TV FILMS OF THE WEEK
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NATHAN (Asa Butterfield) is an autistic savant teenager, who struggles to connect emotionally with people around him, including his caring mother Julie (Sally Hawkins), and seeks comfort in complex mathematics. Unconventional teacher Mr Humphreys (Rafe Spall) suggests that Nathan should apply for the International Mathematics Olympiad hosted at Trinity College, Cambridge. To make the cut, Nathan travels with other candidates to Taiwan for a training camp, where he experiences powerful feelings for Chinese competitor, Zhang Mei (Jo Yang). X+Y is a bittersweet drama.
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MUM’S LIST Tomorrow, BBC2, 11pm
BASED on a true story, Mum’s List is a moving drama about a terminally ill parent, who leaves behind a bucket list of life lessons and recollections for her two young sons. Singe Greene (Rafe Spall) and his wife Kate (Emilia Fox), left, live with their two sons. The family’s lives are turned upside down when Kate is diagnosed with incurable breast cancer.
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AMERICAN SNIPER Monday, ITV4, 10pm
CHRIS Kyle (Bradley Cooper), left, enlists in the US Navy and gains a reputation for sharp shooting. Chris meets Taya (Sienna Miller). They marry and she raises their family alone while he fights overseas. With each successive tour, Chris returns home unable to communicate with his loved ones. This is an impeccably crafted biopic of the most lethal marksman in US history.
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DEADPOOL Tuesday, Film4, 9pm
WADE Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) discovers he has inoperable cancer. A recruiter invites Wade to undergo a radical procedure, which aggressively attacks the cancer, but Ajax (Ed Skrein) tortures Wade, turning him into a mutant with the power of self-healing. Reborn as Deadpool, left, Wade sets out to wreak revenge. Deadpool is lurid and unapologetically foul-mouthed.
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WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Wednesday, Film4, 9pm
TWELVE years have passed since the ALZ-113 virus ravaged the globe. Caesar (Andy Serkis), his wife Cornelia (Judy Greer) and their sons are living in exile. Colonel McCullough (Woody Harrelson) stages an assault on the apes and kills most of Caesar’s family. The grief-stricken leader orders the survivors to flee while he exacts revenge on the Colonel.
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THE FIRST WIVES CLUB Thursday, 5*, 7pm
REUNITED by the suicide of an old schoolfriend brought on by her husband’s infidelity, three middle-aged women decide to seek revenge on the men who spurned them. Hollywood A-listers Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton and Better Midler, left, have immense fun as the trio of vengeful women in Hugh Wilson’s triumphant adaptation of the novel.
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LOVE ACTUALLY Friday, Channel 5, 10pm
NORMALLY a staple of the Christmas TV schedules, this is a welcome watch at any time. Richard Curtis’ film stitches together 10 separate stories of love, longing, camaraderie and failed relationships, among them Hugh Grant as a bachelor PM falling head over heels for a tea lady played by Martine McCutcheon, left. Deliriously, gloriously romantic.