Film choice

This Sporting Life (1963, b/w) LONDON LIVE, 7.00PM ★★★★★

It’s all Yorkshire accents and monochrome realism, as Richard Harris goes down the mines, plays rugby and has a torrid affair. As an uncompromising portrait of male attitudes, Lindsay Anderson’s stunning adaptation of David Storey’s novel is like a punch to the gut, and a direct antecedent of Scorsese’s Raging Bull. Rachel Roberts (star of the earlier kitchen-sink drama Saturday Night and Sunday Morning) co-stars.

The Greatest Showman (2017) SKY CINEMA PREMIERE, 8.00PM ★★★

With hoaxes and “fake news” in the air, it couldn’t be a better time for a PT Barnum musical. But Hugh Jackman’s showman is a cuddly social-justice champion who just wants to help the marginalised to proudly “be themselves”. A shame the history is so awry; the choreography and sets evince real artistry and care, and the soundtrack had the longest No 1 run enjoyed by a musical since The Sound of Music 50 years ago.

Tale of Tales (2015) CHANNEL 4, 11.55PM ★★★★

Matteo Garrone’s English-language debut is a loose interpretation of Italian poet Giambattista Basile’s beloved fairy tales. It interweaves the stories of the rulers of three kingdoms: John C Reilly and Salma Hayek star as a king and queen who long for a child, Vincent Cassel is a fornicating king enthralled by two mysterious sisters, and Toby Jones plays a king obsessed with a giant flea. It’s uneven, but very exciting – transgressively so.