WEDNESDAY

9.10AM, 5STAR A fantastically vulgar comedy that speaks to the inner ten-year-old in us all (well, some of us). Bruce Cook is the boy who puts his flatulence issues to good use and, er, lets rip for queen and country. The spirit of Carry On never dies...

The Deadly Companions

12 NOON, BBC2 See Classic Film Choice (right).

Aladdin

6.20PM, SKY DISNEY A straightforward telling of the old Arabian Nights tale from Disney, spiked with the kind of humour that only the late Robin Williams (ad-libbing away) could provide. Aladdin is the street urchin who falls for a princess (below).

Exam

9PM, SONY MOVIE CHANNEL Stuart Hazeldine makes an impressive directing debut with a stylish low-budget thriller that uses the kind of restrictive set that Hitchcock would have loved. Jimi Mistry is among the candidates at the job interview from hell. (Sky 323)

The Running Man

11.05PM, FILM4 A post-apocalyptic actioner of the kind that suits hulking Arnie Schwarzenegger (below) down to the ground – lots of violence, lots of dead bodies, very little talking. Here, he plays a disgraced police pilot forced to take part in a bizarre, Hunger Games-style reality show.

In The Electric Mist

11.15PM, BBC1 A decades-old cold case is reopened when two actors – in town to shoot a movie – stumble on a body. Tommy Lee Jones is the cop unravelling the mystery in this moody Deep South drama.

The Accused

12.30AM, CH4 Jodie Foster plays a working-class woman who fights back in court after a horrific gang rape. When her attackers get a light sentence in plea bargain, it’s down to Foster and her lawyer (Kelly McGillis) to persevere and right a terrible wrong.

10.50AM, MORE4 The third film in the original simian franchise sees chimps Zira and Cornelius (Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowall, above) thrust back into the 1970s – where they are the odd ones out...

Hotel Sahara

2PM, SPIKE Peter Ustinov is the proprietor of a North African hotel being used by numerous countries’ forces during the Second World War – a set-up for farcical comedy if ever there was one...

The Devil’s Teardrop

3.15PM, CH5 Mystery, based on a novel by Bone Collector author Jeffery Deaver. Tom Everett Scott is a handwriting expert trying to catch a killer who handily leaves tantalising clues at the scene...

Young Frankenstein

6.45PM, MOVIE MIX Outrageous Mel Brooks spoof, blending B-movie horror parody with zany farce. Gene Wilder (above, with Teri Garr) is the doctor grandson of the original Victor Frankenstein, who finds it impossible to resist building his own monster.

The Hunt For Red October

8PM, SKY SPIES The first of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan novels is a Cold War-beneath-the-waves thriller that has certainly stood the test of time. Sean Connery stars as the Soviet submarine commander who gives Alec Baldwin’s Ryan a choppy ride.

The Fighter

1.20AM, FILM4 Director David O. Russell gives the true story of boxer ‘Irish’ Micky Ward all the punch it requires, as does Mark Wahlberg in the lead. Christian Bale (left, with Wahlberg) KOs everyone, though, winning an Oscar as Micky’s irrepressible drug addict brother.

9PM, 5STAR Director John Woo’s riotously fun actioner stars Nicolas Cage and John Travolta in a bonkers twist on the cat-and-mouse games we’re more used to. Travolta’s nice-guy FBI man winds up with the face of his quarry, Cage’s twisted terrorist – and vice versa.

Public Enemies

10.40PM, ITV Michael Mann’s fact-based thriller is as much about the early days of the FBI as it is about the antics of bank robber John Dillinger and his gang. Johnny Depp (as criminal) and Christian Bale (as cop) give full-throttle turns in a drama played out at an intoxicating pace.

Good Hair

12.35AM, BBC2 The weird and wonderful world of AfricanAmerican hair is opened up in this entertaining documentary, fronted by stand-up turned actor Chris Rock – who made it because he wanted his two daughters to feel good about themselves.

Terminal Velocity

12.35AM, CH4 Tongue firmly in cheek, Charlie Sheen (above, with Nastassja Kinski) jumps from planes as daredevil skydiver Richard ‘Ditch’ Brodie in a nutty actioner that is, apparently, to be funny. Bizarrely, Ditch unexpectedly gets tangled up in some serious Cold War espionage.