Comedy legend Steve Martin shares the two sides of his story
TONIGHT STEVE! (MARTIN) A DOCUMENTARY IN 2 PIECES Apple TV+
This really does do what it says on the tin. The first part (both are available today) looks at Martin’s 1970s rise from stand-up sensation and breakout talent of Saturday Night Live to movie star.
It reveals a deeply dissatisfied man, his state of mind not helped by his difficult relationship with his chilly father, whose response to Martin’s first film, the box-office hit The Jerk, was: “You’re no Charlie Chaplin.” Part two focuses on Martin now, 78 years old, contented, enjoying life and fatherhood, and embraced by a new generation of fans thanks to Disney+’s Only Murders in the Building.
RENEGADE NELL Disney+
Happy Valley writer Sally Wainwright turns her hand to period adventure with a twist of the fantastical in this rollicking series starring Louisa Harland as 18th century highwaywoman Nell Jackson. Nick Mohammed plays a magical sprite called Billy Blind.
A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW Paramount+
Ewan McGregor sports bushy hair and a Stalin moustache to play fictional Russian aristocrat Count Rostov, who returns home after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution and is forced to spend decades under house arrest in the cramped attic of a hotel.
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF LILY SAVAGE UTV/ITV1, 9pm
Rather than going for a broader tribute to the late, much-loved Paul O’Grady, this 80-minute documentary celebrates the drag character that first brought him to attention: the venomously funny — and, initially, distinctly family audienceunfriendly — ex-prostitute Lily Savage. Friends Graham Norton and Alan Carr are among those talking about why O’Grady decided to lay Lily to rest for good in 2004.
TERRY HALL AT THE BBC BBC4, 9pm
Tribute evening to Hall, who first broke through as the frontman of two-tone giants The Specials, and went on to have a genre-hopping career. His life, during which he’d battled depression and a prescription drug addiction, ended prematurely at 63 from pancreatic cancer. It features a wealth of archive footage and a 1979 Specials concert.
TOMORROW ELLA FITZGERALD: A LIFE IN TEN PICTURES BBC2, 8.35pm
This wonderful series, now on its second season, turns the lens on the legendary singer, whose other great passion was protecting vulnerable children — possibly as a result of her own brutal upbringing.
A key photograph here was taken in 1955 at a Texas police station after she and her band had been arrested, supposedly for illegal gambling, but in reality because they were about to perform for a non-segregated audience. It’s followed by a collection of Ella-themed shows from the BBC archive, including a 1974 concert at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.
HINDENBURG: THE COVER-UP Channel 4, 7.30pm
Was the airship disaster of 1937 — when the world’s largest aircraft was engulfed in flames and crashed into a field in New Jersey — caused by a bomb, mechanical failure or human error? This 90-minute film examines newly unearthed documents which suggest there was a cover-up related to those in charge of the Hindenburg and their ties to the Nazi party.
THE WEAKEST LINK BBC1, 7.50pm
The weakest link in the original series was Anne Robinson, whose rudeness, which started out as a bit of shtick, gradually crossed the line into deeply unpleasant. No such problems with current host Romesh Ranganathan.
TRACES BBC1, 9.25pm
Second season of the Scottish crime drama co-created by novelist Val McDermid and actress-turned-screenwriter Amelia Bullmore that was first shown on Alibi. Forensics expert Sarah Gordon (Laura Fraser) and her team investigate after a
church hall is attacked with a pipe bomb. Martin Compston co-stars. Does he ever sleep?
SUNDAY MAMMALS BBC1, 7pm
It’s probably just as well the creatures in this new series (narrated, of course, by David Attenborough) are nocturnal hunters, and therefore photographed in night-vision monochrome, because it’s
sometimes extremely gory.
Watch, mesmerised and a little queasy, as a leopard attacks a troop of baboons and a gang of hyenas gang-up to feast on a buffalo.
PAUL O’GRADY’S GREAT ELEPHANT ADVENTURE UTV/ITV1, 8pm
More wildlife, this time tinged with sadness, in this two-part doc: O’Grady’s final television work before his death last year. He’s in
Thailand among his second favourite animals after dogs.
THIS TOWN BBC1, 9pm
Steven Knight turns away from gangsters and gothic for his latest drama series, following young people drawn into the ska and twotone scene in the Midlands in the 1980s. Continues tomorrow.
JOCKY WILSON SAID BBC4, 9pm
Made in 2019 but never shown outside BBC Scotland, this is a profile of the late darts player whose enormous talent was undermined by his fondness for the booze and poor choice of management.
HUNTED Channel 4, 9pm
Essex girl Beth must outsmart the hunters on her own following the capture of her father. The surprise is she’s lasted this long.
AN BOTHY BAND TG4, 9.30pm
Documentary about the legacy of the short-lived, yet hugely influential trad band.
‘Ella Fitzgerald’s other great passion was protecting vulnerable children’