FILM PICKS

SUNDAY

Dunkirk (2017) (BBC2, 10pm)

Christopher Nolan’s drama is a stunning mosaic of personal stories of hard-fought triumph and agonising defeat set against the sprawling backdrop of the largest evacuation of allied forces during the Second World War. Young British soldier Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) escapes a hail of German bullets and races to the beaches of Dunkirk, where more than 300,000 exhausted men await rescue. On the other side of the Channel, sailor Mr Dawson (Mark Rylance) answers Winston Churchill’s impassioned call for civilian boats to rescue our boys. At sea, he fishes out a shell-shocked soldier (Cillian Murphy) from the hull of an overturned vessel and witnesses a dogfight between German fighter planes and Royal Air Force spitfires.

MONDAY

The Long Good Friday (1980) (Film4, 11.10pm)

London gangster Harold (Bob Hoskins) has it made. He’s a wealthy man, has a beautiful, intelligent girlfriend (Helen Mirren) and is the master of all he surveys. So, on the eve of clinching a lucrative deal with some American counterparts, the last thing Harold expects is to be attacked – but that’s exactly what happens. A series of bombs target the villain’s home, cars and business, leaving him apoplectic with rage. Harold sets out to unmask the culprits, setting off a chain of bloody mayhem as he does so.

WEDNESDAY

The Blues Brothers (1980) (ITV4, 9pm)

Everybody needs somebody in John Landis’s classic 1980 action comedy, based on characters created by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd on the TV series Saturday Night Live. When Jake Blues (Belushi) is released from prison, he and brother Elwood (Aykroyd) pay a visit to the orphanage where they grew up, and learn the building is under threat of closure due to non-payment of taxes. So, the siblings concoct a hare-brained scheme to raise the money by reuniting their old band and staging a concert. En route, they cross paths with a deranged bandleader (Charles Napier), the cops, and a host of famous faces in cameo roles including James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin.

THURSDAY

Pig (2021) (Film4, 9pm)

Robin Feld (Nicolas Cage) was one of the star chefs of Portland’s thriving restaurant scene until he turned his back on the industry. Now, he lives as a hermit in the Oregon wilderness with his beloved truffle-snuffling pig. Robin dotes on the sow, who forages for valuable fungi in the woods, and salesman Amir (Alex Wolff) gladly buys the truffles on behalf of eateries back in the city. When the pig is kidnapped in the middle of the night, Robin reluctantly returns to his old stomping ground to track down his fourlegged companion. The plot may sound completely bizarre, but this is actually a rather moving drama from debut director Michael Sarnoski.