TUESDAY WEDNESDAY

The Greatest Showman (2017) (Film4, 7pm)

A massive sleeper hit, this musical stars Hugh Jackman as the legendary PT Barnum, a tailor’s son who falls under the spell of the privileged Charity Hallett (Michelle Williams). They live modestly until PT blags a $10,000 bank loan for a museum of living curiosities. The exhibits include bearded-lady Lettie Lutz, dwarf Charles Stratton and highflying trapeze siblings WD and Anne Wheeler. A sardonic newspaper critic denounces the enterprise as “a primitive circus of humbug”, but the public disagrees, as does investor Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron). The Greatest Showman is a joy-infused blast of pure pleasure that calibrates every swoon of romance and doff of a top hat with masterful precision.

Downhill (2020)

(Film4, 9pm)

In 2014, Ruben Ostlund directed the offbeat Swedish drama Force Majeure, about a married couple whose lives are torn apart by a near brush with death during a skiing holiday. Nat Faxon and Jim Rash codirect the English language remake which jettisons the discomfort of the original in favour of broad comedy. Businessman Pete Staunton (Will Ferrell), his wife Billie (Julia LouisDreyfus) and their two children head for a luxury Austrian resort. One afternoon, a controlled explosion triggers an avalanche, which heads straight for the resort. As the deluge of fast-moving snow hits, Billie instinctively protects her kids while Pete runs for cover. This moment of cowardice has a profound effect on the family and Pete refuses to concede that he abandoned his brood at their time of need.