THE SOUND OF MOVIE MUSICALS

7PM, BBC4 ★★★★ Neil Brand tells us about the genre’s post-war journey tonight while tickling the ivories, the Manhattan skyline perfectly placed behind him. There’s insight into Gene Kelly (left) from his widow, plus a look at the peak of MGM and the dip from which movie musicals nearly didn’t recover.

FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES

9PM, DRAMA ★★★★

This 1920s Canadian mystery is moving at a brisk pace in season three. Tonight’s new-to-freeview case takes Frankie (Lauren Lee Smith, left) undercover into a boxing gym, where she finds romance and the secrets behind a miracle elixir being hawked on the streets outside.

NCIS: NEW ORLEANS

9PM, FOX ★★★

A man posing as Lasalle tries to spring a grifter from prison in tonight’s solid new episode – why? The case leads the NCIS team to a Vice Admiral with something to hide, and Hannah (Necar Zadegan, left) dons an exceptionally fancy dress in search of more information.

POP CHARTS BRITANNIA: 60 YEARS OF THE TOP 10

9PM, BBC4 ★★★

Fun if rather higgledy-piggledy survey of how the singles chart evolved in Britain. In the early days, there were several competing versions and they were dominated by American acts, but the rise of the likes of Cliff Richard (left) started to change that.

THE SAME SKY

9PM, MORE4 ★★★★

Part two of this engaging Cold War tale, and first contact has been made between Lars (Tom Schilling, left), the East German ‘Romeo’ agent, and his target, Lauren (The Bridge’s Sofia Helin). Are we to believe she’s as timid as she looks? And that Lars’s training is as foolproof as he’s been told?

POIROT

10.05PM, ITV3 ★★★★ Murder On The Orient Express is one of Agatha Christie’s best mysteries, because it has such a rich cast of intriguing characters all trapped in one place. It tends to attract big acting talent as a result, and this David Suchet version features Toby Jones, David Morrissey and Hollywood’s Jessica Chastain (left). RW

SKY COMEDY

Sky 309 Virgin 408

10am Bridget Jones:

The Edge of Reason (2004) 15 See 7pm. (S)

12noon Last Vegas (2013) 12 u

See 12.25am. (S)

2.00 Evan Almighty (2007) PG ●

God recruits politician Steve Carell to save the world’s animals from a cataclysm. (S)

Howtofakeawar (2019) 15 Rock star Jay Pharoah instructs his PR consultant to create a fake war story to support his concert. (S)

PICK Bridget Jones’s

Diary (2001) 15 (S)

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) 15 Hapless journalist Renée Zellweger’s new romance looks set to be short-lived when she ends up serving time in prison. (S)

The Art of Self-defense

(2019) 15 After being attacked, Jesse Eisenberg learns how to defend himself from future threats. (S)

10.50 Airplane II: The Sequel

(1982) 15 A malfunction sends a passenger space shuttle hurtling toward the sun. (S)

12.25am-2.20 Last Vegas (2013)

12 With Michael Douglas. (S)

uuuuuuuEIGHT BELOW

(2006) PG ● 2.10PM, SKY DISNEY HHH The dogs are the stars of this stirring survival tale. Left at an Antarctic research station, a team of huskies face a freezing fate until guide Paul Walker risks it all to bring them home.

SKY DISNEY

Sky 307 Virgin 405

6.40am Mulan II (2004) PG ●

The warrior helps three princesses to escape from being forced into marriage. (S) 8.15 Toy Story 4 (2019) U n

See 4.15pm. (S)

Aladdin (2019) PG ●

See 6pm. (S)

12.20pm Muppet Treasure Island (1996) U ● Youngster Kevin Bishop joins an expedition searching for lost treasure that falls foul of pirates. (S)

PICK Eight Below

(2006) PG ● (S)

4.15 Toy Story 4 (2019) U A toy joins Woody and the gang, leading a road trip alongside old and new friends. (S) Aladdin (2019) PG ●

Street urchin Mena Massoud unleashes a genie, sparking a magical adventure. (S)

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010) PG ● Wizard Nicolas

Cage recruits an ordinary teenager to help protect Newyorkfromhisenemy.(s) The Pacifier (2005) PG ●

Military veteran Vin Diesel is assigned to protect a family from assassins. (S)

11.50-1.55am Eight Below (2006)

PG ● See 2.10pm. (S) 10.10

n

between the lives of mortals and immortals until the end of time, William Palmer (Paul Hilton) spends his endless existence mediating between these two worlds. In the second part of this Halloween special – from the team that has made the longrunning fantasy drama series an undying success – Palmer finds his work made all the harder thanks to a vindictive teenager.

THE VERB

10PM, RADIO 3 HHH

Ben Schott writes almanacs and quirky books that are full of wit and humour. He is also a big fan of P.G. Wodehouse, and has written a novel that includes Wodehouse’s great comic creation, Jeeves. Tonight, he joins the poet Ian Mcmillan to talk about humorous writing in difficult times. SJ