The Deuce and all your TV Highlights for Tuesday Sep 26

James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal star in the hugely anticipated US drama The Duece, while Jools Holland is back with Later . . . with guests including Liam Gallagher, LCD soundsystem and Jimmy Webb

Pick of the day

The Deuce, 10.00pm, Sky Atlantic

Now, this looks the business.

James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal star in a drama following the legalisation, legitimisation and eventual cultural permeation of the porn industry in 1970s New York.

Created by George Pelecanos and David Simon (The Wire, Treme), The Deuce follows an interconnected web of narratives that begin with the politically motivated effort to ‘clean up’ Times Square by driving the pimps and prostitutes off the street.

It’s in this rough and tumble world that twin brothers Vincent and Frankie Martino (both played by James Franco) inhabit. Vincent is a hard-working bartender with two kids, a wayward wife, and dreams of a better life, while Frankie is a freewheeling gambler with piling debts to the mob.

As Vincent looks for a way to both improve his situation and pay off his brother’s debts, he crosses paths with workers in the New York sex trade, including industry veteran Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who is eyeing a new career in the burgeoning pornographic film business.

We need your consent to load this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

New tonight

Horizon: Being Transgender, 9.00pm, BBC Two

This film explores what it means to be transgender and what happens when a person transitions - psychologically, physically and biologically.

All around the world there are people who don't identify with the gender that they were born with, while at the same time the lines of gender are becoming more blurred than ever before.

Providing a snapshot into what being transgender is really like from those living it, the film will follow a number of transgender people going through their own transition.

Later Live . . . with Jools Holland, 10.00pm, BBC Two

This is season 51 of the music show that's been running for the last 25 years, so it's no surprise that Jools Holland has come back with a bit of a bang.

The first big name on this run is Liam Gallagher, and the former Oasis frontman will be performing a couple of songs off his new album, As You Were.

Other performers include singer Banjamin Clementine, who will performs songs from his I Tell a Fly album, Jorja Smith sings her garage-flavoured On My Mind, and American rockers LCD Soundsytstem and New Zealand singer-songwriter Nadia Reid perform.

Legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb returns for a chat in studio with Jools.

Here's Tame Impala from last year:

Ending tonight

Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls, 9.15pm, Channel 4

After enduring brutal storms and little food for three weeks, a medical check-up reveals the group are now dangerously underweight and could even be at risk of organ failure.

Just as well we're coming to the end of the show's current run . . .

This is followed at 10.20pm by Surviving the Island with Bear Grylls, as he returns to the island to find out how the celebrities coped.

Don't Miss

Mr Mercedes, 10.15pm, RTÉ One

Doctor Foster (9.00pm, BBC One) remains essential viewing, but Brendan Gleeson was great in last week's opening episode of this quirky and entertaining Steven King adaptation about a retired cop who gets stalked by a serial killer.

As Bill Hodges (Gleeson) struggles to maintain his sanity, both Pete and Ida take notice. Deborah worries about Brady, who gives her a window into his latest work.

Hodges connects with Olivia Trelawney’s sister Janey, who hires him as a private detective.

The Deuce and all your TV Highlights for Tuesday Sep 26

More stories on

Read Next