Best on the Box
James Croot picks out the best on the box for the week.
Miss Sloane 8.30pm, Saturday, Rialto
Jessica Chastain headlines this 2016 thriller about a formidable political lobbyist who may have finally met her match. ‘‘A talky, tense political thriller,‘‘ wrote Variety’s Peter Debruge.
Witness for the Prosecution 8.30pm, Sunday, Prime
Toby Jones, Kim Cattrall and Andrea Riseborough star in this two-part 2016 BBC mini-series based on the 1925 Agatha Christie short story. It focuses on the handsome Leonard Vole who seems to have the odds stacked against him when he’s accused of murder. ‘‘An expertly cast murdermystery,’’ wrote The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan.
Toni Erdmann 8.30pm, Monday, Rialto
Long, tonally all over the map and not for the easily offended, German writer-director Maren Ade’s 2016 black comedy is nonetheless a surprisingly entertaining watch. At its heart is an estranged father-daughter relationship, played with brilliant awkwardness by Peter Simonischek and Sandra Huller.
The Great British Bake Off 7.30pm, Tuesday, Prime
The remaining five bakers face three new challenges that embrace a time when Henry VIII reigned and demanded flamboyant banquets and impressive centrepieces. So naturally the three Tudor challenges include a savoury stuffed pie, a knotty biscuit and a showstopping spectacle of marzipan.
One Thousand Ropes 8.30pm, Wednesday, Rialto
Wellington-based filmmaker Tusi Tamasese’s 2017 follow-up to his superb debut The Orator is a slowburning drama that gets under your skin and stays with you for days. At its heart, it’s the story of Maea (Uelese Petaia). Living in a cramped inner-city apartment, he works two jobs trying to make ends meet. We know the former boxer is carrying some kind of burden or guilt because of the marks on the wall where family photos might once have sat, oh, and the ghostly presence of Seipua (Sima Urale), a demon who taunts Maea that she will find a way of rebirthing. Using light, shadows, reflections, and slow, intimate takes, Tamasese evokes a sense of space and place as Maea tries to break free from his past.
The Banksy Job 8.30pm, Thursday, Rialto
This 2016 documentary explores the infamous theft of street artist Banksy’s sculpture The Drinker and the ensuing battle with the art terrorist, AK47. ‘‘For all the comic grandstanding, this winds up raising some serious issues about the legitimacy of contested works of art and some of the more specious underpinnings of the art market,’’ wrote The Hollywood Reporter’s John DeFore.