TV FILMS of the week
1
FUNNY GIRL Today, BBC2, 2.05pm
How better to celebrate Barbra
Streisand’s 80th birthday than with this amiable romantic musical that landed her the Academy Award as Best Actress – not bad for her movie debut. She essays comedienne Fanny Brice, who escapes her life as the daughter of a Jewish saloon owner in the slums of the Lower East Side of New York to become one of the star performers at Ziegfield Follies. Success in the world of showbusiness contrasts sharply with her personal fortune: her marriage to suave Nick Arnstein (Omar Sharif) falters and culminates in divorce.
2
PASSENGERS Tomorrow, Channel 4, 11pm
Intriguing sci-fi mystery, with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence, pictured, on board a spacecraft heading for a distant planet. When they’re prematurely awakened from hibernation, they fall in love – but then the ship starts malfunctioning. Passengers is a glossy meditation on solitude and self-sacrifice with a terrific cast.
3
CHAPPIE
Monday, GREAT! Movies, 9pm
Deon Wilson (Dev Patel) is the genius behind robot police droids, and a thorn in the side of his professional rival Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman, pictured). When Deon is kidnapped by criminals, they stumble upon his latest creation, christened Chappie (Sharlto Copley), and decide to use it for a heist.
4
THE OLD MAN & THE GUN Tuesday, Film4, 11.10pm
Robert Redford, left, makes his final screen appearance before retirement in this gently paced crime caper – a (mostly) true story, which is also a valentine to the charismatic leading man. He plays real-life bank robber Forrest Tucker, who ran rings around the authorities and escaped from San Quentin State Prison in a canoe.
5
DOWNTON ABBEY Wednesday, ITV3, 8pm
Lord and Lady Grantham (Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern), left, prepare for a visit from King George V and Queen Mary in this first big screen outing for the hit TV series. Screenwriter Julian Fellowes serves up morsels of intrigue and romance to generate conflicts, resolutions and cliffhangers. A sequel hits cinemas on Friday.
6
LAURA
Thursday, Talking Pictures TV, 6.15pm
Director Otto Preminger’s classic film noir stars Dana Andrews as New York detective McPherson, called in to investigate the murder of advertising executive Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney, left). McPherson becomes increasingly obsessed with the dead woman. Then the case takes an unexpected twist.
7
READY OR NOT Friday, Film4, 10.45pm
Samara Weaving, left, (niece of Matrix baddie Hugo) is being hunted to the death on her wedding night in this fun horror-comedy. There are gruesome killings and dark laughs as the bride is forced take part in a bizarre family ritual by her rich in-laws, members of a boardgame dynasty. Andie MacDowell also stars.