Satellite choice
WESTERN MATINEE Pursued, 2.05pm, Film4
RAOUL WALSH directs Robert Mitchum in this moody, noirish western. Mitchum’s Jeb Rand can’t escape the feud that led to the slaughter of his family when he was just a boy.
T20 CRICKET Gloucestershire v Kent, 6pm, Sky Cricket & Main Event
WEST INDIES all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite, who once played with Kent skipper Sam Billings in the IPL, has joined the county for their early T20 games as they try to build on the great run they had in the 50-overs competition.
CRAZY GAME SHOW Takeshi’s Castle, 8pm, Comedy Central
JONATHAN ROSS narrates a new run of the bizarre contest. Weirdest of all is a game in which contenders dress up as bowling pins, and hope not to be knocked over by a giant ball. Ross’s script needs to be cleverer, but what you see is enough to amuse all by itself.
ASIA ADVENTURE David Baddiel On The Silk Road, 9pm, Quest
PART two finds Baddiel (pictured) heading west on the ancient trade route, where China becomes ‘less Chinese and more like the Middle East’. Throughout all his encounters, which range from eccentric to alarming, he remains open, interested and rarely short of a witty observation.
FAMILY TIES This Is Us, 9pm, More4
YOU’D need a heart of stone not to have been moved by last week’s revelation, and this new episode of the generation-hopping U.S. drama digs further into Jack’s life. In the present, sensitive himbo Kevin is invited back for episode 100 of The Manny, the TV show he left in such wildly acrimonious style.
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS Shaun Ryder On UFOs, 10pm, Blaze
MESMERISINGLY odd series in which the former Happy Mondays front man — and teenage UFOspotter, no less — meets ‘abductees’ and experts. Like a UFO, it’s hard to believe this show exists until you actually see it. But it really does. (Freeview 63, Freesat 162, Sky 187, Virgin 216)
FAR NORTH The Last Alaskans, 10pm, Quest
WINTER is coming — in two weeks — in tonight’s newto-Freeview episode of the documentary series, which is tinged with a melancholy magic. Heimo is waving goodbye to his family, while Tyler and Ashley discuss the merits of oatmeal, and demonstrate their moose disguise.
20TH-CENTURY NOTES Tunes For Tyrants: Music & Power With Suzy Klein, 11pm, BBC4
THIS thoughtprovoking series starts in Germany, with Klein (pictured) ) exploring how music can be used as a way to protest against power or to control the masses. Whenhen a song is sung in a group, singers can utter sentiments they might not consider speaking as individuals.
ON-DEMAND MOVIE Red Sparrow, BT TV/ Sky Store/Virgin Movies
VICIOUS spy thriller that feels like a stand-in for a Marvel Black Widow movie. Jennifer Lawrence plays the brutalised Russian operative in a film that is nastier than many Lawrence fans might expect.
FREEVIEW FILM Falling Down, 11pm, ITV4
PUSHED over the edge by a traffic jam and a series of petty annoyances, Michael Douglas’s ordinary Joe becomes armed and dangerous in director Joel Schumacher’s edgy drama. Showing his darker side, Douglas is scarily good as he gnaws his way through a series of dangerous encounters.