Movies and music are our picks for your screens today.
1917
9:00pm, RTÉ2
A heart-in-mouth race against time, the most personal of tributes and the warning from history that we can't hear often enough, Sam Mendes' 1917 will leave its mark on viewers in different ways. Filmed as if it is one continuous shot and set in springtime on the Western Front, Mendes' film focuses on two men among the masses, Lance Corporals Blake and Schofield (Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay). They are ordered to cross enemy territory to tell the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment to call off their attack because German forces are luring them into a trap. "It will be a massacre," Blake is told. "We will lose sixteen hundred men - among them your brother." What follows will have you checking your watch for all the right reasons as the shocks and twists keep on coming. And with every passing minute, 1917 strengthens its case for inclusion alongside Paths of Glory, The Big Red One, Platoon, or any genre great you choose to mention.
The BFG
1:55pm, BBC One
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Reuniting Steven Spielberg with his Bridge of Spies Oscar winner Mark Rylance, this decades-in-the-works adaptation of Roald Dahl's heroic hand-me-down is very sweet, a bit scary, and a feast for the eyes. It was adapted for the screen by the late ET writer Melissa Mathison and for all the ante-upping use of live-action and CGI here, The BFG is a decidedly old school treat. Our hero is Sophie (Ruby Barnhill), the feistiest resident of a London orphanage who breaks the three golden rules of "Never get out of bed, never go to the window, never look behind the curtain" at 3am and is kidnapped by 25-foot misfit The BFG (Rylance). Back in the BFG's giant-cave, his initial gruffness soon falls away to reveal a sensitive soul who's bullied by bigger giants and is as lonely as Sophie. And so begins the adventure that will change both their lives. It'll do your heart good too.
Top of the Pops Review of the Year 2023
6:30pm, BBC Two
Clara Amfo (pictured) is our host as we look back on the music year that was. Among the highlights are Elton John's Glastonbury debut, Take That's return to music, and Taylor Swift's global domination. Guests include singer-songwriter RAYE, rising star Venbee, and Mercury Prize winners Ezra Collective.
Aretha Franklin Night
From 9:00pm, BBC Two
A big Thursday of music on BBC Two continues with a celebration of the Queen of Soul. First, we have the Jennifer Hudson-starring biopic Respect; then it's a trawl through the archives for Aretha Franklin at the BBC (11:20pm), and finally in concert with Aretha Franklin in Amsterdam 1968 (11:50pm).
David Bowie: The Last Five Years
11:20pm, TG4
With the eighth anniversary of David Bowie's death next month, here is another chance to see an acclaimed BBC documentary, first broadcast in January 2017. Billed as "an intimate portrait of one of the defining artists of our time, told by the people who knew him best: his friends and artistic collaborators", it focuses on his final two albums, The Next Day and Blackstar, and his play Lazarus. Among those interviewed are producer Tony Visconti, bandmate Gail Ann Dorsey, Lazarus star Michael C Hall, and old school friend Geoff MacCormack. The documentary is followed at 12:30am by the concert film David Bowie - A Reality Tour, recorded at his legendary shows at Dublin's Point Theatre in November 2003.
