Our guide to the best movies on TV
The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018) ✰✰✰ (Channel 4, 9.00pm) Premiere
Supermarket cashier Audrey Stockton (Mila Kunis) meets Drew Thayer (Justin Theroux) in a bar on her birthday and sparks fly. Their whirlwind romance ends abruptly with Drew dumping Audrey by text, and she seeks solace in the company of 30-something best friend Morgan (Kate McKinnon). Drew subsequently reveals that he is an undercover CIA operative and had to terminate the relationship with Audrey because the criminal fraternity was prepared to hurt her to get to him. Audrey is touched until bullets fly and she goes on the run with Morgan and a USB flash drive encrypted with details of a terrorist network’s diabolical plans. McKinnon’s boundless energy and gift for pratfalls papers over cracks in the comedy’s script and catalyses a sprightly screen pairing with Kunis’s foil.
(2007) (ITV4, 9.00pm)
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The third instalment of the gripping thriller series is a corker. Matt Damon reprises his role as lethal assassin Jason Bourne, and this time, a meeting with a journalist awakens the former hitman’s memories. Once again, he embarks on a deadly game of cat-and-mouse as he attempts to uncover who he really is, why he became embroiled in Project Treadstone and why the people who employed him now want him dead. Many “threequels” are mere rehashes of old successes, but this surpassed all expectations. Damon is breath-taking in the leading role, and Paul Greengrass directs with aplomb. Julia Stiles offers strong support to Damon’s maverick agent and David Strathairn is mesmerising.
Scott of the Antarctic (1948) (BBC2, 2.30pm)
John Mills takes the title role in this drama following explorer Robert Falcon Scott’s failed attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole in 1912. It shows how a mixture of extreme conditions, the pressure to beat a rival Norwegian team and some poor decisions would lead to tragedy. The film was made with the blessing of Scott’s widow — Mills’ wears the explorer’s own watch — and so it maybe it isn’t surprising that it doesn’t focus too closely on some of the subsequent criticisms of his leadership, instead concentrating on his bravery and the stiff-upper lips of his comrades. However, it’s still a stirring drama, with a great supporting cast that includes Derek Bond, James Robertson Justice and Kenneth More.