7 TV FILMS OF THE WEEK
1 SHREK Tonight, ITV, 3.10pm
SHREK (pictured, voiced by Mike Myers) is a swamp-dwelling and grumpy green ogre whose peace is shattered when ruler of the realm, Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow), banishes all the fairytale folk from his kingdom. Shrek agrees to rescue spirited Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) if Farquaad removes them from his swamp. Shrek embarks on the quest of his life with motor-mouth donkey (Eddie Murphy, who steals the whole movie) amid colourful visuals and uproarious humour. The animation may have dated, but the story remains engaging and contains laughs for children and parents as it twists the fairy-tale stereotypes.
2 THE LADY IN THE VAN Tomorrow, BBC4, 9pm
DAME MAGGIE SMITH, right, shines in the title role of this true story, playing an eccentric homeless woman who befriended the writer Alan Bennett, and ended up living in a parked van on his driveway for 15 years. The Lady in the Van is an entertaining screen adaptation of Bennett’s award-winning 1999 stage work.
3 ABOUT TIME Tuesday, 5STAR, 9pm
AT the age of 21, Tim Domhnall Gleeson) learns from his father (Bill Nighy) that he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend (Rachel McAdams, pictured with Gleeson) turns out not to be as easy as you might think.
4 THE KING’S SPEECH Wednesday, BBC2, 9pm
BERTIE (Colin Firth, right), the younger son of King George V, suffers from a stammer that makes public speaking an ordeal. His wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) enlists speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) to help, but their sessions take on a new urgency when Edward VIII abdicates.
5 AN EDUCATION Thursday, BBC2, 12.30am
CAREY MULLIGAN plays a bright schoolgirl whose future is thrown into disarray by a charming suitor twice her age (Peter Sarsgaard, pictured with Mulligan). Based on journalist Lynn Barber’s memoir, An Education is a rites-of-passage story blessed with a touching script from Nick Hornby.
6 IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE Friday, Film4 4, 3.15pm
IT just wouldn’t be Christmas without Frank Capra’s life-affirming fable. James Stewart, pictured, stars as suicidal family man George Bailey, who is poised to jump off a bridge when he is rescued by guardian angel Clarence (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George how life would have turned out if he had never existed.
7 SCROOGE Saturday, Channel 5, 4.25pm
CLASSIC adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Alastair Sim, right, plays the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge who is visited by three spirits – the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future – and shown the error of his ways. Director Brian Desmond Hurst’s movie is perhaps the best screen version of this Yuletide staple.