What’s on TV tonight: The Red King, The Big Door Prize and more

Wednesday 24 April

The Red King
Alibi, 9pm
There’s an impressive cast in this six-part mystery thriller created by Being Human’s Toby Whithouse (the man who will soon be rebooting Bergerac). Anjli Mohindra plays police sergeant Grace Narayan, once a high flyer but now posted (as a punishment, it appears) to the remote – fictional – Welsh island of St Jory, which has more than a touch of The Wicker Man about it. She is handed a cold case – the disappearance of local teenager Cai – but soon butts heads with the islanders, including Marc Warren as Ian Prideaux, Cai’s father and the local GP, Adjoa Andoh as Heather Nancarrow, the lady from the Big House, and Mark Lewis Jones as Gruffudd Prosser, Narayan’s bullish, unhelpful predecessor. 

The story is a tantalising mix of police procedural and supernatural drama, as Narayan soon becomes suspicious that the island’s past devotion to a pagan god called the Red King and the cult of the True Way is not, in fact, ancient history. The programme’s creators perhaps try too hard to muster up the atmosphere – all pagan imagery and eerie music – but the cliffhanger at the end of episode one should still draw you in. Available as a box set. VL

The Big Door Prize
Apple TV+
We’re back in Deerfield for the second series of David West Read’s (Schitt’s Creek) excellent fantasy-comedy. The Morpho machine is now asking if people are “ready for the next stage” as Dusty (Chris O’Dowd) and Cass (Gabrielle Dennis) decide to separate, while Hana (Ally Maki) and Father Reuben (Damon Gupton) try to find the machine’s real purpose. Three episodes drop today, with the rest following weekly.

Race Across the World
BBC One, 9pm
The thrilling travel challenge continues as the contestants have to get from Hanoi, Vietnam, to the next checkpoint in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The current leaders, mother-and-daughter Eugenie and Isabel, worry about the language barrier, while their closest rivals, youngsters Alfie and Owen, think that cultural differences may stymie them. Which pair will get eliminated?

Professor T
ITV1, 9pm
The detective drama meanders along as criminology professor Jasper (Ben Miller) lands in more trouble when his biggest rival is murdered at a university conference and he has to prove his innocence.  

Great British Sex Scandals: The Earl & the Escort
Channel 5, 9pm
This well-constructed documentary tells the story of the “charming and capricious” 10th Earl of Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, who was murdered in the south of France – where he lived a playboy existence – in 2004. Contributors include journalists, detectives and his estranged wife.

Hold the Front Page
Sky Max, 9pm
How much you’ll enjoy this returning series about local newspapers will depend on how much you like comedians Josh Widdicombe and Nish Kumar – and their hapless reporter’s shtick– as they try to land a front-page article. Tonight they’re working at the Isle of Wight County Press, whose biggest story of the year is Cowes Week – one of the oldest and most respected regattas in the world.

Mammoth
BBC Two, 10pm
The smart time-warp comedy continues as the resurrected Tony Mammoth (Welsh comedian Mike Bubbins) and prodigal daughter Mel (Sian Gibson) warily get to know each other. The jokes about Mammoth’s 1970s dinosaur views crashing against 2024 sensibilities come thick and fast. 

No Name on the Bullet (1959) ★★★★
5Action, 2.25pm  
Better known for his science-fiction movies of the era (It Came from Outer Space, Tarantula), Jack Arnold directs this effective, morally complex Western, starring an against-type Audie Murphy as cold-blooded hitman, John Gant, aka the “Angel of Death”. The town of Lordsburg erupts in panic when famed assassin Gant strolls into town – whenever he arrives, someone dies, but who will it be?

Bewitched (2005) ★★
Great! Movies, 6.50pm  
Romcom maestro Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally...) directed and co-wrote this homage-cum-remake of the hit 1960s TV drama. However, she saddles it with a cumbersome plot about a Hollywood actor who inadvertently casts a real witch in his remake of the classic-but-not-terribly-funny show. Will Ferrell provides a few chucklesome moments, but Nicole Kidman is not at her bewitching best.

Gran Torino (2008) ★★★★
ITV4, 9pm  
Clint Eastwood directs himself as a curmudgeonly, recently widowed Korean War veteran who growls racist insults at the Asian family who have settled into his traditional, blue-collar Detroit neighbourhood. But after he catches a teenage neighbour trying to steal his lovingly cared-for car (a 1972 Gran Torino), he begins to find that he has more in common with the Hmong immigrants next door than he thought.

Thursday 25 April

Johnson & Knopfler’s Music Legends
Sky Arts, 10pm
It’s legends all the way as AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson and Dire Straits’s Mark Knopfler – who, we’re reminded, have sold more than 300 million records between them – sit down with a selection of their musical heroes. The format is pleasingly stripped back and easygoing: three straight-backed chairs arranged in a semi-circle and an invitation to chat for an hour – with Knopfler wielding his acoustic guitar like a fifth limb, making it clear that impromptu warbling will be accommodated. 

It’s not all grizzled rock greybeards either. The guestlist over the coming weeks is eclectic enough to appeal to all tastes: Emmylou Harris, Nile Rodgers, Cyndi Lauper, Carlos Santana and even the comparatively youthful Sam Fender. But it is the one and only Sir Tom Jones who gets things rolling tonight. A good choice, as Sir Tom’s well-honed ability to reminisce – and chuck an occasional song in, too – about the good old days with Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis in Las Vegas, as well as the ongoing success that has him still touring in his eighties, easily smooths over his hosts’ inexperience in the art of the interview. Captivating, and fun too. GO

Dead Boy Detectives
Netflix
Neil Gaiman’s DC Comics characters Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine come to life – or as close as they dare – in this ghoulish teenage comedy. George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri play the ghostly crime-busting pair, whose confinement to the afterlife is mitigated by Crystal Palace (Kassius Nelson), their clairvoyant bridge to the living.

Reuben: Life in the Dales
Channel 5, 8pm
Reuben “son of Amanda” Owen from Channel 5’s Our Yorkshire Farm is back, growing his new plant machinery business in the Dales. This week, the 19-year-old takes on a dilapidated haulage yard for his expanding fleet. But with a derelict barn to clear and a pot-holed track to level, it’s an uphill struggle.

Murder, They Hope
BBC Two, 9pm
Johnny Vegas and Sian Gibson team up again as former Middlesbrough coach-tour operators Terry and Gemma, now putting their finances on the line to launch a private detective agency. At first the cases fail to roll in, until a fierce auction bidding war over a red-eyed bunny seems to hold the key to a series of local deaths. First shown on Gold.

Instagram’s Worst Con Artist
ITV1, 9pm
The story of Australian influencer Belle Gibson, who duped millions into believing she cured her terminal cancer through wellness practices and healthy eating. But as she was making a fortune building a social media empire, journalists were beginning to hear rumours that she never had cancer at all.

GPs: Treating Rural Britain
More4, 9pm
There’s a surprising dearth of waiting lists and impossible face-to-face appointments in this new series looking at life for doctors working in rural practices. Lochgilphead, Cartmel and Looe are the idylls visited tonight, where GPs still have time to chat and enjoy abundant resources.

Joe & Katherine’s Bargain Holidays
Channel 4, 10pm
A charmingly daft travelogue, where 8 Out of 10 Cats’ resident havoc-maker Joe Wilkinson attempts to convince luxury-loving comedian Katherine Ryan that it’s possible to have great holidays on a minimal budget – at home and abroad. Tonight, they’re in Norfolk enjoying church camping, paddleboard yoga and an owl sanctuary. 

An Affair to Remember (1957) ★★★★★
Film4, 2.20pm  
Leo McCarey’s romantic comedy has deservedly been hailed as one of America’s all-time greats. A man (Cary Grant) and a woman (Deborah Kerr) have a romance while on a cruise from Europe to New York, and, despite already being engaged to other people back home, promise each other that they’ll reunite at the top of the Empire State Building in six months time. Grant, as ever, is spellbinding.

23 Paces to Baker Street (1956, b/w) ★★★
Film4, 4.35pm  
This noirish mystery thriller bears more than a passing resemblance to Rear Window: a disabled protagonist is a vital witness to a crime, but the police fail to take him seriously. Here, Phillip Hannon (Van Johnson) is a blind playwright who overhears a conversation relating to a kidnapping, and uses his acute hearing to help search for the child. It’s no Hitchcock, but gripping nonetheless.

Philomena (2013) ★★★★
BBC Four, 10pm  
Based on the work of journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan), this is the gripping true story of Philomena Lee (Judi Dench), an Irishwoman then in her seventies, as she searched for her son, Anthony, whom she was forced to give up for adoption years earlier. Stephen Frears’s film delivers some savage emotional blows, as well as a number of harsh, necessary truths about the unrelenting grip of the Catholic Church on Ireland.

Friday 26 April

Thank You, Goodnight: the Bon Jovi Story
Disney+
Forty years after forming, the members of Bon Jovi look back over a long career in this authorised four-part documentary. That the band had a more successful career than their peers in 1980s stadium rock is largely thanks to the formidable drive and ceaseless professionalism of their frontman, although the presence of at least half-a-dozen of pop-rock’s most indelible anthems doesn’t hurt either. 

Yet the slick persona of Jon Bon Jovi makes him inherently less intriguing for the same reason, even if he cuts a more vulnerable figure these days. Their journey from bar-band chancers to globe-conquering behemoths is intercut with coverage of Jon’s present struggle to regain full range after surgery on his vocal cords. Despite running to an indulgent five hours, there is still much to enjoy for casual fans and, to its credit, dissenting voices are embraced (including sideman Richie Sambora). The archive footage of hair-metal silliness is also glorious, while Jon’s late-life bond with fellow New Jersey icon Bruce Springsteen proves genuinely touching. And his greatest regret? That Livin’ on a Prayer key change. GT

Morten
Channel 4 online
The latest obscure but entertaining European import in the Walter Presents strand is this Dutch political thriller, following centrist minister Morten Mathijsen (Peter Paul Muller), whose smooth path to prime minister is hampered by a pressing in-tray of problems: his drug-dealing daughter; a mysterious blackmailer; parliamentary rivals; and, above all, a gifted new intern with her own murky agenda.

Unreported World
Channel 4, 7.30pm
The total breakdown of society and takeover by organised crime in Haiti would in its own right be a fine subject for Unreported World, but here reporter Guillermo Galdos finds a new angle. He examines the fallout of the crisis from the borders of the Dominican Republic, to where thousands of Haitian women are fleeing in order to give birth in relative safety in the face of deportation and border patrols.

Beyond Paradise
BBC One, 8pm
Concluding a series that has managed to counterbalance the knowingly daft mysteries with a surprising amount of emotional depth, Humphrey (Kris Marshall) and Martha (Sally Bretton) are finally getting married, only for the grandiosity of the day and – naturally – some opportunistic criminals to threaten their happy ending.

Have I Got News For You
BBC One, 9pm
Money-expert Martin Lewis makes his debut as host of the political panel show this week, wrangling team captains Paul Merton, Ian Hislop and, among the guest panellists, comedian Ignacio Lopez. 

Michael Portillo’s Long Weekends
Channel 5, 9pm
Essentially Great Railway Journeys minus the railways, tonight’s instalment sends the former Conservative minister to Prague, where he ticks off plenty of familiar sights (castle, bridge, cathedral) while also venturing a little off the beaten track to explore secret nuclear bunkers and try his hand at glassblowing. 

Avoidance
BBC One, 9.30pm; Wales, 10.40pm
Romesh Ranganathan’s sitcom continues to juggle wry comedy with genuine pathos as Jonathan (Ranganathan), faced with the prospect of a fresh start with Megan (Aisling Bea), cannot help but be drawn back to old flame Claire (Jessica Knappett), especially when they are forced to put on a united front for the latter’s oblivious parents. 

Land of Bad (2024) ★★★
Amazon Prime Video  
In the mood for a bit of all-guns-blazing macho action? This bombastic flick from William Eubank (House of the Rising Sun) follows a US Air Force contingent who are ambushed by enemy pilots in the Philippines. A stellar cast includes action stalwarts Liam Hemsworth (who plays newbie Sergeant JJ “Playboy” Kinney, tasked with saving the day) and Russell Crowe. Think Apocalypse Now by way of Jason Bourne.

21 Jump Street (2012) ★★★★
ITV2, 9pm  
Notionally, this is a remake of the 1980s TV show, starring Johnny Depp, in which police officers go undercover as teenagers. It’s actually a chance for co-writers Michael Bacall and Jonah Hill to hilariously send-up the PC hypocrisies of Generation Z. Hill and Channing Tatum make for a wonderfully silly partnership as officers Schmidt and Jenko, while Dave Franco and rapper Ice Cube have great fun in support.

Magic Mike (2012) ★★★★
BBC Three, 9.30pm  
Steven Soderbergh made a surprise decision to swap car chases and machismo for tackling the world of male strippers in Florida, and exceeded every expectation: it’s one of his most enjoyable films, filled with heart, humour and great performances. Channing Tatum, in a story based on his own life, is truly revelatory – while Soderbergh works similar wonders with Matthew McConaughey as a seedy choreographer.

Sudden Impact (1983) ★★★
Channel 5, 10.30pm  
The fourth instalment in the Dirty Harry series, and the only one directed by Clint Eastwood himself, is far from the best. It does, however, provide one of the most famous lines: “Go ahead, make my day.” And Eastwood is good value as always. This time, Harry is sent to a sleepy town where a woman (Sondra Locke) is taking revenge against the men who raped her and her sister, brutally killing the perpetrators one by one.

Film of the Week: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) ★★★★
BBC One, 11.35pm
Three ordinarily tough-guy actors (Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce and Terence Stamp) star as two drag queens and a transgender woman who travel in a rickety bus nicknamed “Priscilla” to get to a cabaret gig in the middle of the Australian Outback in Stephan Elliott’s rollicking black comedy. Their journey brings them face to face with everyone from friendly Aboriginals, for whom they perform as part of a traditional corroboree, to alarmed homophobes living in the rural counties. Celebrating its 30th birthday this week, the film – which introduced LGBT rights to a new, global audience – is still as hilarious and camp as it was upon release, and has become a cult hit. It won an Oscar (for Best Costume Design) and was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. Fun fact: Brits Rupert Everett and Colin Firth were on the producers’ hit list, while Pearce’s Neighbours co-star Jason Donovan was originally considered for the role of Adam and would go on to play the part in the West End musical adaptation. Fans can also check out the immersive London experience, Priscilla the Party, which recreates scenes from the film. Riotous dancing is advised.

Television previewers

Stephen Kelly (SK), Veronica Lee (VL), Gerard O’Donovan (GO), Poppie Platt (PP) and Gabriel Tate (GT)