TV FILMS of the week
1
BILL
Today, BBC1, 2.10pm
William Shakespeare (Mathew
Baynton) is a self-doubting dreamer, who squanders his talent in an Elizabethan boy band called Mortal Coil. He yearns to work in the theatre, so heads to London, where he befriends Christopher Marlowe (Jim Howick). The two men join forces on a play, which they intend to sell to The Earl of Croydon (Simon Farnaby), who has promised a comical entertainment for Queen Elizabeth I (the late Helen McCrory). Bill is an unabashedly silly romp from the creators of Horrible Histories and Yonderland, laden with cross-dressing, smut and the occasional documented fact.
2
DOG SOLDIERS Tomorrow, Film4, 11.10pm
This werewolf horror flick splices gore and lashings of blood, with a sick and twisted sense of humour. A squad of British Army officers, led by Sergeant Wells (Sean Pertwee, pictured), takes part in a military exercise. They stumble on a pile of human remains and an injured comrade who appears to have been attacked by an animal. Wells and his men soon find themselves under attack.
3
ROLE MODELS Tuesday, ITV4, 10.50pm
Irresponsible energy drink salesmen Danny (Paul Rudd, left) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott), land in trouble after crashing the company truck. Hoping to avoid jail time, they agree to undertake community service, acting as mentors to two troubled youngsters. The gags are sharp, the leads are perfectly cast, and Jane Lynch nearly steals the film as a youth counsellor.
4
AMERICAN MADE Wednesday, Film4, 9pm
Pilot Barry Seal (Tom Cruise, left) makes money on the side by smuggling Cuban cigars into America. He is rumbled by Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson), who coerces Barry into working for the US government by flying over Central America to take photographs of the communist threat. Barry meets members of a cocaine cartel, who employ him to transport narcotics back to America.
5
EYE IN THE SKY Thursday, Film4, 7pm
A powerful look at the moral implications of modern warfare, with Helen Mirren, pictured, as a British Army colonel leading a team trying to decide whether to launch a drone strike on terrorists – knowing it could kill innocent people. Also starring Alan Rickman, this is an intelligent thriller that asks if there is such a thing as acceptable collateral damage.
6
10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU Friday, GREAT! movies, 7.05pm
Julia Stiles, pictured, and Heath Ledger head the cast of this sharp, quotable teen romcom. Stiles stars as Katherine, whose reluctance to fit in is a great inconvenience for her younger sister Bianca (Larisa Oleynik). At school, new boy Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) hatches a plan to pair Katherine with the school’s bad boy (Ledger) so that he can concentrate on wooing Bianca.
7
GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN Saturday, Channel 4, 6.30pm
Domhnall Gleeson, left, plays AA Milne in this biopic which examines the relationship between father and son Christopher Robin and the inspiration for Winnie-the-Pooh. The books prove popular in a nation recovering from the trauma of the First World War, but bring the youngster who inspired them uncomfortably into the public eye.