Still like to rock it, man

SIR Elton John has quite a career to look back on. He’s 72, and he’s been in the spotlight now for half a century. He remembers when rock was young, don’t let’s forget, although I’ve never been convinced he and Suzie had so much fun.

Filmed at his home in the south of France, ELTON JOHN: UNCENSORED (BBC1, 9pm) is a one-off special where he sits down and shares his memories with Graham Norton (although, surprisingly, struggles to outdo him in the Which Of Us Can Wear The Most Hideous Jacket? competition). The show’s title, needless to say, is something of an exaggeration (I’d imagine a truly uncensored Elton would be magnificently unbroadcastable, even several hours after the watershed) but there’s still plenty here to keep us enthralled.

Along with lots of splendid stuff from the archives (classic performances, that is, plus clips from some of his most memorable old interviews with the likes of Parky), Elton chats about his first taste of fame in the Seventies (“unleashing the beast,” as he now describes it), the highs and lows that have followed, his friendships (especially with songwriting partner Bernie Taupin and fellow pop knight Rod Stewart), his marriage, fatherhood, addictions, health issues and what on earth he plans to do in the future.

Switch over afterwards to BBC4 and you can see a rerun of ELTON JOHNATTHE BBC

(10pm), delving even further into the vaults. Elsewhere, Rylan

Clark-Neal hosts BUY IT NOW FOR CHRISTMAS (C4, 8pm). It’s a Yuletide version of the marvellous show (and, no, I’m not being sarcastic, I love this kind of thing) where inventors pitch their product ideas, not to the usual BBC2 fire-breathers but to an audience of real-life shoppers.

It’s then up to representatives from three retailers – Amazon Launchpad, JML and Lakeland – to weigh up the reaction and decide whether to place a big festive order.

First to pitch is a chap called Roger, who’s a West End musician. As Roger is an accomplished pianist, you won’t be too surprised to hear that his invention is a tin that roasts a chicken in record time.

In the unlikely event that you’d rather watch something else at that time, Channel 5 has CHRIS PACKHAM: PLANT A TREE TO SAVE THE WORLD (8pm), another slightly misleading title as I fear the impact of me doing that would be relatively modest.

What Chris really wants is for 100,000 of us to plant one, right across Britain, by donating to the Woodland Trust.

Apparently we can do that for as little as £1.50. Sounds like a bargain to me.