Satellite choice
AMERICAN FAMILY This Is Us, Amazon Prime
IF YOU were a fan of Brothers & Sisters or thirtysomething, this generation-hopping family drama is in a similar vein. Season five is impressively timely — it opened in the early days of Covid, and new episodes resume this week.
FILM DRAMA Pieces Of A Woman, Netflix
IN A harrowing but ultimately uplifting drama that has ‘Best Picture nominee’ written all over it, The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby (pictured) delivers a subtle performance as a bereaved mothermother. The drama plays in what looks like a series of single takes, unfolding in the aftermath of the tragedy.
CHECKMATE Closing Gambit, 8.20pm, PBS America
THE Soviets placed huge stock in chess, and the price for a player’s failure could be high. This new documentary explores the clash between two very different Russianborn players in 1978, the grouchy traditionalist Viktor Korchnoi and the youthful Anatoly Karpov.
COMIC-BOOK STORY Rise Of The Superheroes, 9pm, Sky Arts
SUPERHERO movies have become mainstream entertainment in the 21st century, but it’s taken a long time for that to happen. This documentary dives into the comic-book origins of Batman and Superman, the rise of Marvel and the early TV series transfers, such as Adam West’s camp crusader.
PROPERTY PARTNERS Location, Location, Location: 20 Years And Counting, 9pm, More4
KIRSTIE ALLSOPP and Phil Spencer mark two decades of their property show with this series of reminiscences. They begin with a look back at the challenges of finding homes that allow multiple generations to live under one roof.
NEW TO FREEVIEW 9-1-1, 9pm, Pick
THE Freeview premiere for a U.S. emergency services drama that plays like Casualty on steroids. Tonight, we meet the characters, and they include 9-1-1 operator Abby, who also cares for her sick mother, and fearsome police officer Athena (Angela Bassett, pictured), who is about to find out that her husband is gay.
FUNNY MOVIE Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, 9pm, E4
SPOT-ON sports movie spoof, with Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn as David-and-Goliath rivals who blast through the cliches as they face off in a Las Vegas arena dodging balls for cash. Watching grown men taking such a silly game so seriously is very funny.
THESPIAN MEMORIES Nothing Like A Dame, 9.50pm, BBC4
DAMES Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright and Eileen Atkins are some of our most formidable performers. They have also been friends for more than 50 years and, in this delightful one-off, the quartet reflect on their lives. Look out for some great archive footage.
U.S. MEDICS New Amsterdam, 10pm, More4
THE doctors in this drama are like the politicians in The West Wing — incredibly good at their jobs and always agonising about doing the right thing. As season two has its Freeview premiere, Dr Goodwin (Ryan Eggold) looks for a work-life balance after the birth of his child.
CRIME DRAMA Blindfire, 10pm, Sky Premiere
BRIAN GERAGHTY stars in this crime drama as a cop who kills an African-American man who, it turns out, was framed. While examining his own bias, he hunts for the real culprit.
GOLF Sentry Tournament of Champions, 11pm, Sky Golf & Main Event
THE first PGA event of the year gets under way in Kapalua, Hawaii, where Justin Thomas is aiming for a third title in five years.