FILMS OF THE WEEK

THE BIG MOVIE

MINDHORN (2016) 15 ◆ Saturday, 11.30pm, BBC2 ★★★

This nostalgic and at times nightmarish spoof, a toast to the era of video cassettes and pleat-front trousers, is written by Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh) and Simon Farnaby (the halfdressed MP in BBC sitcom Ghosts), and kicks off a season of late-night home-grown comedy films on BBC2 this week. Summoning

The Six Million Dollar Man by way of Alan Partridge, Barratt stars as delusional actor Richard Thorncroft (above). He was big in the 1980s playing Bruce Mindhorn, a detective who could ‘see the truth’ with his cybernetic eye, but Thorncroft is now stuck doing adverts for girdles. Called back to the Isle of Man, where Mindhorn was filmed, Thorncroft is about to land the biggest role of his life.

CLASSIC FILM CHOICE

THE IPCRESS FILE

(1965) PG ● Saturday, 1pm, BBC2 ★★★★

A new ITV series based on the Len Deighton novel that inspired this spy movie classic is currently in production. It will star Joe Cole, an actor who, in Peaky Blinders and Gangs Of London, has shown that he could be well-suited to the downbeat ambiguity of Leighton’s take on the genre. Unnamed in the novels, Deighton’s spy was first brought to the screen as Harry Palmer by Michael Caine (above) in this film and two sequels. At a time when Sean Connery’s James Bond was driving fast cars and packing in the action in exotic locations, Palmer trudged the grey streets of London, and ground his own coffee beans in his dingy attic flat. Caine’s Palmer is more of an everyman hero than Bond, but no less charismatic. And for many, Caine will be a tough act to follow.