Satellite choice
WAR MOVIE Operation Crossbow, 2.40pm, Spike
ALLIED agents are parachuted into occupied Europe with the aim of disabling the Nazis’ fast-developing V-1 and V-2 missile programme. With an all-star cast — including George Peppard and Sophia Loren — adding glamour, this is a superior war drama. (Freeview 31, Freesat 141, Sky 160, Virgin 154)
FOOTBALL Leicester City v Sevilla, 7pm, BT Sport 2
THE English champions trail 2-1 after the first leg in Spain, but Jamie Vardy’s late away goal has given the Foxes a fighting chance of progressing to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
AND THE WINNER IS . . . Portrait Artist Of The Year 2017, 8pm, Sky Arts
THE glossily produced contest, hosted by the cheery and calming pairing of Frank Skinner and Joan Bakewell (pictured) reaches its finale tonight. The remaining three artists are painting the actor Tom Courtenay, and the winner will receive a £10,000 commission.
HIGH STAKES Billions, 9pm, Sky Atlantic
OF THE two swaggering men at the centre of this drama, U.S. Attorney Rhoades is definitely under more pressure — if he loses this case, what’s left of his life will slip down the plughole. Tonight, that looks like a serious possibility, and he’s forced to improvise. Meanwhile, Axe ponders what to do with all his money.
VILLA ENVY Homes By The Med, 9pm, More4
CHARLIE LUXTON (pictured) is on the ‘ultracool’ isle of Ibiza for a newn series of his dreamy property show. He visits the cascading, three-storey holiday home of an Italian financier, which could have come out of a Bond film — and it only gets more remarkable
when he steps inside.
FREEVIEW ACTION Die Hard, 9pm, Film4
DIRECTOR John McTiernan’s original sweaty actioner is one of those rare films worth watching over and over again. Bruce Willis is at his wisecracking best as the off-duty cop stumbling upon a nest of terrorists bent on blowing up his wife’s office building. Alan Rickman plays the siege’s evil mastermind.
AMUSING ANECDOTES Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, 10pm, Dave
MOBY is a big fan of Father Ted — and once, at a music festival, he asked Ardal O’Hanlon to sing a song from the sitcom in front of 80,000 people. Ardal tells that delightful story here, and Mel C recalls when the Spice Girls stole loo roll from Nelson Mandela’s house.
FUNNY FILM Awkward Sexy People, 10.10pm, Sky Premiere
SHARPLY written romcom in which two friends (Adam Pally and Sarah Burns, pictured), embarrassed by their dull, uneventful love lives, decide on a drastic makeover. But going from playing safe to playing sexy — fuelled by an awful lot of alcohol — takes its toll on them both.
SUPERNATURAL SERIES The Vampire Diaries, 11.55pm, ITV2
THE final season begins its final run of nine episodes in an absurdly late timeslot. Tonight, Stefan and Damon visit an anger management group to find their next victim, and Sybil uses her powers to enchant a class of history students in her ruthless pursuit of a mysterious bell.