Film choice

Finding Dory (2016)

BBC ONE, 3.10PM ★★★★★

 This eerily beautiful and emotional film serves as an ingenious sequel to Pixar’s Finding Nemo. Here, Dory (Ellen Degeneres), the blue regal tang whose short-term memory loss made her such an (ironically) unforgettable sidekick, is a lost child, asking passers-by to help her locate her parents (Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy). The short film Piper, released with Dory, also airs at 9.50am.

Oliver! (1968)

CHANNEL 5, 3.10PM ★★★★

 Carol Reed, who had previously directed The Third Man, won an Oscar for his superior version of Lionel Bart’s musical of the classic Charles Dickens tale (Reed’s only attempt at the musical genre). Eight-year-old Mark Lester is sweet as Oliver Twist, but Ron Moody (as Fagin) received the Oscar nod. Reed’s nephew, another Oliver, is a brooding and brutal Bill Sikes, and still has shocking force.

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

SKY CINEMA PREMIERE/NOW TV, 8.00PM ★★★★★

 Emily Blunt somehow does the impossible and makes the title role her own, as the dream nanny returns to save (now adult) Michael Banks and his family from financial ruin. The tremendous new songs have been built to last and the nostalgia is stitched into the visual fabric, as Rob Marshall and his team pay their dues to the great Disney background painter Peter Ellenshaw.