The Billy Plays DRAMA FROM 10PM, BBC4
Kenneth Branagh is currently wowing as Boris Johnson in Covid drama This England (tonight, 9pm, Sky Atlantic). But, as BBC4 cements its status as an archive channel, here he is in his breakthrough TV role – Belfast lad Billy Martin. Screened in the Play for Today strand, the Billy trilogy, co-starring Z Cars’ James Ellis, charts the difficult domestic life of a working-class Protestant family against the backdrop of the Troubles and a personal tragedy. Forty years on, Branagh introduces the first two plays tonight. ★★★★ NT