LIFE AFTER SOAP

Jo Joyner, who played Tanya Branning in eastenders, can now be seen as a supernatural vicar in Marley’s Ghosts (Wednesday, 10pm, Gold)

SATURDAY

Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (1967)

PG 2.15PM, BBC2

Katharine Houghton is the middle-class girl bringing home her new fiance (Sidney Poitier) to meet her parents, played by Katharine Hepburn (Houghton’s real-life aunt) and Spencer Tracy. A ground-breaking drama addressing the then taboo subject of interracial marriage.

Get Santa

(2014) U

6PM, SKY PREMIERE

Fun British Christmas flick, with likeable Rafe Spall as the dad teaming up with his young son to save the special day when Saint Nick (Jim Broadbent, below) is thrown in the nick. Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom (2013) 12 9.30PM, BBC2

See The Big Movie (right).

Non-Stop

(2014) 12 9.30PM, CH4

Gruff Liam Neeson grits his teeth in this thriller, set on a flight from New York to London. Neeson’s air marshal must try to stop a passenger being killed every 20 minutes by a villain demanding a ransom of $150 million.

The Bourne Ultimatum

(2007) 12

10.45PM, ITV

Paul Greengrass directs this third in the thriving Bourne franchise in breakneck style. Getting closer to the truth, Bourne (Matt Damon) seems to have lost more than he has gained – will he end up paying the ultimate price?

Red Tails

(2012) 12 11.50PM, BBC2 Second World War drama following the courage in the face of racism of the so-called Tuskegee Airmen, the African-American military pilots who flew into combat over Europe. Kevin Phillips, David Oyelowo and Elijah Kelley (above) make up the ranks.

The Rebound

(2009) 15

12.10AM, BBC1

Catherine Zeta-Jones is the well-maintained older woman who, after her marriage breaks up, dates her 25-year-old babysitter (Justin Bartha). Whatever the issues at play, this is only interested in one outcome – happy ever after.

SUNDAY

Rango

(2011) PG 2.45PM, CH4

Excellent animated western spoof for younger (and older) viewers from Gore Verbinski (Pirates Of The Caribbean). Rango (above, voiced by Johnny Depp) is the pet chameleon stranded in the desert, who unwittingly brings law and order to an Old West town called Dirt.

Johnny English

(2003) PG

4.50PM, CH4

Easy watching if you love him, a test of mental endurance if you don’t, this is Rowan Atkinson’s debut movie as the bungling British spy of the title. It brings nothing new to an already overworked genre, with Atkinson’s facial expressions doing all the work.

Miss Potter

(2006) PG

6.30PM, BBC2

A perfectly entertaining – if rather twee – take on the story of Beatrix Potter from Chris Noonan, the director of cutesy talking pig film Babe. Renee Zellweger (left) does her Bridget Jones English accent again, as the freespirited writer and illustrator who falls in love with her publisher (Ewan McGregor). Concussion

(2015) 12 8PM, SKY PREMIERE Sombre biopic starring Will Smith as the pathologist Dr Bennet Omalu, who discovered that American football players could develop degenerative brain disease from repeated blows to the head. It was news that the game’s corporate bigwigs did not want to hear.

Pompeii

(2014) 12 9PM, CH5

This has gleeful B-movie credentials, more akin to Conan The Barbarian than a serious historical effort, and all the better for it. Kit Harington gets his abs out as the gladiator turning the head of a noble lady in a Roman town nestled at the foot of an angry volcano.

She’s Out Of My League

(2010)

15 11.30PM, BBC2

Jay Baruchel is the goofy twentysomething punching above his weight in this likeable romcom. Alice Eve is the beautiful, successful young woman who dates him – much to the surprise of those on the sidelines, including his ex-girlfriend (Lindsay Sloane, right) and, indeed, himself.

MONDAY

The Fugitive

(1947) PG

6AM, MOVIES4MEN

Graham Greene’s The Power And The Glory is adapted by John Ford into one of the great director’s more abstract, and thoughtful films. Henry Fonda is the priest in Latin America whose faith and forgiveness are sorely tested. (Freeview 48, Freesat 304, Sky 325)

Gilda

(1946) PG

10.55AM, MORE4

There’s more Rita Hayworth (below) on Thursday (see Classic Film Choice, right), but here’s one of her defining roles. The gloves are off in Charles Vidor’s lushly seductive film noir.

Paper Angels (2014) PG

3.15PM, CH5

Squeakily feel-good movie about two struggling families whose lives are enriched during the festive season. Inspired by a reallife gift scheme run by the Salvation Army.

The Best Man Holiday

(2013) 15

9PM, FILM4

This follow-up to 1999’s The Best Man catches up with the circle of friends as they settle into middle age. Lance and Mia (Morris Chestnut and Monica Calhoun, below right, with Taye Diggs) invite the old gang to spend Christmas with them, where surprises and sadness await. Reservoir Dogs (1992) 18 11PM, SPIKE Quentin Tarantino went from nobody to somebody with his first film, a dark, bloody action thriller – with a super-cool soundtrack – about a heist gone wrong. Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel and Tarantino himself are among the colour-coded hoods turning on each other. (Freeview 31, Freesat 141, Sky 160).

In Time

(2011) 12 11.05PM, CH5 Mind-bending sci-fi nonsense, written and directed by Andrew Niccol, of The Truman Show and Gattaca fame. Justin Timberlake takes himself very seriously as a chap in a genetically engineered future, who is – quite literally – living on borrowed time. Amanda Seyfried is yanked along for the ride.

TUESDAY

Black Narcissus (1947) U

1.05PM, FILM4

Powell and Pressburger’s visually stunning masterpiece simmers with thinly veiled sexual tension. Deborah Kerr (above) and Kathleen Byron are the nuns trying to stay faithful in the presence of David Farrar and the exotic sensations of their Himalayan location.

First Blood

(1982) 15

10PM, ITV4

Critics were lukewarm the first time around, but the influence of Sylvester Stallone’s military veteran vigilante film has since been acknowledged. Stallone is John Rambo, facing rejection and mistrust after serving in Vietnam.

Total Recall

(2012) 12 10PM, 5 STAR

Played straight compared to Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 cult original, this sci-fi remake places Colin Farrell (left) in the mind-bending predicament of not knowing fact from fiction. Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel and Bill Nighy are the supporting cast who add to his confusion.

Night Moves

(2013) 15

11.15PM, FILM4

Brooding, atmospheric thriller following a trio of ecoterrorists as they blow up a hydroelectric dam that is damaging wildlife. Action is secondary to the mindset of the three activists, played with muted restraint by Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard.

Screamers

(1996) 18

12.30AM, HORROR

Gaining cult momentum, this Philip K. Dick-based sci-fi stars Peter Weller as a human soldier on a ravaged planet, facing robot killing machines that have a high-pitched battle cry. (Freeview 70, Freesat 138, Sky 319, Virgin 149)

Nowhere Boy

(2009) 15

1.30AM, FILM4

Artist turned director Sam taylorwood’s debut is a controversial look at John Lennon’s early life, exploring the singer’s difficult relationship with his estranged mother. Aaron Johnson plays Lennon; Anne-Marie Duff (right, with Johnson) is the woman who abandoned him.

WEDNESDAY

The Ladykillers (1955) U

11.20AM, MORE4

Alec Guinness tops a cast to die for in Alexander Mackendrick’s splendid and much-loved Ealing comedy. Guinness is the sophisticated gent who leads a motley gang of crooks in a plot to steal a fortune. Katie Johnson is the sweet old lady who unwittingly foils their plans.

IQ

(1994) PG 2.35PM, MOVIE MIX

Exploring Albert Einstein’s little-known gifts as a matchmaker, this fantasy romcom stars Meg Ryan as the scientist’s niece. She’s a talented mathematician who is pushed by destiny and a not so cunning bluff to fall for car mechanic Tim Robbins. Walter Matthau plays the boffin.

Runaway Train

(1985) 15

9PM, MOVIES 4 MEN

Setting off at a blistering pace, this rare beast of an action film creates intensity not just from frantic running and jumping, but from character development, too. Jon Voight (above) and Eric Roberts are the escaped prisoners trapped on an out-of-control train.

Green Street

(2005) 18

10PM, ITV4

Elijah Wood stars in this edgy drama set in the world of die-hard football hooligans. He’s the American dropout moving to London and falling in with a bad crowd – a bunch of hard men who get their kicks from violence on match days.

Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008) 15

11.45PM, BBC1

Jim Sturgess (above) is an Irish crook who becomes an informant embedded in the heart of the IRA at the height of the Troubles. A fast and loose adaptation of Martin McGartland’s autobiography.

Silent Running

(1972) PG

2AM, CH4

Bruce Dern is the eco-astronaut who ends up with only three droids for company in Douglas Trumbull’s contemplative sci-fi thriller. Caretaker of greenhouse domes in space, he thinks the rest of mankind is pond life.

THURSDAY

The Las Vegas Story (1952) PG

6AM, MOVIES 4 MEN

In one of his last roles before making the switch to horror films, Vincent Price (above, with Jane Russell) is the crooked husband of Russell’s smouldering siren. When he’s accused of murder, she won’t give him an alibi.

The Lady From Shanghai

(1947) PG

11.20AM, MORE4

See Classic Film Choice (right).

Moonrise Kingdom

(2012) 12

6.55PM, FILM4

From the wonderfully askew mind of Wes Anderson, a story of young love, complicated by the meddling of pesky adults (including Bruce Willis and Bill Murray). Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward play the earnest youngsters who run away together after meeting at summer camp.

Magic Mike

(2012) 15

9PM, E4

Steven Soderbergh directs this lightweight drama following male stripper Mike (Channing Tatum, left) as he adopts a protege (Alex Pettyfer), and yearns to leave the business to set up one where he can keep his clothes on. There isn’t an awful lot going on in the film – or in Mike’s head.

Ransom

(1996) 15 9PM, ITV4

Mel Gibson is the multimillionaire who’ll stop at nothing to be reunited with his abducted son. Rejecting the advice of police and the FBI, he dramatically turns the tables on the kidnappers.

Flight Of The Intruder

(1990) 12

9PM, MOVIE MIX

Directed by John Milius, this Vietnam drama follows rogue US Navy pilots, led by Brad Johnson, who take the war into their own hands by staging an unauthorised raid on Hanoi.

The Reader

(2008) 15

1.25AM, FILM4

Kate Winslet won her first and, so far, only Oscar for this thought-provoking drama. In 1950s Germany, Hanna Schmitz (Winslet, right) has an affair with teenage student Michael Berg (David Kross). Years later, she is on trial for war crimes, and Michael knows something that mitigates her guilt.

FRIDAY

The War Lord

(1965) PG

10.45AM, MORE4

Don’t let Charlton Heston’s shocking pudding-bowl haircut put you off this thoughtful and surprising medieval drama. Heston is the Norman warlord who pursues his right to sleep with another man’s bride on her wedding night – a fateful union that leads to bloody war.

The Day After Tomorrow

(2004) 12

8PM, E4

Big-budget doomsday tale, with Dennis Quaid as the climatologist warning of the effects of global warming – and plunging into a mission to rescue his son from freaky weather in New York.

Dad’s Army

(2016) PG

8PM, SKY PREMIERE

Back to Walmington-on-Sea, where the Home Guard are revived with a new cast stepping into the boots of their much-loved predecessors. Catherine Zeta-Jones (above, with Tom Courtenay as Lance Corporal Jones) is the journalist working her charms on the troops.

Predator 2

(1990) 15

9PM, MOVIE MIX

Savage extraterrestrial hunters (below) picking off trained commandos is one thing, but this sequel to the Arnold Schwarzenegger original sees one let loose in Los Angeles. Danny Glover is the cop in the middle of what he thinks is a gang turf war in a gripping, effective sequel.

Lawless

(2012) 18 10PM, MORE4

Set in Prohibition-era Virginia, this crime drama mixes wild mountains with crime-ridden streets, doused in the smell of petrol and moonshine. Gary Oldman is the gangster in business with three bootlegger brothers. There’s violence and gunfire, but also strong emotional ties.

Playing For Keeps

(2012) 12

2.05AM, CH4

Gerard Butler is the washed-up professional footballer who is in America to try to be a better father to his son. A wishy-washy romcom that deserves relegation to a lower league.