7 TV FILMS OF THE WEEK
1 EAST IS EAST
Tonight, Film4, 11.15pm
THE trials and tribulations of family life: the squabbles, sibling rivalries, sexual confusion and teenage rebellion. Those were the days... and they are back in Damien O’Donnell’s adaptation of Ayub Khan-Din’s stage play about a Pakistani chip shop owner and his family in 1970s Salford. Om Puri plays George, a Muslim shopkeeper who wants the best for his wife and seven children, and rules the household like a dictator. When eldest son Nazir (Ian Aspinal) leaves home, refusing to abide by an arranged marriage, George feels his authority slipping and organises weddings for his next two sons, Abdul (Raji James) and Tariq (Jimi Mistry).
2 A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
Tomorrow, BBC2, 2.30pm
SECOND World War pilot Peter (David Niven) strikes up a flirtatious bond with radio operator June (Kim Hunter, pictured with Niven) during a flight, however, his plane is hit and he has to bail out without a parachute. Peter wakes up on a beach and it turns out his survival is down to a clerical error in heaven. If he wants to stay on Earth with June, he must argue his case in a celestial court.
3 STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
Tuesday, E4, 9pm
JJ ABRAMS’ second outing as director for the science fiction franchise sees Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) stripped of command of the Enterprise while Spock (Zachary Quinto, pictured with Pine) is transferred following an incident on a far-off world. The two are reunited when ordered to track and kill a renegade Starfleet operative called John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch).
4 BRIDGE OF SPIES
Wednesday, More4, 9pm
SLOW-BURNING tale of intrigue and bluff. Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) is arrested in 1950s New York and labelled a Soviet spy. Lawyer James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks, pictured) is asked to mount a defence, even though the odds are against a fair trial. Sure enough, Abel is convicted, but when a US pilot is shot down over the Soviet Union, Donovan travels to Berlin to broker a covert exchange deal.
5 SUFFRAGETTE
Thursday, Film4, 6.50pm
IN 1912 London, Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan, pictured) works in a laundry with her husband Sonny (Ben Whishaw). Women earn less than men and are denied the vote. Maud joins the suffragette movement and speaks up against this injustice. When MPs refuse to honour a voting-rights bill amendment, Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) stirs her troops into direct action.
6 KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE
Friday, Film4, 9pm
ENTERTAINING spy caper. Tearaway Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin (Taron Egerton, pictured) ends up in a police cell after a joyride. Secret agent Harry Hart (Colin Firth) secures his release, believing the young man has potential to be a crime-fighter. He enrols Eggsy in a training programme for a secret service and when a tech wizard (Samuel L Jackson) threatens mankind, Eggsy puts his training to the test.
7 MEMENTO
Saturday, BBC2, 9.45pm
CLEVER thriller. Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce, pictured) suffers from a rare, untreatable form of memory loss, which stops him remembering what happened 15 minutes ago. The condition has plagued him since he discovered a masked assailant assaulting his wife (Jorja Fox) and he was knocked unconscious in the ensuing struggle. Now, Leonard must fill in blanks of his past.