TV FILMS of the week

1

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM Tonight, ITV, 7.30pm

THIS 1920s-set Harry Potter prequel finds zealots called the Second Salemers, led by Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton) and her adopted son Credence (Ezra Miller), preaching hellfire and damnation in New York. British magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne, pictured) arrives in the Big Apple at the height of this paranoia, carrying an enchanted suitcase with hidden pocket-dimensions full of endangered critters. So, it’s a bad time for non-magical baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) to accidentally pick up Newt’s luggage and release otherworldly species in breach of the Statute of Secrecy. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a visually sumptuous – if often surprisingly bleak – fantasy.

2

ZERO DARK THIRTY Tomorrow, ITV4, 11.10pm

DIRECTOR Kathryn Bigelow’s gripping follow-up to the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker follows ballsy CIA officer Maya (Jessica Chastain, left) as she is posted to Islamabad under Station Chief Joseph Bradley (Kyle Chandler). Over the next eight years, Maya dedicates her life to intelligence which might lead her to Osama bin Laden.

3

AMERICAN WOMAN Tuesday, Film4, 9pm

SLOW-BURNING drama. Debra Callahan (Sienna Miller, left) lives in Pennsylvania with her teenage daughter Bridget (Sky Ferreira), who has an infant son with Tyler (Alex Neustaedter). When the parents go on a date, Debra agrees to babysit, but Bridget never returns. Debra embarks on a long and painful quest to learn Bridget’s fate.

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4

DARK ENCOUNTER Wednesday, Film4, 11.15pm

SCI-FI thriller starring Laura Fraser (left) and Vincent Regan. It begins with the disappearance of an eight-year-old girl from her Pennsylvania hometown. A year later, following her memorial service, bizarre happenings begin to occur in the woods nearby. Writer-director Carl Strathie delivers an oddly compelling tale.

5

THE GRADUATE

Thursday, Sony Movies Classic, 9pm

BENJAMIN BRADDOCK (Dustin Hoffman) has graduated from college and is back at his parents’ home for the summer. He wants to get into bed with sexy neighbour Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft, pictured with Hoffman), but it soon becomes clear that her daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross) holds the key to his heart.

6

TESTAMENT OF YOUTH Friday, BBC2, 11.20pm

DRAMA set in the shadow of the First World War. Vera Brittain (Alicia Vikander) is poised to head to university while her brother Edward (Taron Egerton) and his pal Roland (Kit Harington) enlist. Romance blossoms between Roland and Vera (pictured), and she postpones her education to volunteer as a nurse on the front lines.

7

SICARIO 2: SOLDADO Saturday, Channel 4, 9.30pm

JOSH Brolin returns as CIA operative Matt Graver (left) alongside Benicio del Toro, who reprises his role as lawyer-turned-hitman Alejandro. Tasked by the US government to find out if Mexican drug cartels are trafficking terrorists across the border, they concoct a plan to ignite cartel bloodshed by kidnapping the daughter of a big cartel boss.