Rise of the Planet of the Apes
film / 7.00pm / C4
Not to be confused with its sequel
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (on Film4, Thursday, 9.00pm), this is the first of the rebooted series, the one that gets the ape takeover of planet Earth under way. A shot of an anti-alzheimer’s drug cooked up by boffin James Franco and adminsistered to his lab-test chimpanzee Caesar is what does it, with Caesar (it’s Andy Serkis, after Gollum and King Kong again doing his best in a motion-capture role) suddenly realising he’s been given the brain power he needs to lead a revolt against humanity. War for the Planet of the Apes, the latest sequel to this fascinating, pacy actioner, hits screens this week.