TV FILMS OF THE WEEK

BILLY ELLIOT Sunday, BBC1, 10.30pm The triple Bafta-winning picture directed by Stephen Daldry that turned Jamie Bell (right) into a star and made anyone who had ever laughed at the idea of boys in dance tights feel ashamed of themselves. WITHNAIL AND I Sunday, C4, 12.15am Love it or loathe it, there’s no denying the iconic importance Bruce Robinson’s cult comedy has acquired over the years, as two impoverished actors (Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann) tire of London and head for an undeserved break in a Lakeland cottage. GROUNDHOG DAY Monday, Sony Movies, 6.55pm We’ve all gained a sense recently of what it’s like to wake up every morning and live the same day over and over again. But surely no one does it better than Bill Murray as the bored weather man dispatched, yet again, to Punxsutawney for the Pennsylvania town’s annual Groundhog Day. THE DAY OF THE JACKAL Monday, Sony Movies, Classic, 9pm Edward Fox stars as ‘the Jackal’ in an adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s thriller. A secret right-wing group hires an assassin to kill President De Gaulle. THAT’LL BE THE DAY Tuesday, Talking Pictures, 10pm David Essex’s pop-music career still lay ahead of him when he starred – alongside Ringo Starr, no less – as musical wannabe Jim MacLaine. It has an unexpected British grittiness that was of its period but which hasn’t entirely aged well. ENOUGH SAID Wednesday, Film 4, 7.10pm James Gandolfini’s death just four months before this was released in 2013 cast a cloud over its reception. But Gandolfini is terribly good and his talented co-star, Julia Louis-Dreyfus (of Veep fame) is every bit as good. PROFESSOR MARSTON AND THE WONDER WOMEN Thursday, Film 4 11.10pm The rebooting of DC Comics’ Wonder Woman character (played by Gal Gadot, left) has lent fresh interest to the story of how the character originally came to be in the 1940s. Let’s just say it involves a handsome psychology professor (Luke Evans), his cleverer, flirtier wife (Rebecca Hall) and the pretty graduate (Bella Heathcote) they both fall in love with. THE GAY DIVORCEE Friday, BBC2, 2.45pm This is the musical that turned Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers into Hollywood’s favourite double act. Rogers is the aspiring divorcée of the title, while Astaire is the dancer she falls for. The rest is history, and an awful lot of The Continental.