TV FILMS of the week

1

GREASE

Today, Channel 4, 5.55pm

THIS glorious musical follows 1950s teenagers Danny (John Travolta) and Sandy (Olivia Newton-John), pictured, who meet at high school following a summer romance. Some of the so-called teenagers would struggle to pass for 30, let alone 17, but who cares – we love it anyway. The songs are catchy, Travolta and Newton-John make a very cute couple, Stockard Channing steals scenes as bad girl Rizzo and the whole film has so much good-natured energy, it’s impossible not to be swept along.

2

ALPHA Tomorrow, Film4, 2.55pm

MAN and beast join forces to survive the elements in director Albert Hughes’s adventure set 20,000 years ago during the Ice Age. Keda (Kodi Smit-McPhee, pictured) is poised for manhood. To prove himself as a hunter, Keda joins in to bring down a herd of bison, but the animals stampede and the boy is thrown off a cliff. Keda just survives and begins the slow journey back home.

3

ROBIN HOOD Tuesday, ITV4, 9pm

ROBIN Longstride (Russell Crowe) heads back to England after Richard the Lionheart is slain. To secure a safe passage home, Robin poses as slain knight Sir Robert Loxley and continues the ruse with the dead man’s wife, Marion (Cate Blanchett). Ridley Scott takes a darker turn with this medieval adventure which also stars Mark Strong, William Hurt and Oscar Isaac.

4

RULES DON’T APPLY Wednesday, Film4, 11.20pm

MARLA MABREY (Lily Collins, left) arrives in Hollywood with mother Lucy (Annette Bening) as the latest star of RKO film studios run by Howard Hughes (Warren Beatty). Chauffeur Frank (Alden Ehrenreich) is smitten with Marla, but fraternising with the talent is forbidden. Frank struggles to contain his desire. As Hughes’ mental state deteriorates, Frank is ushered into the inner circle.

5

THE ELEPHANT MAN Thursday, BBC4, 9pm

FREED from an East End freak show by London surgeon Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins), the severely disfigured John Merrick (John Hurt, pictured) becomes the subject of medical experiments and the obsession of 19th century high society. Directed by David Lynch, Hurt is on superb form as the title character in what is a deeply moving film.

6

WAR OF THE WORLDS Friday, BBC1, 11.35pm

STEVEN SPIELBERG’S take on HG Wells’ sci-fi classic is told on an epic scale, as seen through the eyes of a dockworker (Tom Cruise, left) as he fights to get his children and ex-wife to safety when aliens descend on Earth. They find themselves being chased by giant tripods through New York while alien vessels open fire on the retreating crowd.

7

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG Saturday, Channel 5, 12.10pm

INVENTOR Caractacus Potts rescues an old car from the scrapheap, only to discover it has magical, gravity-defying powers. Meanwhile, Baron Bomburst, the blundering ruler of Vulgaria, will do anything to get his greedy hands on it. A charming family musical with some great songs, starring Dick Van Dyke, Lionel Jeffries and Sally Ann Howes.