Survivors: Portraits of the Holocaust
BBC Two, 9pm
In 2020, the Prince of Wales commissioned seven artists to paint portraits of seven Holocaust survivors, with the results to be exhibited in the Queen’s Gallery and added to the Royal Collection. Suniti Somaiya’s powerful documentary follows the process, as the artists meet the sitters, hear their stories and consider best how to represent them on canvas, which keepsakes to feature and which aspect – the face, the hands, the eyes – to focus upon. It is a necessarily solemn hour, but not without light and humour as the pairs develop their rapports across generations. “I was charmed,” says artist Peter Kuhfeld of his subject, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch. “Although she’s tough.” As are all seven of the sitters. Their accounts are chilling: the disappearances of parents and relatives, the unthinkable trauma of the camps, the strangeness of liberation. But their refusal to be defined by their experiences is as inspiring as their appeals against hate. This is an opportunity to bear witness to atrocities that should never be forgotten. Says Manfred Goldberg of his brother, killed in a camp: “I’m the only person in the world who knows he ever lived.” GT
Hotel Portofino
BritBox
Natascha McElhone leads the cast of this sumptuous new period piece. McElhone is Bella Ainsworth, owner of a plush new hotel on the Italian Adriatic coast in 1926, facing down Mafiosi and the growing Fascist threat while dealing with a wayward husband (Mark Umbers), traumatised son (Oliver Dench) and hard-to-please guests (Adam James, Lily Frazer and Anna Chancellor).
Framed! A Sicilian Murder Mystery
Netflix
Expect shades of Roberto Benigni clowning in this farcical new Italian crime comedy, as two bumbling TV technicians happen upon a murder scene for which they swiftly become prime suspects.
Golf: Farmers Insurance Open
Sky Golf, 5pm
The “West Coast Swing” is well under way as the PGA Tour reaches Torrey Pines in San Diego, where reigning champ Patrick Reed returns, with Hideki Matsuyama, Jon Rahm and locals’ favourite Phil Mickelson among a strong field. Meanwhile, the increasingly bizarrely named European Tour is in Dubai for the Desert Classic (Thu, Sky Golf, 4am). England’s Paul Casey will defend his title.
1944: Should We Bomb Auschwitz?
Sky History, 7.30pm
A fascinating insight into the moral and operational challenges faced by the Allies when two Jewish escapees explained the extent of Nazi atrocities at the concentration camps. Would the risk to prisoners be worth the potential damage to Hitler’s plans?
The Apprentice
BBC One, 9pm
Clothes pegs on the noses, and not just for Lord Sugar’s jokes, as the candidates take to the waves for the second time this series; tonight, they’re catching fish and selling them on to corporate clients and the public. Cue the jokes about house guests and TV series outstaying their welcome.
Martin Clunes: Islands of the Pacific
ITV, 9pm
Martin Clunes concludes his beguiling odyssey on the Galápagos Islands, where he sees evidence of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution everywhere. The wildlife is predictably extraordinary and the environmental warnings stark, but of equal interest to Clunes are the human inhabitants, where nuns and scientists work alongside farmers and biosecurity officers, and he uncovers an unsolved murder mystery. It’s a delightful piece of armchair adventuring.
Screw
Channel 4, 9pm
Rob Williams’s excellent comedy drama continues to ratchet up the tension as Leigh’s (Nina Sosanya) newfound authority allows her a degree of freedom to run C-wing her way. This begins with a drugs-and-weapons amnesty in the face of dubious colleagues, the increasing weight of her own secrets and a distracted Rose (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell), troubled by her personal issues just as she is given charge of a vulnerable young inmate (Denzel Baidoo).
Rancho Notorious (1952) ★★★
BBC Four, 8pm
In a departure from his Expressionist roots, the acclaimed German director Fritz Lang made this rather run-of-the-mill Western as a vehicle for its star Marlene Dietrich. She plays the madame of the Chuck-a-Luck, a brothel and ne’er-do-well drinking den. Its atmosphere of boozy, brawling restlessness is well-evoked, and Dietrich rises above the somewhat tired material, but there’s no disguising that this is simply a good ol’ Western yarn.
Young Guns (1988) ★★★★
BBC Four, 9.25pm
Spawning a sequel, and launching the careers of its youthful stars (Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez and Kiefer Sutherland are among its cast), Christopher Cain’s Western team-up is a blast. A loose riff on the myth of Billy the Kid, it sees Billy (Estevez) and his gang hunted by outlaws and lawmen alike when rival ranchers come to blows. The pace is quick, the cast game and scenery is dusty and bullet-strafed. What more could you want?
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) ★★★
BBC Two, 11.15pm
Based on the bestselling book by John Boyne, this harrowing film tells the story of Bruno (an early star turn for Sex Education’s Asa Butterfield), a German boy whose father (David Thewlis) is a Nazi officer. When they move next door to a concentration camp, Bruno becomes friends with a Jewish boy he meets over the fence. It’s incredibly moving but the ironies are overdone and there are plausibility issues.
