Satellite choice
CYCLING Paris-Nice, 2.15pm, Eurosport 2 SIMON YATES, who in 2018 won the Vuelta a Espana, is among the Brits competing in an event known as the Race to the Sun. Today, the riders are out of Paris for this second stage, which ends in Bellegarde.
ON-DEMAND MOVIE The Nutcracker And The Four Realms, BT TV/Sky Store/Virgin Movies ONE of two festive family films arriving for rent today (the other is The Grinch), this enjoyably lavish, Narnia-style mess is a dark fairy tale with a particularly fun comic performance from Keira Knightley as the Sugar Plum Fairy.
FILM THRILLER Backstabbing For Beginners, 6pm, Sky Premiere DESPITE its flippant title, this is a meaty, fact-based thriller about a corruption scandal involving a UN aid programme in Iraq. Ben Kingsley stars.
NEW U.S. COMEDY Speechless, 7.30pm, E4 IN A deftly handled new U.S. comedy, Minnie Driver plays the formidable mum of a son with cerebral palsy (played by Micah Fowler, who has cerebral palsy). Maya (Driver, pictured) will do anything to give him the best shot at life; like her, the show is sharp on the outside and sweet on the inside — and continues daily.
PRINCESS PROFILE Private Lives, 8pm, Yesterday ‘MARGARET wasn’t just a heavydrinking, chain-smoking party girl’ is the thrust of this first of a new series, which aims to balance the Princess’s reputation. It lingers on her marriage to Antony ArmstrongJones, her sense of duty and the charity work that went far beyond it.
SEVENTIES SERIES Dangerous Knowledge, 8.30pm, Talking Pictures THE actor John Gregson died in 1975, the year before this TV thriller — in which he plays a spy-turnedinsurance salesman — was shown. Episodes continue daily, and there’s a new tribute to Gregson showing on Friday (9.40am, 7pm) — with stories from his family — on what would have been his 100th birthday.
FANTASY SAGA American Gods, Amazon Prime SEASON one of Neil Gaiman’s super-stylish drama finished in eye-popping fashion, and this opener to season two feels like the quiet aftermath. We now know the true identity of Mr Wednesday (Ian McShane), who takes his allies to regroup at a strange place called the house on the rock. A new episode arrives every Monday.
PUNCHY U.S. SHOW The Contender, 9pm, ITV4 RETIRED boxer Andre Ward is the matter-of-fact host of a new series of this boxing contest, which features some fabulously named contenders: step forward Quatavious Cash from Las Vegas, Nevada. The show keeps the reality TV drama to a minimum, though, and presents the matches between its two teams in real time.
BRITISH SITCOM Timewasters, 10pm, ITV2 DANIEL LAWRENCE TAYLOR’S time-travel comedy returns on boisterous form as the gang (including Adelayo Adedayo, pictured with Taylor) go back to 1958 — and muck up the family tree of one of their number.mber If you remember the photo with the disappearing relatives in Back To The Future, there’s a very funny black British twist on that here, as well as a role for Anna Chancellor.
FRENCH FILM Elle, 10.45pm, Film4 EXTRAORDINARY French thriller, directed by Paul Verhoeven, who is best-known for his Hollywood hits, notably Basic Instinct. Isabelle Huppert is mesmerising as the businesswoman who is attacked in her home. Her response to this violent sexual assault is both unexpected and provocative.