TV FILMS of the week

1 THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Thursday, GREAT! movies, 11.20pm

In the 1930s, Zero (Tony Revolori) secures a coveted position as lobby boy at the Grand Budapest Hotel, working under the legendary concierge Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes, left). When Madame D (Tilda Swinton) perishes in suspicious circumstances and leaves a priceless painting to Gustave in her will, her relatives plot the concierge’s downfall. This is a tour-de-force of creativity.

2 DIRTY HARRY Friday, Channel 5, 10pm

A deranged killer calling himself Scorpio claims he’ll begin attacking people unless the city of San Francisco pays him a vast amount of money. Harry (Clint Eastwood) is called in to deal with him. He crosses paths with Scorpio and gets into hot water for breaking the rules in an effort to bring the villain to justice. Dirty Harry remains one of the most brilliantly constructed cop thrillers ever made.

3 RED SPARROW Saturday, Channel 4, 10pm

Jennifer Lawrence, left, stars in this dark tale of manipulation. She plays Dominika, a former prima ballerina for the Bolshoi ballet recruited by the Russian secret service to become a ‘Sparrow’ and seduce foreign agents. After undergoing gruelling training she is sent to Budapest to hook up with a CIA operative (Joel Edgerton) and identify an American mole in Moscow.

4 GLADIATOR Sunday, ITV, 10.20pm

Director Ridley Scott collected five Oscars, including Best Picture, for this muscular and gore-laden sword-and-sandals epic. Russell Crowe shoulders leading man duties with relish, lending Maximus an unexpected emotional depth opposite Oliver Reed in his final performance.

5 STARTER FOR 10 Monday, BBC2, 10pm

James McAvoy is scarily believable as a socially awkward 18-year-old, who is ill equipped to woo the woman of his dreams. After enrolling at Bristol University, Brian tries to impress the object of his desire by joining the University Challenge team.

6 THE QUEEN Tuesday, ITV, 8pm

Before he created the Netflix drama The Crown, Peter Morgan wrote this compelling drama, which won Helen Mirren an Oscar for her tour-de-force portrayal of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Mirren elegantly captures the sadness, fortitude, anger and frustration of a monarch struggling to reconcile her private thoughts of Princess Diana with the immense adoration of the people.