TV FILMS of the week
1 THE PRODUCERS Thursday, BBC4, 9pm
Mel Brooks’ Oscar-winning satire sees accountant Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) look into the finances of Broadway producer Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel, above with Wilder and co-star Lee Meredith). When he realises they could make more money from a theatrical flop than from a hit, the pair conspire to put on the worst stage show they can find.
2 THE RED SHOES Friday, BBC2, 2.15pm
Dancer Victoria Page (Moira Shearer, left) catches the eye of ballet impresario Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), who takes her under his wing. He casts Vicky as the lead in a new ballet called The Red Shoes and asks Julian Craster (Marius Goring) to compose the score. Vicky and Julian fall in love, which creates friction with Lermontov.
3 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT Saturday, Channel 4, 9.10pm
This sixth instalment of the franchise sees Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, left) learn that the terrorist network fronted by Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) is poised to take delivery of stolen plutonium. Hunt and his team must infiltrate the exchange to prevent the payload falling into the hands of Lane’s disciples.
4 BACK TO THE FUTURE Sunday, ITV2, 6.40pm
The first chapter in director Robert Zemeckis’s consistently imaginative and exciting trilogy introduces us to Michael J Fox as young buck Marty McFly, who accidentally travels back in time courtesy of Dr Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and his DeLorean time machine, and comes face to face with his own parents in 1950s America.
5 SNATCH Monday, Film4, 9pm
A stolen diamond sparks a series of interlinked stories that bring together a whole host of undesirables, gangsters, thieves and criminals, delving into the murky world of bare-knuckle boxing along the way. It’s stylish and exquisitely shot in a washed-out sepia, blending savagery and emotional drama with razor-sharp wit.
6 BRIDGE OF SPIES Tuesday, Film4, 6.15pm
Scripted by Matt Charman and the Coen brothers, Bridge of Spies is a slow-burning tale of intrigue and bluff, and director Steven Spielberg’s fingerprints are evident on each assured set-piece. Tom Hanks brings his natural warmth and likability, but it’s his Oscar-winning co-star Mark Rylance who lingers longest in the memory.
7 AD ASTRA Wednesday, Film4, 9pm
Celebrated astronaut Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) hopes to further mankind’s knowledge of the universe as part of a team on the International Space Antenna. Donald Sutherland also stars in co-writer/director James Gray’s visually arresting sci-fi thriller that hard-wires the visceral thrills of Gravity and the existential angst of 2001: A Space Odyssey.