelf of programmes to track each cough and spit of every royal storyline, and it does very well out of them. But this is seasoned veteran David Dimbleby offering more of an expansive essay on a subject he knows better than most. He interviews former courtiers and cabinet ministers on what the limits of royal power are or should be, but he doesn’t look as if he believes any of them. He just fixes them with a patrician glare as if they were young whippersnappers trying to pull the wool…

FILM P The Idea of You ★★★15 10.40pm (11.55pm in Northern Ireland) BBC One Catch up via iPlayer Adapted from Robinne Lee’s 2017 bestseller, this smart 2023 drama deftly blends celebrity fantasy with emotional honesty. Anne Hathaway shines as Solène, a 40-year-old mother whose romance with 24-year-old pop sensation Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine) upends both their worlds. To bring Hayes to life, Galitzine enlisted in a five-week “boy-band bootcamp”; he even recorded the songs himself, infusing the film’s concert sequences with authentic pop-star energy and showmanship. The British actor also studied interviews with, and performances by, real-life pop icons, to capture the charisma and vulnerability of a modern heart-throb. It’s a level of commitment that underscores why Galitzine is becoming one of Hollywood’s most versatile leading men — he’s next…

DRAMA Say Nothing 9.00pm C4 Full series available on C4 streaming NEW SERIES When it was shown on Disney+ a year ago, NEW this ambitious drama inevitably attracted debate and controversy with its effort to avoid moral absolutes in a depiction of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It opens in Belfast in 1972, with the shocking abduction of Jean McConville (Judith Roddy), a widowed mother of ten who is snatched from her home, in front of her children, by masked gunmen. McConville, whom the IRA suspected of passing information to the British Army, was never returned to her family; her remains were finally found in 2003. The early 21st century is also where we meet Dolours Price, who was an active IRA volunteer in 1972 and is now contributing to…

Apple has a track record of triggering widespread changes in technology when releasing new versions of the iPhone. Previous models have got rid of headphone jacks, added fingerprint sensors and removed the home button. These were considered radical at the time but are now standard (though not everyone likes them). Its latest change might be the most significant yet. The new iPhone Air, which went on sale on 19 September, is the first iPhone – and the first mainstream phone by anyone – to come without a SIM card around the world. These little cards connect you to your network and store information about your account, including your phone number and your subscriber identity. Transfer them to another phone and you can keep your details. But instead of a card…

DOCUMENTARY Poison Water 9.00pm BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer Rising bills, sewage spills, financial chicanery: the reputation of privatised water companies could hardly sink lower. Or could it…? This programme looks back to a 1988 water poisoning scandal in Cornwall that occurred shortly before privatisation but flowed into it like a toxic tributary. “It’s all about money, power and greed,” says a Cornish resident, summing up the appalling saga. In July 1988, a batch of chemicals was accidentally poured straight into the water supply of 20,000 people near Camelford, but the local water authority’s response was lethally slow and misguided. We hear clear evidence that residents weren’t warned of the health dangers because the incident couldn’t be allowed to spook City investors in the run-up to privatisation. Instead, executives appeared…

ENTERTAINMENT Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel 8.20pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer Singing along to the catchy theme tune, the awkward attempts at chair dancing, trying to fight motion sickness — it’s time to get a gaggle of celebrities back on the human roulette wheel for a new series of this Saturday-night staple. It’s business as usual for the fun gameshow format that revolves (pun intended) around a giant mechanical wheel. Contestants face questions they hope a celebrity can help them answer, all depending on where the fickle wheel stops after it’s been spun. Part of The WheelÕs appeal is seeing the subjects the famous faces declare themselves to be experts in. Olivier Award-winner Layton Williams picking musicals is a no-brainer, but Lioness Jill Scott chooses hot beverages (though she does now…

GARDENING Gardeners’ World Winter Specials 8.00pm BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer The regular Gardeners’ World season came to an end last week, and hats off to Monty and the team for guiding us through the challenges of an exceptionally dry spring and summer. But the blow of its departure is very much softened by a series of four winter specials, beginning tonight when we’re in the hands of Frances Tophill as she returns to Damson Farm in Somerset. The garden clearly resides deep in her heart, and she’s left her mark on it in a variety of creative ways, continuing with the taming of a Japanese wineberry — a deciduous shrub both ornamental and edible — and the mulching of the vegetable beds. The hydrangea is very much an icon of…

REALITY Celebrity Race across the World 8.00pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer After a short flight (because they weren’t permitted to film in Nicaragua), the race to the next checkpoint resumes in Costa Rica. The teams are headed for Bocas del Toro, a group of islands off Panama’s Caribbean coast, but must decide whether to take a longer, potentially faster route or opt for multiple buses. Emotions are running high. Bal gets upset when he starts feeling his age and is too tired to support his daughter Anita: “My job has always been to look after you,” he says wearily. Dylan’s mum Jackie is tearful as she wonders if she’s been too protective in the past. They’re not tired and emotional all the time, though. You’ll be crying with…

DRAMA The Ridge 9.00pm BBC Two Full series available from today on iPlayer NEW SERIES Doing a crime drama differently isn’t easy. And, on the face of it, this Scot-Kiwi collaboration is much like many other stories, as it contrives a reason for its Scottish main character to be investigating a murder in rural New Zealand. That protagonist is a typically compelling Lauren Lyle (Karen Pirie) as Mia, a drug-addict doctor who leaves her job behind, because her sister is getting married on the other side of the world. However, by the time Mia’s flight touches down the bride is missing and soon found dead. The Ridge’s tone sets it apart, and it will require some acclimatising: the flashing memories of the girls’ horrible childhood are offset by how everyone including Mia reacts…

NICK PEERS 1 Plex Until recently, I used Plex (www.plex.tv) to run my home entertainment server, but despite paying for a lifetime Plex Pass (£190 from www.snipca.com/55685) I’ve grown uneasy at the limits the company places on free users, as well as its increasing focus on promoting its streaming channels over my own libraries. Blocking remote streaming for free users was the final straw. And what I use instead Jellyfin (https://jellyfin.org) is a completely free alternative that offers everything you want from a home media server. Its features, including support for live TV and DVRs, are almost on a par with Plex’s, and everything is unlimited, including apps for streaming on any device. Using it requires a little extra learning, particularly when setting up remote access. But once you’ve done…

We missed you as an athlete at the 2025 Red Bull X-Alps! Why? The format has changed a lot over the years. Now we had 16 turnpoints and you are forced to land very often, sometimes not even in a safe spot. The first editions there were only a few turnpoints. There were more variables and route choices. It’s not better or worse, different people can win now. It’s what Aaron Durogati is really good at. My intention with this race is I want to have a free adventure, and it’s not like that anymore. Also, I’m a bit older now and I have two kids. What is an adventure for you? I call myself an adventurer, this is what drives me. You don’t just do an adventure, you see…

DOCUMENTARY Once upon a Time in Space 9.00pm BBC Two Full series available on iPlayer NEW SERIES In 1984, American chemist and emergency doctor Anna Fisher flew as a crew member on the space shuttle Discovery. She was the world’s first astronaut mother, leaving behind a one-year-old daughter: we see home-video footage of Anna and her baby together as she today recalls how it felt to leave her behind — at a time when, we’re told, the predicted failure rate on shuttle missions was four per cent. She was condemned by many as selfish and a poor mother. That’s the focus of the series: the human story of space exploration told through first-hand accounts, in a style that director James Bluemel has previously used to Bafta-winning effect exploring Iraq and Northern Ireland. His…

HISTORY Witches of Essex 9.00pm Sky History Catch up via Now NEW SERIES Witchcraft is a big theme for history docs. Lucy Worsley, Suzannah Lipscomb and Suranne Jones have all fronted recent shows about witch hunts. Now Sky stirs its commissioning cauldron for a heady brew involving Rylan Clark, Alice Roberts, and the TV equivalent of eye of newt. The presenters start with the story of an Elizabethan witch trial in Chelmsford, but to make it more accessible, they treat it as if it were a “cold case”. They investigate it in an “incident room”, where they pin up photos of the key people involved — or rather, the actors playing them. The result is less daft than it sounds, because we also get sober historians offering insights on why 1560s England was…

AIRDESIGN Launched at the show was the Box R open harness, which features a simple but ingenious innovation – a removable front-mounted reserve with an easyto-see place to check the harness is done up, making it suitable in and out of schools. It will come in 2026. ad-gliders.com ASCENDANT The new French company were thrilled this year to have supplied the harness that won Red Bull X-Alps. At Coupe Icare they launched a new sub harness, the Calixte, featuring magnetic opening, two reserve holders, separated cockpit with the option of foam or inflatable protection. fly-ascendant.com BOGDANFLY BogdanFly had a whole host of Zeppelin harnesses on display – and nothing but Zeppelins. They ranged from ultralight to standard across a total of five iterations and weighed in from 1.8kg to 3kg…

DRAMA All Creatures Great and Small 9.00pm 5 Catch up via 5 streaming With the war only recently over, Darrowby is still more used to blackouts than fairy lights, so the opportunity to make Christmas 1945 feel extra special is ready to be seized. But events are conspiring against the Skeldale House regulars, thanks to lingering memories of battlefields, a national shortage of turkeys and Tristan forgetting to source a pine tree for the Drovers pub. But this golden glow of a festive special reminds us that happiness can be wrested from what may appear the glummest of circumstances. And indeed, all that’s required is something as simple as a malapropism from a small child — in this case, young Jimmy saying “Hebden” instead of “Heaven” when playing an angel in…

FILM P Oppenheimer ★★★★ 15 9.00pm BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer It’s not exactly cheery, but Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning 2023 biopic of J Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who managed the creation of the atomic bomb, is one of the rare modern films that can truly stand next to those classic Hollywood epics in the Christmas schedules. It’s three hours long; its cast is stuffed with headline stars; its visual scale and grand musical score are second to none. Yet, this is still a movie from the director of time-jumbling thrillers Memento and Tenet, and Nolan works to make it probably the artsiest film to have grossed (nearly) a billion dollars. “We have to find a way into this guy’s head,” said the film-maker of his unusual screenplay, which was written in the…

FILM P Back to Black ★★★ 15 10.00pm BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer It took a while before Marisa Abela felt ready to accept the role of Amy Winehouse in this 2024 biopic. You can understand the hesitation. It’s almost 15 years since Winehouse died, but the legendary singer-songwriter still has a massive and dedicated fanbase ready to pounce on perceived misrepresentations. But if anyone could rise to the challenge it would have to be Abela, one of the UK’s brightest young talents, as she showed in the hit BBC series Industry. Abela went into “full boot-camp mode”, as she put it, to study the role, learning guitar and singing in her own voice, to “tell [Amy’s] emotional story through the songs”. Abela recalls singing live in front of…

DRAMA Death in Paradise 8.30pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer Some consider him no-nonsense, others believe he borders on the insensitive, but whatever your take on DI Mervin Wilson (Don Gilet) — when it comes to Christmas, he’s about as festive as turkey leftovers in January. So, when a dead body is found in suspicious circumstances in the pool of a Caribbean villa, the Saint Marie detective thinks nothing of cancelling his colleagues’ annual leave so that they can crack on with the case. True, he may have personal reasons for wanting to lose himself in work, but compared with the amiable social fumbling of his predecessors, Mervin is a hard taskmaster. Having said that, it’s not hard to see why he’d be so obsessed with this mystery, what with the…

FILM P The Batman ★★★★ 15 10.25pm ITV1 Catch up via ITVX How to solve a problem like the Batman? When writer/director Matt Reeves (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) was tasked with bringing a new version of the Caped Crusader to the screen, he knew one thing: he had to avoid repeating the “Playboy version” of Bruce Wayne that had been a key feature of the films starring Michael Keaton, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck. The solution? Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. “I put on Nirvana’s Something in the Way — that’s when it came to me,” Reeves said. “There’s another version [of the character] who had gone through a great tragedy and became a recluse.” Enter Robert Pattinson as the “emo” Bat, complete with guy-liner, floppy hair and a brooding…

ENTERTAINMENT Strictly Come Dancing: the Final 7.00pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer SERIES FINALE It’s been an interesting year for Strictly Come Dancing. It began with a line-up that — more than ever — elicited cries of “who?”, and it has struggled to pick up. There were a record number of contestants who withdrew along the way due to injury, even more alarming headlines in the press relating to the show, and Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman announcing, mid-run, that this would be their final series (their last appearance will be in the Christmas Day special, see page 162). A mammoth two-hour-ten-minute final brings the curtain down with the finalists each performing three times in a bid for Glitterball glory. They will revisit one of their previous routines, perform a show…

DOCUMENTARY Inside the Christmas Factory 8.00pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer Paddy McGuinness pops on his hairnet once more to explore the family business in Market Drayton, Shropshire, that churns out an astonishing four million biscuits every year to see how they produce that traditional Christmas treat — gingerbread figures. There’s a blizzard of fun festive statistics and facts to go with all the shots of happy workers on the production line and it’s all very jolly as he helps — or, more accurately, hinders — them piping on Santa’s beard or Rudolph’s red nose. And having the occasional nibble too, of course. “Ooh, ground ginger,” Paddy says appreciatively, taking a big sniff of the biscuit mix. “That smells like Christmas right there!” Meanwhile, historian Ruth Goodman learns what it’s like to spend…

DRAMA The Forsytes 9.00pm 5 Catch up via 5 streaming NEW SERIES The word “Saga” may have been dropped from the title, and it certainly doesn’t follow John Galsworthy’s novels to the letter, but Debbie Horsfield has given us a version of the wealthy Victorian family’s story to match the acclaimed TV epics of 1967 and 2002. This one is sumptuous to look at — both the styling and the starry cast (which includes Tuppence Middleton, Jack Davenport, Francesca Annis, Eleanor Tomlinson and Susan Hampshire) are glorious. Clearly no expense has been spared bringing it to the screen. It starts with the coming-of-age of June (Justine Moore), the stepdaughter of Jolyon Forsyte (Danny Griffin), a kind and artistic man with rumours of racy escapades while travelling Europe. Meanwhile, his ambitious and ruthless cousin Soames (Joshua…

ART Turner: the Secret Sketchbooks 9.00pm (11.00pm Northern Ireland) BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer This is the TV equivalent of one of those big, blockbuster exhibitions, except here, there are no crowds of art-lovers blocking the view. Instead, the masterpieces are clear as day, with experts and celebrity fans alike here to help us appreciate them. The premise is that JMW Turner left 37,000 sketches in scores of notebooks — some of them incredibly saucy, depicting brothels and lovers. That’s the news angle, if you like, but the film is broader, a life story taking in the sweep of Turner’s career, how it evolved through highs and lows as he went in and out of taste, and how the pain in his life became drama in his work. You may find…

FOOD Celebrity MasterChef 9.00pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer John Torode was sacked from MasterChef over four months ago, so it’s more than a little surprising to see him pictured with Grace Dent, seemingly hailing a new era of the show. If nothing else, it illustrates how far in advance the series is filmed as, since he was let go, Dent and MasterChef: the Professionals’ Anna Haugh have been announced as the new new hosts, and they will take over from the next series. But back to this series and these celebrities: unlike the amateur contestants, these are all big, confident characters who are used to performing for the cameras, so Torode’s role is minimal. Dent demonstrates a softer side, although her critiques are witty and to the point: “It’s all…

FILM P The Menu ★★★ 15 9.00pm C4 Catch up via C4 streaming Foodie Nicholas Hoult and his last-minute guest Anya Taylor-Joy take their seats at maverick chef Ralph Fiennes’s exclusive island restaurant ant in this stylish, satirical horror comedy from 2022. Director Mark Mylod is better known for TV, with Succession and Game of Thrones on his CV, and he brings elements of both to this off-beat film, including razor-sharp dialogue and shocking violence. The dishes were created ed by Michelin-starred chef Dominique Crenn, who gave Fiennes valuable insight into her philosophy and method. Mylod declares himself as a massive fan of Robert Altman, and Gosford Park — with its ensemble cast and overlapping dialogue — was a big influence on The Menu, helping Seth Reiss and Will Tracy’s screenplay come…

DRAMA Riot Women 9.00pm BBC One Full series available today via iPlayer NEW SERIES It can be tough for women when they reach a certain age. They’re often dealing with elderly parents with failing health, their grown-up families ignoring or dismissing them, their husbands having inexplicable mid-life crises and — where once they were a force to be reckoned with — the world no longer sees them. They’re invisible, dispensable or simply a nuisance. Sally Wainwright’s characters — including an NHS worker, a police officer and a publican — are angry for all these reasons so, in a moment of rebellion, start a punk band and enter a talent contest to raise money for refugees. “So, Putin starts a war and you’re going to sort it out by making a fanny of yourself…

DOCUMENTARY Salt Path: a Very British Scandal 9.00pm Sky Documentaries Catch up via Now Raynor Winn’s account of how she and her husband Moth overcame financial ruin, homelessness and his terminal illness diagnosis by walking 630 miles along the South West Coast Path became a bestselling book and won numerous literary awards. Her evocative descriptions of coping with the physical and mental challenges, the atrocious weather, the humiliation, difficult attitudes from some people they met en route, as well as the way nature seemed to be improving her husband’s health, inspired, uplifted and enthralled millions. It was even made into a film. However, a newspaper investigation earlier this year alleged that some of the events in the book were not factually accurate, something the author totally refutes. This documentary was still being…

DRAMA Art Detectives 8.00pm U&Drama Full series available on U NEW SERIES To silver fox DI Mick Palmer (Stephen Moyer), a suspect’s lipstick isn’t just red but “cadmium red — Francis Bacon’s trademark”. He sees life through the prism of painters, hence his job as the sole member of the Heritage Crime Unit. Though it won’t take a sleuth of Mick’s calibre to deduce that, after making the acquaintance of DC Shazia Malik (Nina Singh), he won’t be a one-man band for long. Theirs is an engaging partnership — he with his cerebral nature and cups of tea poured through a strainer, she with her instinctive nous and ability to rugby-tackle any person of interest. And this opening case, set at a stately home with a dodgy Vermeer on a wall and…

DRAMA The Iris Affair 9.00pm Sky Showcase/Atlantic Episodes 1—4 available today via Now NEW SERIES Niamh Algar’s rare mix of effervescent mischief and grounded relatability goes a long way in what might otherwise be a terminally silly thriller. She’s the eponymous Iris, who is introduced to us in one of those now-customary flash-forwards where everything has gone wrong and a bad guy is waving a gun in her face. He proves to be high-level entrepreneur Cameron Beck (Tom Hollander in the charming/malevolent mode he showed us in The Night Manager and The White Lotus). Who Iris is — beyond being some sort of genius super-brain with a mass of confusing sticky notes on her bedroom wall — and why everyone from law enforcement agencies to online conspiracists is trying to track her…

DRAMA Riot Women 9.00pm BBC One Full series available via iPlayer Ever since Beth (Joanna Scanlan) heard Kitty (Rosalie Craig) belting out a song in a local pub, her life has taken a turn for the better in Sally Wainwright’s drama. “She’s rough and ready, but I like her… she’s cheered me up!” she tells her friend Jess (Lorraine Ashbourne) excitedly after she introduces Kitty to the rest of the menopausal wannabe punk band. None of them can play their instruments very well yet, but then that never stopped Sid Vicious, did it? Sadly, they’re all still having a tough time with their elderly parents, thoughtless offspring and dismissive colleagues. However, Kitty has written a song with powerful and raw lyrics that strike a chord with them all. “And you thought the Clash were…

DOCUMENTARY Girlbands Forever 9.20pm, 10.20pm BBC Two Full series available on iPlayer NEW SERIES After last year’s BBC Two documentary Boybands Forever, this three-part series was always going to be the follow-up. In charting the highs and lows of being in a 1990s girl band, Melanie Blatt of All Saints is the most candid (episode one would be blander without her anecdotes; some are funny, others horrific), while members of Eternal, Atomic Kitten and Mis-Teeq are among those recounting spats, successes and sinister press stories (the tabloid headlines are appalling). It’s a detailed but not encyclopaedic take on the decade (B*Witched, who had four number one singles, fail to get a mention), and despite any analysis of 90s girl bands inevitably revolving around the Spice Girls’ orbit, frustratingly and intriguingly, producers…

DRAMA Cooper & Fry 8.00pm 5 Catch up via 5 NEW SERIES When a labourer’s spade meets the earth on any whodunnit, it’s fair to assume that evil will be found incubating in the soil. And so it proves in this diverting Peak District-set mystery series which, in its opening minutes, sees a worker recoiling after discovering a human skull amid the dirt he’s shovelling. Enter TV’s latest mismatched detectives: the congenial DC Ben Cooper (Downton Abbey’s Robert James-Collier) and the secretive DC Diane Fry (Doctor Who’s Mandip Gill), the latter somewhat guarded following a transfer from Leeds for reasons that she’d rather not divulge, thank you very much. But it’s not just their demeanours that set them apart, as Cooper is open to the folkloric traditions that are woven through the…

October proved a spectacular month for pilots making long distance flights. There was a time when flying 100km was the ultimate benchmark in cross country. Then it was 300km. These days you’re unlikely to raise an eyebrow if you’ve done anything less than 500km. The outright record remains Sebastien Kayrouz’s 610km flight across Texas, which was set in 2021. However, there have been many spectacular flights this season in northeast Brazil. Czech pilot Hugo Hadas flew (almost) 500km on an EN-B. Launching at 7.27am on 13 October from Caraúbas, 18-year-old Hugo flew 498km along the west-north-west route on a Sky Apollo 3. Flying with him was his father Lukáš on an EN-C Merlin, who was forced to use the third step of his speedbar so they could stay together. “When…

PANEL SHOW QI XL 9.00pm BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer John Lloyd, QI’s inspired creator — or “Welder”, as he’s listed in the credits — says that when he runs out of letters of the alphabet, he’ll have to start naming the series with numbers. This is series W so that day isn’t so far off. And somehow, after 320 odd episodes (no hyphen needed), the show still has a spring in its step. Tonight’s edition hits the sweet spot of making us feel as if we’re eavesdropping on a handful of Britain’s most amusing people as they goof around and discuss trivia. Or maybe not trivia: the stuff Sandi Toksvig probes can be far from trivial, such as the reason Welsh farmers dressed as women during the so-called Rebecca Riots.…

FACTUAL Pete Wicks: for Dogs’ Sake 9.00pm U&W Full series available via U Pete Wicks has said that he likes dogs more than people but, as thousands of viewers discovered when his first “dogumentary” about the work of the Dogs Trust was shown earlier this year, he has a lovely way with both humans and canines. It’s no exaggeration to say that he’s a natural successor to the late Paul O’Grady and, just like Paul, wants to take every pooch home with him. Meanwhile, the Dogs Trust reported a massive increase in adoption applications and rehoming enquiries following his series. He returns to their centre in Basildon, Essex, where, heartbreakingly, a suitcase containing four bedraggled and distressed pups is handed in. But he also falls in love with slobbery mastiff Theo and has…

Co-op customers have been urged to change their passwords immediately following a major hack that saw cybercriminals steal details of all 6.5 million members. Shirine Khoury-Haq, boss of the Co-op, said the hackers stole names, addresses and contact information of its members, making it the biggest data breach ever reported by a UK retailer. She added that no financial or transaction data was stolen, nor usernames and passwords. Members can continue to earn and spend rewards as usual. However, enough information was taken for hackers to launch convincing scams targeting Co-op customers with emails and phone messages asking them to ‘Reset your password’ and ‘Verify your account’. If you use your Co-op password for any other account, you should change that too. ‘Incredibly sorry’ for theft The Co-op was attacked…

CRAFT Game of Wool: Britain’s Best Knitter 8.00pm C4 Catch up via C4 streaming NEW SERIES Everyone scoffed at the idea of having baking, sewing and pottery competitions on TV so don’t roll your eyes at this series. It may do for woollies what Bake Off did for cakes. The format is similar and as warming as a tea cosy. Ten home knitters battle it out, stitch by stitch, in a charmingly named Yarn Barn in rural Scotland. It’s hosted by knitting fan Tom Daley (wearing a bonkers trailing knitted toga-style top) while the challenges are judged by softly spoken “boss stitchers” Di Gilpin and Sheila Greenwell, with one person being “cast off” each week. We get to know the lovely contestants when, to a gentle soundtrack of click-clacking needles, they settle…

FOOD Mary at 90: a Lifetime of Cooking 7.30pm (8pm Wales) BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer NEW SERIES We’re talking Mary Berry, of course, who celebrates her 60-year career by cooking mouth-watering food with celebrity friends and having a giggle looking back at her earlier TV appearances. She had to be much more prim-and-proper in those days. Coming up with saucy names for an imaginary boat, as she does with her first guest, comedian Tom Allen, would not have been acceptable. Tom shares her love of the outdoors so they enjoy messing about at Henley-on-Thames as well as making a classic dish of pan-fried cod and capers. Mary’s not one to keep churning out the same old recipes, though, and here she reinvents the cottage pie that she demonstrated in the…

NATURE Kingdom 6.25pm BBC One Full series available on iPlayer Good news: the wild dogs are back! Last week’s episode didn’t feel the same without them. Now Storm and her yipping, yelping pack return to Nsefu with — wonderfully — 11 new puppies. They’re a great sight. The way they bond and bounce around in the Zambian sunshine is a joy to watch. On the narration, David Attenborough highlights the way the pack looks after one injured dog, Flint, who has lost one of his hind legs to a poacher’s snare. Despite that, hop-along Flint gets his share of each kill. Forget dog eat dog: packs look after every member. And boy, do we see what this means later on when Flint is in mortal danger: it’s a scene of real savagery…

COMMEMORATION The Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance 9.00pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer The annual ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall to honour Britain’s servicemen and women is always moving. A solemn celebration of the camaraderie of the armed forces it’s also a poignant reminder of the victims of conflict: something we are all still too aware of with the situations in Ukraine and the Middle East. In the presence of the King and Queen, the programme marks 80 years since the “war to end all wars”, acknowledges that it’s only 25 years since the ban on gay people serving in the forces was lifted and recognises the resilience of bereaved military children. The music is a mix of military bands and wartime classics as well as performances from Sir…

Why I say please and thank you to ChatGPT I’d like to offer a different perspective on the debate over whether it’s pointless to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to ChatGPT. I run a business with several email subscriber lists. These subscribers either buy my products or use my services, and I maintain regular contact with them through email. Consistent communication builds trust and familiarity, and when they’re ready to buy, they’re more likely to choose someone they feel they already know – ie, me. To help with this, I use ChatGPT to draft many of my emails. Because it can retain a sense of style within a conversation, I’ve trained it over time to understand and mirror my voice, the language, tone and personality I use when speaking to…

REALITY Celebrity Race across the World 8.00pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer SERIES FINALE The final leg of this gruelling race takes the four pairs of celebrities from Medellín in north-western Colombia to Uribia on the La Guajira peninsula. They’re relieved to know that at least there aren’t any borders to cross this time. At this point, the top two teams have a massive 18-hour advantage over the bottom two, while one pair also have a minuscule budget left, which is worrying. However, as we’ve seen before, anything could happen. There’s a lot of waiting for buses, sitting on buses and occasional sprints, while — once again — they’re warned it’s unsafe to travel at night. Although the pressure is on to eat up the miles, they all spend time reflecting…

ChatGPT makes me think more deeply Paul Denyer makes some interesting points about how an overreliance on AI might lead to a rise in dementia (Letters, Issue 714), but I’ve found myself thinking more deeply when using ChatGPT. This is because it doesn’t always give me what I want straight away. I have to work out the best way to coax an answer out of it. This means using different persuasive techniques. This is completely different to using Google, where you just type a few search terms. There’s little mental effort involved. Compared to ChatGPT, searching on Google feels like a passive and dull experience. There’s no conversational back and forth. I don’t think Paul needs to worry – but Google should. I’ve hardly used their search engine since ChatGPT…

DRAMA Waiting for the Out 9.30pm BBC One Full series available today on iPlayer NEW SERIES There is layer upon layer of satisfying dramatic sophistication in this new series by the playwright Dennis Kelly, whose eclectic TV CV consists of the Sharon Horgan sitcom Pulling, startling conspiracy thriller Utopia and Jude Law-led folk horror The Third Day. This is much more what you’d expect from a writer known mostly for theatre, since it includes long, talky scenes set in the prison philosophy classes led by Dan (Josh Finan), a clever but nervous young man whose troubled background has left him with obsessive behaviours and a limited capacity to cope with adulthood. As Dan’s class of prisoners challenge his attempts to school them on Locke, Descartes and the rest — either because…

DRAMA Grantchester 9.00pm ITV1 Full series available on ITVX Due to its improbably high turnover of vicars who’ve all had a sideline in sleuthing, it’s been easy to make jokes at the expense of Grantchester over the years. But as a new series (its penultimate, sob) gets under way, it feels apt to note its subtler aspects. This first episode, for instance (there’s another at 9.00pm tomorrow), opens on a scene of Easter celebration in the parish, where home-made bonnets are being judged while eggs are raced upon spoons. But beneath the surface cheer is a degree of melancholy, with Alphy (Rishi Nair) clearly lonely despite a string of first dates, and Leonard (Al Weaver) obviously worried that partner Daniel (Oliver Dimsdale) will be exposing himself to trauma should he try to…

DOCUMENTARY Secrets of the Conclave 9.00pm BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer As Cardinal Vincent Nichols sat with colleagues gathered in the Sistine Chapel, he thought to himself: “Someone in here has been chosen by God from birth to be the Pope, like he has the word ‘Pope’ written on his heart, and all we have to do is find him.” It’s a vivid way of putting it, worthy of Robert Harris’s novel Conclave or its film adaptation — both of which loom large over this fine documentary about how a real conclave works. You don’t have to be religious to find the process fascinating and peculiar — a centuries-old ritual with all the creamy Catholic ceremonial of vestments, processions, marble halls, incense — and Latin, lots of Latin. Cardinals recall…

DRAMA Super Pumped: the Battle for Uber 10.15pm ITV1 Full series available on ITVX First shown in the US in 2022, this drama was meant to be the first of several about big tech startups — a second run, planned to cover the rise of Facebook, is yet to appear. This debut is all about ride-sharing app Uber — or, as it’s known when we arrive in its San Francisco offices in 2010, Ubercab. This is the company that wants to replace traditional taxis, which goes down poorly with the local transit authorities. But just as Ubercab looks like it will drown in running costs and municipal fines, its CEO Travis Kalanick doubles down. It’s a drama set at the sharp end of late-stage capitalism, with billions to be made by men with…

DRAMA Wild Cherry 9.00pm, 9.55pm BBC One Full series available today on iPlayer NEW SERIES A heady mix of Desperate Housewives, Big Little Lies and Euphoria combines for a frothy drama about a well-heeled clique of mothers and daughters whose murky misdemeanours lurk beneath the shiny surface. Bestselling author Juliet (Eve Best) seems to have it all: a gorgeous mansion, devoted husband (James Murray) and children, including daughter Allegra (Amelia May). Yet, in what’s become the near-obligatory flash-forward, we see Juliet and Allegra at a marbled bathroom sink, frantically washing blood from their hands. Their friends, fellow monied mum Lorna (Carmen Ejogo) and her daughter Grace (Imogen Faires) are with them, also scrubbing away whatever wrongdoing this foursome has become embroiled in. In her BBC Three drama Mood, writer/actor Nicôle Lecky explored…

REALITY The Celebrity Apprentice 9.00pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer Have the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future decided to visit Lord Sugar? This two-part festive special finds the usually Scrooge-esque mogul in buoyant form; he even puts a call in to Father Christmas in the opening of this episode. Yes, really. It sets the tone for a knockabout task where two teams of celebrities, including Rob Rinder, AJ Odudu, Angela Scanlon and Sarah Hadland, must make and market gingerbread biscuits. Despite their starry status, they still manage to fall into every Apprentice pitfall: bickering, burning their bakes and instigating a bizarre brainstorm (the latter of which Karren Brady says in her 10 years of doing the show, she hasn’t seen the like). Still, it’s all for a good cause:…

DOCUMENTARY Inside the Factory 8.00pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer “I’m like a kid in a sweet shop… well, a biscuit factory,” says an excited Paddy McGuinness as he steps inside the building in Cwmbran, South Wales that’s been manufacturing bikkies since 1939. He’s following the production of Jammie Dodgers (so it’s perhaps inevitable that we hear Bob Marley’s Jamming at one point) although he can’t resist taking a nostalgic detour to another production line to see Wagon Wheels being rolled out, too. There’s the usual conveyor belt of statistics, jolly chat with workers and shots of industrial machinery churning out dough/jam/filling (delete as applicable), while Cherry Healey enjoys herself holding a scientific dunking test to see which biscuit is best for this very British habit, as well as learning about…

HISTORY Civilisations: Rise and Fall 9.00pm BBC Two Full series available on iPlayer NEW SERIES The BBC is clear that this handsomely produced series is a successor to Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation, but there are some key differences. Gone is the authored presentation; instead we have almost too many experts talking to camera, and lots of (shudder) dramatic reconstructions. And all to push the same notion; that what’s happening in the world today is mirrored in the fall of great civilisations of the past. In this first episode, for example, looking at events leading to the sack of Rome in AD 410 by the Goths, we have the blowback from imperial expansion, a refugee crisis, the concentration of wealth among a few super-rich… The gloom is leavened with some glorious objects courtesy…

TRAVEL Sandi Toksvig’s Great Riviera Rail Trip 8.05pm C4 Catch up via C4 streaming NEW SERIES After digging around in the dirt for her recent archaeology series, Sandi Toksvig deserves a nice little jaunt somewhere. And so, carrying a surprisingly old-fashioned suitcase, she takes the train along the glorious French Riviera from Marseille to Menton, hopping off at picturesque places en route. “As well as sunshine,” she says, “there’s bucketloads of history, art, literature and incredible food and wine. It’s going to be hell!” However, when she tries a traditional bouillabaisse in the former fishing village of Sanary, she’s in heaven at the taste. As you’ll know if you’ve enjoyed her Extraordinary Escapes, it’s not only food that thrills her (although both ice cream and a glass of rosé make her happy).…

FILM P The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent ★★★★ 15 9.00pm C4 Catch up: C4 streaming Nicolas Cage stars as a fictional version of himself in this lively 2022 action comedy about a fading superstar who is thrown into a wild adventure after accepting a $1 million offer from a super-fan. The plot allows Cage to indulge himself in references to his previous screen roles — he and co-star Pedro Pascal reportedly had a lot of fun playing with his filmography. So, did he jump at the chance? “I turned it down three or four times,” Cage admitted in an interview. He was concerned that audiences would confuse his “Nick Cage” character — note the addition of the letter “k” — with the real-life Nic Cage. (“I don’t use that much profanity,”…

DRAMA Midsomer Murders 8.30pm ITV1 Catch up via ITVX At the centre of this episode is a puzzle book that sparked a nationwide treasure hunt, the inspiration for which must surely be Kit Williams’s Masquerade from 1979. Viewers of a certain vintage will no doubt recall the prize of a jewelled golden hare that remained hidden until someone was able to decipher the clues found within the pages (those who aren’t old enough should perhaps imagine a rather more primitive Pokémon Go). Here in Midsomer, though, the bounty promised in the bestselling Seeker has never been located. Only now, a decade on from its original publication, writer Bertram Jewel (Dead Ringers’ Jon Culshaw) is hoping to reignite the search with a new illustration featuring fresh pointers. But the trail is set to be tainted…

SOAP Hollyoaks 7.00pm E4 Catch up via C4 streaming In 1995, Brookside was at the peak of its popularity. Channel 4’s flagship soap opera’s sensational “body under the patio” plot was a national talking point, eerily running in parallel with gruesome discoveries in Fred West’s garden, silencing critics who claimed soaps were becoming unrealistic. Basking in Brookside’s success, it’s creator Phil Redmond launched Hollyoaks, a companion show aimed at an adolescent audience. Brookie bowed out in 2003 and passed its taboo-breaking mantle to its sassy spin-off. To celebrate Hollyoaks’s 30th anniversary, there’s a nostalgic nod to its beginnings in this crossover. Yes, we’re back on Brookside Close, as Hollyoaks’s Donny Clark — who’s striking resemblance to Brookie’s Mick Johnson will no doubt be addressed — is strangely drawn to the…

DOCUMENTARY Mozart: Genius for Hire 9.00pm Sky Arts Catch up: Now There’s a brisk trio of Mozart programmes on Sky Arts over the coming days, ahead of the new drama based on Peter Shaffer’s play Amadeus, starting next week. On Wednesday (9pm) there’s the self-explanatory Mozart’s Sister, while on Thursday (9pm), Mozart’s Women is a concert of his music inspired by the women in his life. This first documentary delves into Wolfgang and his father Leopold’s letters to chart the way Mozart broke away from courtly patronage to work as a freelance, his creativity flourishing whether or not he managed to make ends meet. Some viewers will breathe a sigh of relief that (unlike BBC Two’s Mozart: Rise of a Genius) this trusts its audience and trusts the music. There are no…

DRAMA Trigger Point 9.00pm ITV1 Full series on ITVX The third series of this adrenalinefuelled drama about Expo Lana Washington (the ever-watchable Vicky McClure) doesn’t waste any time putting her in danger of being blown to smithereens. Which is a bit cruel. The poor woman hasn’t yet got over the nerve-shredding experience of her parents’ kidnapping by a terrorist organisation. Or failing to prevent her brother’s violent death. Despite her PTSD, she and her team are called out to neutralise a taxi suspected of containing explosives as well as a very frightened hostage. Next to him is a sign that says, “Confess or die”. Confess to what, though? He’s not saying. Lana is your typical TV maverick: she’s bloody-minded, argues back and ignores orders… but she nearly always saves the day in…

DOCUMENTARY Steve Backshall’s Royal Arctic Challenge 8.30pm ITV1 Catch up via ITVX Fifty years after the future King Charles’s unprecedented visit to the Arctic — which helped shape his passion for the environment — Steve Backshall retraces his steps to see how much has changed. Top of Steve’s “must-see” list are polar bears but, although helped by local guide Billy, it’s an arduous and bone-chilling search, so he’s emotional when he finally spots a mother feeding two cubs a kilometre away. Like the adventurous Charles did, he also tries dog sledding and diving under the metre-thick ice as well as talking to indigenous people and experts about the challenges they face. Global warming has catastrophically raised the temperature of this remote region by two degrees since the royal trip, which means, as…

DOCUMENTARY Pete Wicks: for Dogs’ Sake 9.00pm U&W Catch up via U Pete Wicks is not a big fan of Christmas. A self-confessed Grinch he usually spends it on his own with only his dogs for company. The complete opposite to the Dogs Trust rehoming centre at Basildon, which is as busy as ever, but where manager Lisa and the team are decorating the place to make it look as welcoming and festive as possible. Of course there are heartbreaking moments. A van full of neglected collie dogs arrive, one pup is blind while an older one has been confined in a crate for so long, he’s lost mobility. But there are plenty of heartwarming scenes, too: Pete getting soppy as he cuddles yet another puppy, excited dogs including long-term resident Tori…

You’ve dreamed about it, planned for it, tried, failed, tried again – and suddenly today is the day where you finally make it to cloudbase for the first time. Here’s what you need to know. 1 What is cloudbase? Cloudbase is where the bottoms of the clouds are. It is the top of the thermal and often the end of lift. Save some exceptions, cloudbase is the highest we can go without an engine. “Cloudbase is most of the time the top of the climb, though sometimes you can climb in the dry air next to it,” explains Kelly Farina, XC guide and author of Mastering Paragliding. Any cloud has a base but only the base of a cumulus cloud has anything to do with thermals, so we will focus…

DRAMA Play for Today: A Knock at the Door 9.00pm 5 Catch up via 5 streaming No good ever comes from answering a call at the front door in the middle of the night, but the bloodied figure thudding at the threshold of the Hampstead house of once-beloved comedian Lenny (Alan Davies) and his wife Maggie (Nikki Amuka-Bird) is clearly in a desperate state. So, what option do they have but to invite him in? As it turns out, all isn’t as it initially appears with the seemingly frantic Ben (Logan Mersh), but such has been the case with the sudden arrival of strangers for as long as thrillers have been in existence. They’re forever presented as the personification of conscience or a trigger for terror, so viewers here are…

FILM P Mr Burton ★★★★ 12 8.00pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer The word “authenticity” crops up repeatedly in cast and crew interviews for this engaging recent biopic of Richard Burton, whose centenary falls today. Harry Lawtey (Industry) gives an uncanny performance as the young “Rich”, opposite Toby Jones as the teacher who nurtured his talent. Shot in Wales with a largely Welsh production team (including director Marc Evans), this film lavishes a lot of attention on nailing the period detail. It all pays off handsomely, giving a vivid evocation of Burton’s early life in a working-class family in Pontrhydyfen in the Afan Valley. But alongside all this serious business there was still room for a playful element. Evans was determined to film a few scenes atop the local hills. “It…

DRAMA Return to Paradise 8.00pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer Should she stay or should she go? Such was the dilemma being faced by DI Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson) when we were last in her company. Though the outcome of this decision was not so much hinted at as held aloft on a placard with the word “Glenn” flashing in neon lights, what with the forensic pathologist still patently having feelings for his former fiancée. And so, as we immediately discover, London’s loss has become Australia’s gain, with Mack opting to stay (at least temporarily, or so she claims) in the seemingly idyllic Dolphin Cove. To be honest, DI Jack Mooney (Ardal O’Hanlon) doesn’t appear that surprised, though he must be at least privately worried that the Met’s clean-up rate…

Why I don’t need an AI PC I doubt many people will be tempted to upgrade to Windows 11 because of the new AI tools in the 24H2 update (Issue 695, page 6). I’ve been hugely impressed by how AI works, especially when having conversations with ChatGPT (https://chatgpt.com) or enhancing old photos using Upscayl (https://upscayl.org), but both those are free (yes, I know ChatGPT has paid-for options, but the free version is all you need). These kinds of tasks are what ordinary people are using AI for, not the complicated stuff you need an NPU for. I’ll keep using my boring-but-fast non-Copilot Windows 11 PC for many more years, and when I want to use AI I’ll go online and look for a free tool. Mal Lewington I’ve stopped using…

Ofcom research published this summer showed that for the first time less than half of 16 to 24-year-olds watch traditional TV (live and catch-up programmes on a TV set at home) each week. The numbers for 45 to 54-year-olds and over-65s have also dropped sharply in recent years. If those figures don’t give new BBC chairman Dr Samir Shah sleepless nights, his mattress is too comfortable. He addressed the future of the BBC in early November in an interview at Leeds Conservatoire, saying “reforming the licence fee, replacing it, or coming up with a whole new mechanism” are all possibilities. “As more people switch to streaming, broadcasters will find it harder to justify the cost of Freeview” However, he rejected introducing a subscription fee for the BBC or funding it…

DRAMA Murder before Evensong 9.00pm 5 Catch up via 5 streaming NEW SERIES It was recently announced that the next series of ecclesiastical crime drama Grantchester would be its last, but anyone who’s a regular congregant there will feel equally at home in this parish, as the set-up is similar. Adapted from the first of the 1980s-set whodunnits written by the Rev Richard Coles, it pairs the mild-mannered Canon Daniel Clement (Matthew Lewis) with a police detective by the name of Neil Vanloo (Amit Shah) and sets them on the trail of a killer in the seemingly sleepy village of Champton. Only rather than a stentorian housekeeper, Daniel is tut-tutted over by his widowed mother Audrey (Amanda Redman). The result is solid mystery fare of the cup-of-tea, twitched curtain variety, though…

NATURE Kingdom 6.20pm BBC One Full series available today via iPlayer NEW SERIES Are wildlife programmes doomed to cover the same stories the same way for ever? Not if the BBC Natural History Unit can help it… There are fresh twists in its latest bulletin from the African bush. For a start, the title sequence feels Game of Thrones-y, as we swoop over a digital map and see areas where various animal clans hang out. And the story David Attenborough tells feels new — not radically, but noticeably. It’s framed as a fight for dominance: rivals jostling for territorial advantage in a Zambian nature reserve. Our hero, tonight at least, is Olimba, a leopard mother with expressive eyes and paws as pretty as they are lethal. In one dramatic scene, she hunts…

GARDENING Gardeners’ World 8.00pm BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer It’s bulb season — the moment when our plantings keep hope alive all through winter, and here’s Monty Don to show us the way. A dazzling spring display of irises is what he’s setting in motion tonight, and he also has other projects on the go — planting elephant garlic, as well as Asian greens. As colour fades from most of our gardens, Carol Klein has worked out some seasonal planting combinations to arrest the decline and ensure brightness even in the coldest months. Meanwhile, Joe Swift visits a Bristol project that’s transforming lives through gardening — a space where people and plants grow together. There’s also a passionate gardener growing flowers that he describes as the “drag queens” of his borders.…

DOCUMENTARY Richard Burton: Wild Genius 9.00pm BBC Two (BBC One in Wales) Catch up via iPlayer Richard Burton packed a lot into 58 years, and this splendid bio-doc packs a lot into its hour. You may feel Burton’s story — the Welsh miner’s son who became an acting giant then self-destructed — could have filled a three-parter like last year’s series on Elizabeth Taylor. But if a one-off leaves us wanting more, fine, so did Burton himself. Along with stills and cool interview clips, we’re flooded with a sense of what Burton was really like – topped off with extracts from his diaries, read by Matthew Rhys. We get a sense of Burton’s physicality, “this incredible masculine grandeur” as his co-star Claire Bloom describes it. Siân Phillips recalls how “it…