FILMS of the week

1 MRS BROWN Thursday, BBC4, 9pm

It’s been more than two years since Prince Albert died, but Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) is still in the depths of depression. In the hope that a breath of fresh air may dispel her gloom, John Brown (Billy Connolly) is summoned from Balmoral with the Queen’s nag. What follows is the last thing staid Private Secretary (Geoffrey Palmer) had in mind.

2 THE FOOTBALL FACTORY Friday, Channel 5, 11.05pm

Tommy Johnson (Danny Dyer) is a directionless twentysomething whose sole pleasures in life are drugs and booze with the lads, casual sex, and a punch-up with his fellow Chelsea football fans. An FA Cup showdown with Millwall sets in motion a chain of events that will change Tommy’s life forever. Based on the novel by John King.

3 DOCTOR ZHIVAGO Saturday, BBC2, 2pm

Director David Lean’s epic tale of love and loyalty is set against the backdrop of the First World War and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. Physicist Yuri Zhivago’s (Omar Sharif) life is turned upside down by his romance with Lara Antipova (Julie Christie). Based on Boris Pasternak’s book of the same name, and co-starring Geraldine Chaplin.

4 JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT Sunday, Channel 4, 11.05pm

Kenneth Branagh directs the fifth movie in the Jack Ryan saga. Chris Pine plays the CIA analyst who uncovers a Russian plot to crash the US economy with a terrorist attack. Branagh has a great time as the sinister Viktor Cherevin, but it’s a pity Keira Knightley doesn’t have much to do as Ryan’s girlfriend.

5 THE WIFE Monday, BBC2, 11.15pm

Writer Joe Castleman (Jonathan Pryce) is told he has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He and his wife Joan (Glenn Close) fly to Sweden and, mid-flight, are pestered by muck-raking journalist Nathaniel Bone (Christian Slater). As the prize ceremony approaches tensions between the Castlemans explodes with dire consequences.

6 READY PLAYER ONE Tuesday, BBC3, 9pm

In 2045, mankind unites in a virtual space called the Oasis, accessed via headsets and gloves. Teenager Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) journeys through the Oasis hunting three fabled keys, which the co-creator of the Oasis, concealed before his death. Steven Spielberg’s film is a tourde-force of technical wizardry.

7 ALIEN Wednesday, ITV4, 9pm

Seminal 1979 sci-fi horror, which pits the crew of an industrial vessel against an ever-growing alien threat, brought onto the ship attached to doomed John Hurt. Director Ridley Scott’s stylish assault on the nerves is brilliantly sustained and truly terrifying, while Sigourney Weaver is perfect as one of sci-fi’s few true heroines.