Tonight's top TV tips include the Tom Hanks-starring News of the World, the return of Stephen King-inspired Castle Rock, documentaries about Kenneth Egan, WB Yeats and Donald Trump, as well as Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig . . .
Pick of the Day
News of the World, Netflix
First off, this has nothing to do with the recently-expired UK tabloid of the same name.
Co-written and directed by Paul Greengrass, this western film’s based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Paulette Jiles, and starring Hollywood legend Tom Hanks.
Five years after the end of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Hanks), a veteran of three wars, now moves from town to town as a non-fiction storyteller, announcing the latest news.
In the plains of Texas, he crosses paths with Johanna (Helena Zengel), a 10-year-old taken in by the Kiowa people six years earlier and raised as one of their own.
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Johanna, hostile to a world she’s never experienced, is being returned to her biological aunt and uncle against her will.
Kidd agrees to deliver the child where the law says she belongs.
As they travel hundreds of miles into the unforgiving wilderness, the two will face tremendous challenges of both human and natural forces as they search for a place that either can call home.
Here's Alan Corr's review.
Don't Miss
The Secret Life of Bob Monkhouse, 9.00pm, BBC Four
This fascinating programme pops up every couple of years and I always give it a plug. It’s just superb.
Monkhouse was an outrageous - and obsessed - talent, and this documentary is like a doorway into his mind.
It tells the story of the comedian and game show host's life and career, told through the archive of films, TV shows, letters and memorabilia that he left behind after his death in 2003.
Contributors include Ronnie Corbett, Barry Cryer, Michael Grade and Lenny Henry. But Monkhouse’s mental fingerprints are all over this compelling tale of one man's life immersed in showbiz.
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Finné, 9.30pm, TG4
It wasn't until he saw his older brother Willie involved in boxing that Kenneth Egan joined Neilstown boxing club.
But the young Kenneth was hooked immediately, and did himself and Ireland proud in the ring.
In this documentary, Egan recalls his rise from national finals to his silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and recalls in a searingly honest interview that the greatest fight of his career was his battle to come to grips with his rising alcohol addiction.
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Scéalta Grá na hÉireann, 8.30pm, TG4
This week's focus is on WB Yeats and Maud Gonne: Ireland's most famous unrequited love story.
The feminist icon and Irish revolutionary Maud Gonne was Yeats' great muse and the love of his life, inspiring some of his finest poetry, including No Second Troy, a prime example of the enduring nature of troubled love stories.
Their powerful personalities had a lasting impact on each other and on the history, literature and politics of Ireland.
New or Returning Shows
Castle Rock, 9.30pm, RTÉ2
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It’s the return of the psychological-horror anthology series set in the Stephen King multiverse.
The first season was pretty good, so here's to similar.
In this sophomore season's central tale, Lizzy Caplan stars as a young nurse named Annie Wilkes who finds herself trapped in Castle Rock after a car accident.
In the second episode, which follows at 10.40pm, the Merrill crime family search for clues regarding Ace's disappearance and are led to Annie for answers.
Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig, 9.00pm, Channel 4
Sandi Toksvig (above) explores the UK's wildest, most remote and beautifully designed holiday homes, accompanied by what promises to be some of Britain's most fascinating and funny women.
In the opening episode, Sandi is joined by legendary actress Alison Steadman - that's certainly a good start - to seek out extraordinary escapes in the wilds of Suffolk.
Trump Takes on the World, 9.00pm, BBC Two
After one of the most shocking presidencies in history, narcissist-in-chief Donald Trump's top advisers and the leaders who clashed with him lift the lid on the critical moments of his foreign policy.
The first programme in this three-part series looks back over Trump's first year and a half in office, when he fell out spectacularly with some of America's oldest allies.
It also offers an inside look at crucial meetings and summits where the US President shocked his counterparts.
Hypothetical, 10.00pm, Dave
The return of the panel game show where comedians improvise daft scenarios for the amusement of hosts Josh Widdicombe and James Acaster.
And hopefully for the audience's amusement too.
To get things started, Widdicombe and Acaster pose ridiculous Hypothetical scenarios to Suzi Ruffell, the ubiquitous Tom Allen, Sophie Duker and Desiree Burch.
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SEAL Team, 9.00pm, Sky One & NOW TV
The fourth season of the hit action drama opens with a special premiere episode directed by series star David Boreanaz.
Bravo Team enters enemy territory in the snowy Spin Ghar Mountain Range to capture Al-Hazred, the leader of a terrorist group and son of the terrorist leader that Jason took down early in his career and made him Bravo One.
New to Stream
Crime Scene: the Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, Netflix
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For nearly a century the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles has been linked to some of the city’s most notorious activity, from untimely deaths to housing serial killers.
In 2013 college student Elisa Lam was staying at the Cecil when she vanished, igniting a media frenzy and mobilizing a global community of internet sleuths eager to solve the case.
Lam’s disappearance, the latest chapter in the hotel’s complex history, offers a chilling and captivating lens into one of LA’s most nefarious settings.
