TV FILMS of the week
1 WEST SIDE STORY Today, BBC2, 1.50pm
Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ classic 1961 musical collected a staggering 10 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director. This expertly choreographed spin on Romeo & Juliet is set in New York City, where two rival gangs – the Jets and the Sharks – are embroiled in a bloody tug-of-war for supremacy. Tensions between the two camps ignite when Jets founder Tony (Richard Beymer) falls in love with Puerto Rican immigrant, Maria (Natalie Wood), who is the sister of Sharks’ leader Bernardo (George Chakiris). There’s a Steven Spielberg remake due later this year, but it has a lot to live up to.
2
SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC Tomorrow, BBC2, 2.30pm
John Mills (left) takes the title role in this stirring drama following British explorer Robert Falcon Scott’s failed bid to be the first to reach the South Pole in 1912. It shows how a mixture of extreme conditions, the pressure to beat a rival Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen, and some poor decisions would lead to tragedy.
3
THE IMITATION GAME Tuesday, Film4, 6.45pm
Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch, left) sits in a police interrogation room facing a charge of indecency with a 19-year-old man. In flashback, Alan arrives at Bletchley Park where a group of the country’s keenest minds try to break the Nazis’ Enigma code. This is a handsomely crafted tribute to the code-breaking mathematician
4
SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS Wednesday, BBC2, 2.45pm
Inspired by a popular series of books by Stephen Potter, this comedy stars Ian Carmichael, left, as a timid company owner who is sick of being pushed around by his employees. After a series of further humiliations, he enrols at a college dedicated to teaching students how to succeed through being manipulative and devious.
5
COLD COMFORT FARM Thursday, BBC4, 8pm
TV adaptation of Stella Gibbons’ much-loved 1932 novel. Recently orphaned Flora (a young Kate Beckinsale, pictured with co-star Joanna Lumley) convinces distant relatives to take her in and ends up at Cold Comfort Farm, home to the eccentric Starkadder clan. Flora sets about solving their problems with a good dose of common sense.
6
CRAWL
Friday, Film4, 9pm
When a hurricane hits her Florida hometown, Haley (Kaya Scodelario, left) goes looking for her missing father and the family dog in this horrorthriller. She finds her dad injured in the crawl space of their family home. As the water rises, Haley comes face to snout with a hulking alligator, which has entered the house via a storm drain.
7
LADY BIRD
Saturday, BBC1, 10.30pm
In this coming-of-age tale, Christine (Saoirse Ronan, left) yearns to escape the suffocating regulations of her Catholic high school. She auditions for a school play with best friend Julie (Beanie Feldstein) who, to her dismay, lands a lead role opposite dreamy Danny (Lucas Hedges), and the young women’s friendship becomes strained.