Film choice

12 Years a Slave (2013)

FILM4, 9.00PM ★★★★★

 Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon Northrup, the kidnapped slave whose true account of life on a Louisiana plantation in the 1840s inspired John Ridley’s Oscar-winning screenplay. Directed by Steve Mcqueen, this masterpiece is both devastatingly shocking and an important film and widely described as the best film that has yet been made about American slavery. Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o co-star.

You Only Live Twice (1967)

ITV4, 9.00PM ★★★

 Sean Connery’s fifth appearance as James Bond – with a script by Roald Dahl that is only loosely based on Ian Fleming’s novel of the same name – was the first in the series to be really grand in scale, as well as one that cheerfully focuses on Bond’s humour. Here, the secret agent must join up with the Japanese ninja force to stave off a nuclear war. It’s Donald Pleasence’s performance as Blofeld that consistently steals the show.

Chocolat (2000)

SKY ARTS, 9.00PM ★★★

 Lasse Hallström’s warm adaptation of Joanne Harris’s novel stars Juliette Binoche as the free spirit who sets up a decadent chocolate shop in a stuffy French village. Just as her confections are melting local hearts, her relationship with a gypsy living at a nearby camp threatens their tolerance. With Johnny Depp playing the rogue, though, who can blame her. Alfred Molina and Judi Dench co-star.