Film choice

Surrogates (2009) SONY MOVIE CHANNEL, 9.00PM ★★★

Bruce Willis does double duty in this sci-fi thriller, about a future society in which cybernetic avatars do all our dirty work, as both Robo-bruce and the ageing human cop who controls it. A new weapon has been devised, by unknown enemies of the state, which can frazzle these androids and simultaneously melt the brains of their human puppeteers. It’s Philip K Dick-lite but good fun.

The Equalizer (2014) CHANNEL 5, 11.20PM ★★

Film plots don’t come much more simple, or dumber, than this blazingly violent Denzel Washington movie that makes Liam Neeson’s Taken franchise look like Taxi Driver.

After helping a teenage prostitute (Chloë Grace Moretz) free herself from a den of snarling pimps, a mild-mannered hardware store employee (Washington) turns avenging angel. If you like it loud, and unsubtle, this might be for you.

Short Term 12 (2013)

BBC ONE, 11.45PM; NORTHERN IRELAND, 12.40AM; SCOTLAND/WALES, 12.45AM ★★★★

Set in a foster-care home, Destin Cretton’s sharply and sensitively told film follows a pregnant staff member (Brie Larson, in a powerful performance) who is groping nervously towards a family life with her boyfriend Mason (John Gallagher Jnr), who also works at the facility. But when a surly young girl (Kaitlyn Dever) arrives, her particular case stirs up painful ghosts.