Film choice

A Street Cat Named Bob (2016) SKY CINEMA PREMIERE, 4.15PM ★★★

 Roger Spottiswoode’s film, adapted by Tim John and Maria Nation, is a precarious balancing act between cheery family high jinks and hardhitting social drama. It tells the story of James Bowen (Luke Treadaway), a busker and recovering drug addict whose life is turned around when the eponymous stray marmalade puss gets into his flat and they become local celebrities. Joanne Froggatt and Anthony Head also star.

Mamma Mia! (2008) ITV3, 8.00PM ★★★

 This musical comedy, directed by Phyllida Lloyd and set to Abba’s hits, is pure escapism. It’s naff, but that’s its selling point, as stars Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Julie Walters place tongues firmly in cheeks. At 59, Streep deserved more credit for doing the splits than for her role as a boho mother living on a Greek island whose daughter (Amanda Seyfried) tries to find out who her biological father is.

The Drop (2014) FILM4, 9.00PM ★★★★

 Tom Hardy anchors this tale of simmering malfeasance as the tender of a Brooklyn bar designated as the drop for ill-gotten gains. Dennis Lehane adapts his own short story Animal Rescue, and makes a perfect team with Belgian director Michaël R Roskam, who gets a tamped-down, shuffling and beautifully calibrated star turn out of Hardy. Sopranos star James Gandolfini adds a burly gravitas in what would be his final movie.