Film choice

First Men in the Moon (1964) Film4, 4.05pm ★★★

This adaptation by scriptwriter Nigel Kneale of HG Wells’s 1901 novel uses a curious blend of live-action, stopmotion and animation to tell the story of a multinational group of astronauts who land on the Moon, only to discover that the Victorians got there first. Charming, if only for the curiously anachronistic shots of Edward Judd and Martha Hyer on a spaceship in full 1890s dress.

Dear Elizabeth (2022) Sky Cinema Premiere, 10.40pm ★★★

Adapted from Michael Kun’s novel The Locklear Letters (a farcical look at celebrity worship), this warmhearted comedy drama from Scott Abramovitch treads the regularly traversed “loser boy, popular girl” path. It follows unlucky-in-love midlifer Sid Straw’s (Tony Hale) attempts to persuade, over Facebook, his one-time classmate Elizabeth Banks to attend their school reunion.

Phantom Thread (2017) BBC Two, 11.15pm ★★★★★

Paul Thomas Anderson’s exquisite work finds Daniel Day-lewis (in what he’s since declared is his final film) as Reynolds Woodcock, a 1950s couturier with a muse (Vicky Krieps) who’s bad news. Reynolds’s sister, Cyril (Lesley Manville), serves as the third point of their uneasy domestic triangle. The film is an instant classic, with hints of Alfred Hitchcock but a strangeness and comedy all of its own.