COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA 1952 (b/w) CORIOLANUS

Talking Pictures TV, 10pm

A loveless marriage is tested, or spiced up, when an attractive young woman rents a room in the couple’s home. Shirley Booth plays

2011 BBC One, 12.50am

Ralph Fiennes makes his directorial debut in this plucky modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Fiennes stars as the titular Roman general whose a lonely housewife who pines after her lost dog, Sheba, while Burt Lancaster is a recovering alcoholic who becomes increasingly possessive over the new arrival. Adapted from William Inge’s celebrated play, the film smartly unpicks the fabric of American family life. arrogance leads to a dramatic fall from grace, before swearing to take revenge on the city which rejected him. Not all the innovations click, and Fiennes relies perhaps too heavily on his own typically classical performance. Brian Cox and Vanessa Redgrave also star.