TV FILMS OF THE WEEK

LOCAL HERO Sunday, Film 4, 2.35pm

An American oil company – run by an astronomy-loving billionaire (Burt Lancaster) – wants to build a huge refinery on the west coast of Scotland so sends a young troubleshooter to negotiate with the locals. The result is a strange, enchanting joy.

AWAKENINGS Tuesday, Sony Movies Classic, 9pm

Based on the book by British neurologist Oliver Sacks, this is the moving story of how a group of hospital patients, most of whom had been in a catatonic state for decades, were brought back to consciousness. Robin Williams and Robert De Niro star, Penny Marshall directs.

EX MACHINA Tuesday, Film 4, 11.15pm

A billionaire builds the most advanced robot ever and summons a brilliant programmer to see if she can pass as human. Despite the male wish-fulfilment, writer and director Alex Garland delivers a tense and stylish addition to the android canon.

INDEPENDENCE DAY Wednesday, Film 4, 9pm

With huge alien spaceships hovering over the world’s major cities and an unstoppable countdown under way, humanity looks doomed. But wait… isn’t that Will Smith?

THE HISTORY BOYS Thursday, BBC4, 10.40pm

Alan Bennett’s stage play about a group of grammar-school boys being prepared for their Oxbridge entrance exams gets the big-screen treatment. James Corden and Dominic Cooper are among the pupils.

SHIRLEY VALENTINE Friday, Channel 5, 10pm

For those still missing a blast of Mediterranean sunshine, this should fit the bill. Pauline Collins plays the bored Liverpudlian housewife who travels to Greece, Tom Conti her handsome beau.

RUSH Friday, BBC1, 10.45pm

Directed by Ron Howard, this whisks us back to the 1970s and the glory days of F1, when the battle between the flamboyant British playboy James Hunt and his intense Austrian counterpart Niki Lauda was one of the great sporting rivalries.