Satellite choice

POP HOPEFULS Got What It Takes?, 4.30pm, CBBC

THE mums are the judges for this supportive new singing contest, which is keen to impress the tough reality of the music industry on its budding stars. ‘Always have something to fall back on’, Bradley from S Club advises the youngsters, who seem to heed his wise words.

ANIMATED MOVIE

Robin Hood, 4.30pm, Sky Disney

A SPARKLING take on ye olde English legend from trusty Walt Disney Productions. In true Disney style, Robin Hood’s merry men of Sherwood become a merry menagerie, with the benevolent outlaw recast as a wily fox.

FOOTBALL Everton v Manchester City, 7.30pm, Sky Sports 1

THIS is the first of three meetings between these sides in January. A Premier League game at the Etihad next week is slotted in between this first leg of the semi-final of the League Cup — a trophy that Everton have never won — and the reverse fixture at the end of the month.

IN THE PICTURE The Story Of Scottish Art, 8pm, BBC4

PREVIOUSLY shown on BBC2 Scotland, this series dives well beyond the stuffy canvases of ‘bonny landscapes’ and ‘Highland chieftains’ to reveal Scotland’s rich artistic history. The Picts are the first surprise. While they were portrayed as violent savages by the Romans (as the Romans saw almost everyone but themselves), the engaging Lachlan Goudie reveals some of them to have been literate Christians with a keen sense of art.

ROYAL DYNASTY Empire Of The Tsars: Romanov Russia With Lucy Worsley, 9pm, BBC4

FOR her colourful new series on the Romanov dynasty — who ruled Russia for three centuries — Lucy Worsley’s (pictured) first subject is Peter the Great. Peter was a moderniser who spent a year in Europe learning about the latest naval technologies. In London, he worked hard in the shipyards, ‘with his own hands’, but he also mucked about quite a lot — trashing his accommodations in Deptford and racing wheelbarrows.

COP SHOW Blue Bloods, 9pm, Sky Atlantic

FOR the start of the new, sixth season, immaculately mustachioed police commissioner Frank (Tom Selleck) fears that terrorists might be about to strike New York.

SERIAL KILLER SERIES

100 Code, 10pm, Sky Atlantic

IN THIS new series, Brit Dominic Monaghan (pictured below left with Michael Nyqvist)yq) playspy a hardhard-bitten New York detective who tracks a serial killer to Sweden. It’s riddled with cliche but diverting enough, in small doses.

PAY-PER-VIEW MOVIE American Ultra, Virgin Movies/Sky Store

ADVENTURELAND pair Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart are reunited in Max (son of John) Landis’s oddball actioner. Eisenberg is the pot-smoking ordinary Joe who is actually a secret government agent.

FILM COMEDY

Top Five, 10.15pm, Sky Premiere

CHRIS ROCK, who is best-known for his stand-up work, wrote, directed and stars in this decent comedy — his third (and most satisfying) outing behind the camera. In front of it, he’s in reflective mode, playing a former stand-up comedian trying something a little different.