TV FILMS of the week
1
DJANGO UNCHAINED Tonight, 5STAR, 10pm
German bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) gives slave Django (Jamie Foxx) his freedom in return for helping to identify the murderous Brittle brothers, who have a price on their heads. When Django later learns his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) has fallen into the clutches of slippery plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), his new friend pledges his assistance on a suicidal rescue mission. This blood-soaked western energises a simple tale of redemption with writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s characteristic flair.
2
THE WIFE Tomorrow, BBC2, 11.10pm
Slow-burning drama. Writer Joe Castleman (Jonathan Pryce) is selected as the 1992 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Joe and wife Joan (Glenn Close, left with Price) celebrate, yet there is unspoken tension. The Castlemans fly to Sweden from the US but as the prize ceremony approaches tension between the couple explodes.
3
TOPSY-TURVY Monday, Film4, 11.25pm
Movie about 19th-century playwright-composer duo Gilbert and Sullivan. Arthur Sullivan (Allan Corduner) and WS Gilbert (Jim Broadbent, left) are the kings of London theatre, but their run of hits is brought to an end by the flop Princess Ida. Sullivan thinks they need to move away from comic opera, but his collaborator has other ideas.
4
DRIVE
Tuesday, GREAT! movies, 9pm
Driver (Ryan Gosling, left) performs stunts in big-budget films. When not on a set, he works as a mechanic and performs illegal jobs, which invariably involve high-speed getaways. When a heist goes wrong, Driver is marked for death. There are romantic complications too when he falls for neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan).
5
THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD Wednesday, Film4, 9pm
Ryan Reynolds, left, is a bodyguard strong-armed into protecting Samuel L Jackson’s hitman. Pursued by gunmen, the smooth triple-A rated protection agent has only 27 hours to transport the killer from Manchester to The Hague to give evidence against a warlord. Salma Hayek is on fabulous form as Jackson’s potty-mouthed wife.
6
UNFORGIVEN Thursday, Channel 5, 10.30pm
This Western sees Clint Eastwood, left, who directs and stars, play retired gunslinger William Munny, who reluctantly straps on his guns once again to help a young assassin track down two cowboys who attacked a prostitute. Co-stars Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Frances Fisher and Richard Harris are excellent.
7
LOVE ACTUALLY Friday, ITV2, 9pm
Tableau of modern-day London life in which people fall in and out of love in the run-up to Christmas. The film stitches together 10 stories of love, longing, camaraderie and failed relationships, among them Hugh Grant as a bachelor PM falling head over heels for a tea lady (Martine McCutcheon, pictured with Grant).