Satellite choice
MATINEE CLASSIC Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 11.30am, More4
MARILYN MONROE and Jane Russell sizzles in Howard Hawks’s musical comedy. They play showgirls on an oceano liner, one who swoons at the sight of diamonds (Monroe), the other at the sight of scantily clad gymnastsg (Russell).
NEW TWEEN SITCOM
Kirby Buckets, 5.30pm, Disney
VISUALLY creative new, largerthan-life U.S. family sitcom about a 13-year-old boy who wants to be an animator, and whose creations pop up during the show. The portrayal of his sister is unflattering, but then, this is a show aimed at boys. (Sky 609, Virgin 724)
RUGBY UNION Gloucester Rugby v Saracens, 7pm, BT Sport 1
ANOTHER Friday-night fixture from the Premiership. Fly half Charlie Hodgson put in an assured performance for Saracens when these teams met last in October.
OPERA SUPERSTAR Placido Domingo At The BBC, 8pm, BBC4
THE Spanish tenor received no formal training, but holds a world record for ovations in opera — in Vienna, in 1991, he received 80 minutes of applause and 101 curtain calls. This new mix of interview and performance celebrates his extraordinary talent.
QUIRKY FILM COMEDY The Grand Budapest Hotel, 8pm, Sky Premiere
RALPH FIENNES is the hotel concierge accused of murder when his elderly lover dies in mysterious circumstances — leaving him a wealthy man — in Wes (Rushmore) Anderson’s typically chaotic ensemble piece.
A ROCKIN’ RIDE Meat Loaf: In And Out Of Hell, 9pm, BBC4
THE ups and downs of Meat Loaf (pictured) — from a childhood marked by domestic violence, to adult bankruptcy and career comeback — are explored in this revealing new film, which also goes behind the scenes at his Las Vegas residency.
FILM DRAMA Charlotte Gray, 9pm, More4
THE film that almost bankrupted Film4 is a cumbersome adaptation of Sebastian Faulks’s psychologically complex novel. Cate Blanchett (pictured) is the Scot going behind enemy lines, but even her Hollywood glamour struggles to save this effort.
DRAMA
NCIS, 9pm, Fox
AN NCIS IT man is in trouble at the start of the new, 12th season, and Gibbs is in Russia, engaged in a game of cat and mouse with . . . whom? This is a good start to the season for the veteran drama, with running gun battles, a computer virus of mass destruction and someone uttering a classic action movie line — ‘I’ll be right behind you’
— towards the end. Will they be?
MUSO-SHOW Before The Music Dies, 9pm, PBS America
TWO fans, despairing that the industry has forsaken music for looks, crisscross the U.S. in search of the genuine article in this documentary. It starts out seeming like a moan, but, as soon as the interviews kick in — with Eric Clapton, Erykah Badu, Elvis Costello and more — it really takes off, and develops a real sense of credibility.