Martin Clunes: Islands of the Pacific
ITV, 9pm
What exactly has Martin Clunes got on senior management at ITV? For over a decade he has been wangling documentary gigs, taking him around the world in pursuit of lemurs, lions or manta rays; this new three-parter dispatches him to the extravagantly beautiful Pacific islands. Of course, he could also be getting these jollies because he’s also a fine broadcaster; like with Joanna Lumley, these jaunts would be intolerable were he not so easy to watch, and there is nothing ersatz about his enthusiasm or forced about his curiosity. Clunes begins in French Polynesia, a sprawling collection of 118 islands and atolls, their ecological balance and local customs under threat from climate change but their peoples working hard to preserve both. He meets a vineyard owner working on a grape suited to an inhospitable environment for wine, tracks down the crabs being looked after so they can assist in ridding the islands of an insurgent rat population, learns of a history of human sacrifice and, to his transparent delight, looks on as a feral horse is tamed. If there sometimes seems to be a thin line between awe and bemusement, he never embarrasses his hosts. GT
Cricket: The Ashes: Fifth Test
BT Sport 1, 1.30am
The fifth day of the fourth Test begins on Saturday night, if you’re optimistic enough to believe that England could take Australia to another fifth day in this calamitous series. Otherwise, England have one more shot at salvaging pride in the wee hours of Friday morning, as the fifth Test gets under way at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart in Tasmania. It’s a day/night match, so should favour the England bowlers… Oh, who are we kidding…
The Journalist
Netflix
Following a respectfully received film in 2019, Michihito Fujii returns to direct a spin-off TV series tackling similar issues. Anna Matsuda (Ryôko Yonekura) is the titular Toto Newspaper hack undaunted by official pressure in her efforts to expose corruption, hypocrisy and malfeasance. It’s loosely based on the book by and experiences of Japanese broadsheet newspaper journalist Isoko Mochizuki.
Go Veggie and Vegan with Matt Tebbutt
Channel 5, 7pm
Four days after promoting a vegetarian and vegan diet (mainly seaweed and carrots) on Channel 4, the none-more-brazen Matt Tebbutt switches to Channel 5 to do much the same, using oat milk to whip up a vegan spinach and ricotta cannelloni.
Dragons’ Den
BBC One, 8pm
New Dragon Steven Bartlett is already picking fights in the Den, his interest piqued by a number of hopeful inventors with ecological concerns on their mind: there is the green DIY project, the beauty products to counter plastic waste in the bathroom, and a Canadian proposing an environmentally friendly fix to the perennial problem of dog mess.
The Apprentice
BBC One, 9pm
Plus ça change on The Apprentice, with the first two episodes dedicated to marketing exercises. This week the teams are pitching a new electric toothbrush to children, complete with a complementary app for a two-pronged attack, hoping to impress two big-name buyers. Will an extraterrestrial theme win out over a magical one?
Andy Warhol’s America
BBC Two, 9pm
The middle episode of Francis Whately’s fine, insightful and impeccably sourced profile examines Andy Warhol’s 1960s, from the JFK assassination and the Civil Rights Movement through to the Velvet Underground and the Valerie Solanas shooting.
Screw
Channel 4, 9pm
Having identified an inmate doing time for forgery, will Leigh Henry (an excellent turn from Nina Sosanya) follow through and ask for his help to rustle up a birth certificate and secure her promotion? Complicating matters in another well-judged blend of high tension and wry gags are an old foe of Leigh’s, another dilemma for Rose (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) and the rising suspicion that their buried pasts may soon surface to bring them both crashing down.
Snatched (2017) ★★★
Film4, 9pm
Surfing the ladette comedy wave started by the seismic success of 2011’s Bridesmaids, this caper stars Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn as a mother and daughter who are kidnapped by a drug gang while on holiday in Ecuador. That iffy premise sets the tone for the rest of the film which – in all fairness – has as much fun with the ignorant American stereotypes as it does with dodgy Latin American ones. A fitfully funny romp.
Vivarium (2019) ★★★
Film4, 10.45pm
Lumbered with a cumbersome title, this interesting sci-fi/horror draws clear inspiration from The Prisoner and The Truman Show. Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg play a young couple who become trapped in a nightmarishly pristine neighbourhood. To escape, they are told to raise a child which is delivered to them in a cardboard box. It asks intriguing questions, even if the schlocky final act slackens the pace.
The Gift (2015) ★★★★
Film4, 12.40am
It’s clearly an evening for domestic horror as Joel Egerton’s directorial debut serves up a chilling slice of incel thrills. Egerton is Gordon “Gordo” Moseley, a lonely, high-school dropout who begins to stalk a successful couple (Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall), claiming to be a figure from Bateman’s past. His incursions begin with a series of unsolicited gifts – and ramp up terrifyingly from there. It’s a shiversome anti-bullying parable.
