Film choice

Northern Soul (2014) FILM4, 11.15PM ★★★

The nostalgia is potent in this chronicle of the popular northern soul dance halls in the Seventies. The soundtrack is as evocative and wonderful as you might expect, and the drama offers a charming slice of social and cultural Lancashire history. It’s just a shame that the storyline has to follow the same innocent young man led astray/ conflict-resolution story arc of nearly every coming-of-age film out there.

Buried (2010) BBC ONE, 11.55PM; N IRELAND, 12.25AM ★★★

Ryan Reynolds plays an American truck driver ambushed in Iraq and buried by insurgents in a coffin, with only a phone and a Zippo lighter at his disposal. One might assume the dramatic opportunities for a man in this predicament are finite, but Chris Sparling’s inventive screenplay and Rodrigo Cortés’ direction open up the story beyond the confines of the space in which Reynolds is trapped.

The Crying Game (1992) CHANNEL 4, 12.05AM ★★★★

Neil Jordan’s tremendous psychological thriller, set against the backdrop of the Irish Troubles, still contains one of the great cinematic twists. Stephen Rea stars as Provisional IRA volunteer Fergus, who helps to kidnap a British soldier (US actor Forest Whitaker) in order to secure the release of jailed IRA members. However, things go wrong when Fergus begins to form a bond with his prisoner.