Satellite choice
ROMANTIC TALE Goodbye Mr Chips, 10.40am, ITV3
MARTIN CLUNES does a fine job in the lead of this splendidly British drama, and it’s not his fault that he will always suffer by comparison to Robert Donat in the classic 1939 film, which you can rent on Amazon. This ITV version is also more sentimental, but not ruinously so.
U.S. SITCOM The Big Bang Theory, 1pm, E4
TODAY and tomorrow, E4 is showing 19 specially selected episodes of the nerd comedy to mark the New Year. In the first, Raj has organised a scavenger hunt, which places Penny and Sheldon on a team together — which turns out to be a better idea than you’d think.
FUNNY FILM Downhill,, 3.30pm,p, Skyy Premiere
HOLLYWOOD remake of the European black comedy Force Majeure. Will Ferrell and Julia LouisDreyfus (pictured) are the couple re-evaluating their relationship while on an eventful ski trip.
COMEDY CURIOSITY Dinner For One, 4.15pm, Sky Arts
THIS British comedy short from 1963 has been shown on New Year’s Eve on TV in Germany for decades, but didn’t make it to the small screen here until Sky brought it over in 2018. It stars Grimsby comic Freddie Frinton as a drunk butler who poses as various dinner guests.
TEEN WITCH Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina, Netflix
THE last eight episodes of this drama starring Kiernan Shipka as a teen torn by her half-witch, half-human nature.
FREEVIEW MOVIE The Pink Panther, 5.40pm, ITV4
DIRECTOR Blake Edwards had a string of comic hits in the Sixties and Seventies, and this rib-tickler is one of his most hilarious. David Niven stars as the upper-crust jewel thief plotting an audacious crime — but it’s Peter Sellers as clumsy Inspector Clouseau that everyone remembers.
PERIOD DRAMA The Chaperone, Amazon Prime
ELIZABETH McGOVERN co-stars in Julian Fellowes’s handsome adaptation of a tale about silent screen icon Louise Brooks (Haley Lu Richardson, pictured with McGovern).
EIGHTIES CLASSIC The Beiderbecke Collection, BritBox
ALL three Beiderbecke dramas from the Eighties, starring James Bolam as a jazz-loving fantasist, come to on demand today — as do Ioan Gruffudd’s Hornblower series.
CRIME FIGHTERS Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, 9pm, 5 USA
TONIGHT’S strong new-to-Freeview case concerns Annabeth, who killed the husband she claimed was abusive. He was also a police officer, and the case sharply divides the SVU team, especially Rollins and Carisi, while it brings back alarming memories for Benson.
MYSTERY THRILLER Miss Fisher And The Crypt Of Tears, 9pm Alibi
THE sassy detective’s first featurelength outing has the cinematic look to match. We find Phryne (Essie Davis) hopping rooftops in Twenties Palestine, consorting with undesirables and on the trail of a mystery. Look out for Rupert Penry-Jones and Miriam Margolyes along the way.
STAND-UP LAUGHS Dawn French Live: 30 Million
Minutes, 11.30pm, BBC4
FRENCH’S first solo show mines her life for both comedy and tragedy, and plays as a mix of stand-up, stories and home movies. The sadness of some of the material — most notably the suicide of her father when she was just 19 — makes the humour elsewhere hit all the harder.