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SATURDAY THE THIRD MAN

(1949) PG ●

1.15PM, BBC2 ★★★★★

Carol Reed’s superb, visually stunning and thoroughly involving post-war thriller stars Joseph Cotten as the writer summoned to Vienna by old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), who, it transpires, is dead. Or is he?

MARY POPPINS

(1964) U ● 4.20PM, BBC1 ★★★★★ See Classic Film Choice (right).

LOCKED DOWN (2021) 15 ◆

8PM, SKY PREMIERE ★★★

PREMIERE This romantic thriller was filmed during lockdown in London. The restrictions of filming during the pandemic take their toll, just as lockdown does on the marriage of its central couple (Anne

Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejifor, above).

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE (2016) 12

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10PM, CH4 ★★★

An ancient mutant, intent on wiping out humanity with a biblical Apocalypse, rises in this third in the prequel series. Among his four horsemen is Ororo Munroe, whose powers to control the weather go down a Storm.

THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN (2005) 15 10.50PM, ITV

◆ ★★★★

Comedy starring Steve Carell (below) as a man unsure of what he can offer women. With the help of some of his colleagues, he takes the plunge in matters of love and romance.

SEARCHING (2018) 12 ◆

12.40AM, CH4 ★★★

This thriller plays out entirely on laptop and phone screens, following a worried father (John Cho) as he desperately trawls through his daughter’s laptop when she goes missing.

THE MIDWIFE (2017) 12

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1.20AM, BBC2 ★★★

Moving if sentimental French drama, starring the legendary Catherine Deneuve as Beatrice, the mistress who bonds with her late lover’s middle-aged daughter, Claire (Catherine Frot), a midwife.

SUNDAY SMALL SOLDIERS (1998) PG

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12.15PM, ITV ★★★

Sci-fi comedy from Joe Dante (Gremlins) in which toy soldiers (above) face off against toy critters the Gorgonites. Created by a defence contractor, the warring toys are accidentally shipped to suburbia.

OCTOPUSSY

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2.20PM, ITV ★★★

In this, Roger Moore’s sixth outing as 007, he balances his action man antics with a variety of increasingly wacky costume changes.

The camp humour is enjoyably over the top.

(1983) PG SHREK THE THIRD (2007) U 4.25PM, CH4

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★★★ Second sequel in the fairytale-subverting animated series, and there’s still plenty of good-natured fun to be had. Slimy Prince Charming plots his revenge, while Shrek (above) has quite a reaction when he learns that Fiona is expecting the patter of tiny green feet.

THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY

(2015) 12 ◆ 10PM, BBC2 ★★★★

PREMIERE See The Big Movie (right).

FACE/OFF (1997) 18

▲ 11PM, ITV ★★★★ John Travolta and Nicolas Cage swap facial identities in John Woo’s bonkers actioner. Cage is a terrorist, with Travolta as the FBI agent driven to sci-fi extremes to catch him.

THE FIRST PURGE (2018) 15

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12 MIDNIGHT, CH4 ★★★

PREMIERE This prequel to the successful horror franchise explains how the annual purge – 12 hours where all crime, including

murder, is legal – got started. It began as an extreme social experiment, but was co-opted into a diabolical form of ethnic cleansing.

8 MINUTES IDLE (2012) 15

◆ 12.35AM, BBC1 ★★★

The twist in this workplace romcom, based on the novel by Matt Thorne, is that

Dan (Tom Hughes, right) secretly lives in his office – with his cat. When he grows close to co-worker Teri (Ophelia Lovibond), can their relationship flourish under these bizarre circumstances?

MONDAY MAD MAX (1979) 18 9PM, ITV4

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★★★★

Mel Gibson stars in a film – set in a society on the brink of violent lawlessness – that shook up Australian cinema and became a cult classic. Max is the cop who hangs up his badge to fight a running battle on four wheels. The first two sequels also show this week.

NEXT OF KIN (1989) 15

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9PM, PARAMOUNT ★★★

This thriller stars Patrick Swayze as the Chicago cop from the Appalachian Mountains, who gets caught between his old hillbilly ways and modern policing when gangsters murder his brother (Bill Paxton).

ROBIN HOOD (2010) 12

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9PM, GREAT! MOVIES ★★★

Ridley Scott reworks the classic English legend in the image of Gladiator, casting that film’s star, Russell Crowe, as Robin (above). Cate Blanchett is a very capable Marian, with Matthew Macfadyen as the sheriff and Oscar Isaac as Prince John.

THE NAKED GUN 33 1/3: THE FINAL INSULT

(1994) 12 ◆ 11PM, CH5 ★★★ ‘Mostly all-new jokes’ proclaims the tagline for the franchise’s parting shot – a triumphant finale for the late, great Leslie Nielsen and his maladroit Drebin. He’s joined by a returning Priscilla Presley, plus Anna Nicole Smith (below) and O.J. Simpson.

DEATH WISH 2 (1981) 18 11.05PM, ITV4 ★★

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The original just about got away with its shocking violence, but this crass, Michael Winner-directed sequel, again starring Charles Bronson, doesn’t. It manages to be both offensive and bland – if that’s possible.

AND THEN WE DANCED (2019) 15

◆ 2.15AM, CH4 ★★★

This film festival darling, from Georgia, is set in the conservative world of traditional Georgian dance. Merab is a competitive dancer whose world is turned upside down by the appearance of a new rival.

TUESDAY THE LAST WAGON (1956) PG ●

1.55PM, PARAMOUNT ★★★

Richard Widmark is a man of few words, held prisoner (above) by sheriff George Mathews, in this gripping western from Delmer Daves (3:10 To Yuma). Treated like an animal, Widmark is soon in a position to turn the tables when they enter Apache territory.

MAD MAX 2 (1981) 18

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9PM, ITV4 ★★★★

George Miller’s adrenaline-fuelled sequel was one of the standout films of 1981.

In a brutal future where petrol is prized, Mel Gibson is again the leathery hardman coming to the aid of settlers under siege.

MAN IN THE MIDDLE

(1964) U 9PM, TALKING PICTURES TV ★★★ Robert Mitchum (left) stars as the American soldier who is asked to defend a fellow American serviceman who is accused of murdering a British officer in India. He’s not so interested in playing politics, more on getting to the truth. ●

SCANNERS (1981) 18

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9PM, HORROR ★★★

David Cronenberg crafts a frenzied vision of a world in which large numbers of people have telekinetic powers. Some want the ‘scanners’ weaponised – and while some scanners want to be left alone, others want to cause chaos. (Freeview 68, Freesat 138, Sky 317, Virgin 149)

TREMORS

(1990) 15 ◆

11.05PM, ITV4 ★★★★

This entertaining monster movie spoof stars Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward as friends whose isolated Nevada town is under threat from giant carnivorous worms that live underground. A big hit, it became a franchise that released a seventh film last year.

MAURICE (1987) 15

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11.10PM, FILM4 ★★★★

One of three adaptations of E.M. Forster novels by the period drama powerhouse of producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory – see also A Room With A View and Howards End. James Wilby (right) stars as the young gay man having an awakening.