What’s on TV tonight: Wimbledon 2024, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and more
Monday 1 July
Wimbledon 2024BBC One & Two, from 10.30amSummer arrives on the BBC as the All-England Club opens its doors for the next fortnight to the world’s greatest grass-court tennis tournament. This year marks the 137th Wimbledon Championships, and the now familiar slogan –“Always like never before” – neatly sums up the sense of anticipation that the tournament generates. Last year was one of upsets as 20-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz secured his first Wimbledon title, and the Czech Republic’s 24-year-old Markéta Vondroušová became the first unseeded player to clinch the women’s final. Now, 2024 promises to be just as wide-open, as the old guard in both the men’s and women’s game fall still further away. Alcaraz begins the defence of his title on Centre Court today. Coverage is extensive across BBC One, Two, iPlayer and the Red Button (as well as radio and online), with Clare Balding being joined by co-anchor Isa Guha, who will cover the morning sessions. John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King are in the pundit seats, with Tim Henman, Johanna Konta and Annabel Croft on hand. Australian stars Nick Kyrgios and Ash Barty also join the team. Qasa Alom hosts Today at Wimbledon on BBC Two. GO
A Good Girl’s Guide to MurderBBC iPlayerBased on Holly Jackson’s hit YA novel (it won the British Book Awards’ Children’s Fiction Book of the Year 2020) this nail-biting mystery stars Emma Myers as Pip, whose life takes a very dark turn when she decides to devote her final-year project to investigating the killing of a local schoolgirl.
House of the DragonSky Atlantic, 2am & 9pm“It will be savage beyond compare.” So predicts Rhaenys (Eve Best) as the mood shifts towards all-out war when the grieving, vengeful Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) orders his armies to be deployed. The question now is which side will reach for the nuclear option first and bring their dragons into play on the battlefield.
Tennis: WimbledonBBC One/Two, from 10.30amCarlos Alcaraz and Markéta Vondroušová return to SW19 to defend their singles titles, though neither are top seed – that honour goes to Jannik Sinner and Iga Świątek. At time of writing Andy Murray had yet to decide whether he will take part in what is presumed will be his farewell to British tennis. Emma Raducanu leads the British women’s hopes, while Jack Draper could be Britain’s best chance of success in the men’s.
Bake Off: The ProfessionalsChannel 4, 8pmIt’s down to the final six bakers as the winners from the heats gather for a chocolate-fuelled face-off. The challenges include batch-baking gourmet chocolate bars and engineering an elaborately decorated, large chocolate mobile that can survive being hung from a ceiling. Continues tomorrow.
Skint: The Truth About Britain’s Broken Economy with Tim HarfordChannel 4, 9pmA hero to many for his efforts on Radio 4’s More or Less – which brings errant politicians and journalists to book for their too-often casual use of statistics – Tim Harford turns to television to outline how he thinks Britain’s economy has gone off the rails and the main things needed to fix its growth.
Paddy & Molly: Show No MerseyBBC Three, 9pmA new reality series for fans of mixed martialarts follows “proud Scousers and best mates” Paddy “the Baddy” Pimblett and “Meatball” Molly McCann as they pursue careers in the tough arena of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). Tonight’s double opener (boxsetted on iPlayer) takes them to Las Vegas for the biggest fights of their lives, with Pimblett preparing to take on an American MMA superstar.
The SympathizerSky Atlantic, 10.20pmIt’s the penultimate episode of the Vietnam War-era spy drama and the Captain (Hoa Xuande) is beginning to buckle under the burden of his secret. Convinced the General’s (Toan Le) plan for a refugee army is doomed to fail, he begins the search for a way out. Robert Downey Jr co-stars – repeatedly.
Match Point (2005) ★★★Great! Movies, 9pm Few Woody Allen films have proved as divisive as this London-set melodrama. Tennis coach Jonathan Rhys Meyers gets engaged to an upper-crust Brit, but he falls for her brother’s American girlfriend (Scarlett Johansson), which leads to murder… and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Allen’s grasp of how the English speak and behave is tenuous, to say the least, but you’ll have fun spotting all the British comedians cast in small supporting roles.
LaRoy, Texas (2023) ★★★★Sky Cinema Premiere, 10pm Shane Atkinson’s blackly comic crime-drama is terrific fun, full of twists and Coen brothers-esque Western references. Dylan Baker plays hit man Harry, sent to the tiny rural town of LaRoy, Texas, for a job; a quietly commanding John Magaro is Ray, a local hardware store owner who is devastated by the news his beauty-queen wife (Megan Stevenson) is cheating on him, and is accidentally lured into Harry’s murky world.
My Week with Marilyn (2011) ★★★★BBC One, 11.50pm An all-star cast features in this movie about the time that film-maker Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) assisted Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) on The Prince and the Showgirl. Like many others, Clark ends up falling for the star. Williams’s admirable performance explores the balance between Monroe’s fragile vulnerability and public glamour; it’s wholly more nuanced than Ana de Armas’s attempt in Blonde.
Tuesday 2 July
Inheriting the Castle: Storyville
Credit: BBC
Inheriting the Castle: StoryvilleBBC Four, 10pmThe “castle” is a huge folly set in the middle of the Argentine pampas, where indigenous woman Justina Olivio, 60, lives with her 20-year-old daughter Alexia. “I got this house out of hard work,” says Justina, before describing their unusual situation. Sent to work for the house’s owner, a wealthy and glamorous European socialite, when she was just five years old, Justina eventually became her carer – then, when she died, she inherited the castle. But now – with a leaking roof, plaster falling off and a fitful water supply – what was originally considered a generous gift has become a burden. This atmospheric documentary exposes Argentina’s class and racial hierarchy with a subtle touch – as when the socialite’s family descend on the castle for a birthday party and treat the place like their own. Justina mutely accepts their presence while the blunt Alexia helps herself to the food they have brought, which she then eats in her bedroom. Martin Benchimol’s sensitive – and ultimately hopeful – film is part documentary, part dramatised reconstruction shaped by him after he spent six years getting to know mother and daughter. VL
SprintNetflixFollowing the streamer’s revealing documentaries on Formula 1 and tennis, this six-part series charts the pinnacle of athletic achievement, the 100-metre sprint. It follows those competing at last year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, where the athletes – including Usain Bolt – talk of the hard work and rivalry required.
Our Great Yorkshire LifeChannel 5, 7pmThis week, we meet local journalist Christa Ackroyd, who is in Halifax to learn about Anne Lister, the 19th-century landowner, diarist and heroine of Sally Wainwright’s much-missed drama Gentleman Jack. In Ilkley, Ian Jowett has restored a 1930 Jowett Deluxe Short 2 built by his grandfather and takes it for a spin for the first time in 80 years.
The Yorkshire VetChannel 5, 8pmMore from the white rose county as Peter Wright has to deal with an equipment failure on a farm call-out, while Julian Norton performs emergency surgery on a spaniel suspected of eating chocolate.
Secrets of the London UndergroundYesterday, 8pmTim Dunn and Siddy Holloway explore the busy hub of Earl’s Court station, where Dunn gleefully visits its “Thunderbirds-like control room”, while Holloway also travels to Alperton, where she is equally excited by a historic escalator.
Super Surgeons: A Chance at LifeChannel 4, 9pmFurther insight to life at the frontline of emergency care from the Royal Marsden, famed for taking on what some regard as “untreatable” cases but where surgeons try to give patients a fighting chance. Tonight, Asif Chaudry attempts to remove 74-year-old Matthew’s tumour, caught between his oesophagus and stomach. The Baby Scandal That Shocked The WorldChannel 5, 9pmThis compelling documentary revisits an early internet scandal – which eventually led to a change in UK law. A British couple “bought” American twin girls over the internet in 2001, but they became involved in a transatlantic custody battle when a California couple said they had also paid for the babies. The three women involved – birth mother Tranda and Vickie and Judith, the US and UK adoptive mothers respectively – recount their versions two decades on. It still shocks. VL
Beverly Hills Cop (1984) ★★★★Sky Showcase, 10pm Eddie Murphy’s wise-crackin’, rule-breakin’ cop Axel Foley is still a hoot. In this, the first (and best) film in the popular franchise, Axel pursues a murder investigation from Detroit to Beverly Hills. It’s all very shouty and silly, but there are some amusing fish-out-of-water sequences that make it a classic example of 1980s bombast. The fourth, new instalment, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, is on Netflix from tomorrow.
An American Werewolf in Paris (1997) ★★Legend Xtra, 10.50pm This belated sequel fails to live up to John Landis’s 1981 horror classic An American Werewolf in London, but it’s still tolerable in a schlocky way. Julie Delpy plays Serafine, the daughter of the original film’s lupine hero, who runs around Paris attempting to foil the plans of a villainous bunch of Gallic werewolves. Tom Everett Scott, Vince Vieluf and Julie Bowen provide support.
The Sisters Brothers (2018) ★★★BBC One, 11.20pm “Have you noticed how long it’s been since anyone tried to kill us?” Eli Sisters (John C Reilly) observes as he and his brother, Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix), clop across the sunbaked Oregon bush. Based on Patrick deWitt’s novel, Jacques Audiard’s tale of two scrabbling assassins is a lively picaresque. Riz Ahmed plays their target.
Wednesday 3 July
Battle of the Bagpipes
Credit: Peter Devlin
Battle of the BagpipesSky Arts, 9pmNarrated by Bill Paterson, this three-part series takes a classic documentary structure – following three different outfits as they prepare for a big competition – and, while offering little in the way of pace, gains considerably from its respectful approach and the novelty of the subject matter. With Glasgow’s World Pipe Band Championships looming, three bands have their eyes on the prize: Lisburn’s Field Marshal Montgomery, led by the most successful pipe major, Richard Parks; Inverurie and District, looking to add a third title to their tally; and Boghall and Bathgate, whose leader Ross Harvey can inflate his neck to Dizzy Gillespie proportions when he gets going. While the rehearsal rooms are not for the faint-hearted (tuning, we are told, is essential for a pure sound), the soundtrack is stirring; despite the adherence to tradition, the focus on community outreach makes it surprisingly easy to imagine why the pipes and drums remain appealing even among the young. Diversions to Redford Barracks, the home of military pipes, introduces us to the history and two piping prodigies – the garnish on an otherwise absorbing hour. GT
The Man with 1,000 KidsNetflixAnother true-crime extravaganza from Netflix, this time a three-part profile of Jonathan Meijer, the Dutch con artist whose obsessive sperm donation attracted the attention of the authorities and the ire of many couples whom he defrauded.
The Football FraudsterITV1, 9pmFirst shown on ITVX, this is the startling story of failed footballer-turned-con man Medi Abalimba. Nothing about him was what it seemed, from his wealth and age to his identity – he spent months pretending to be former Chelsea winger Gaël Kakuta, enjoying all the associated perks and even swindled Love Island’s Georgia Steel, with whom he had a brief relationship, out of thousands of pounds.
George Clarke’s Amazing SpacesChannel 4, 9pmThe indefatigable Mackem crams in six more startling builds and renovations, including a return trip to a teenager looking to follow up his extraordinary shepherd’s hut transformation, a garden folly inspired by a wedding cake and a circular house inspired by a collection of classic cars in Denmark.
A Killer Makes a Call: Black WidowChannel 5, 9pmA sad story is given the tabloid TV treatment in this retelling of the killing of David Jackson by his wife of 24 years, Penelope, in February 2021. It attempts to answer the difficult question of whether she was the real victim, who snapped after years trapped in a relationship of coercive control, or simply a cold-blooded killer?
Outrageous HomesChannel 4, 10pmA vampiric fantasy in bricks and mortar. A 1900s house with a built-in corner shop. A miniscule Welsh cottage full of surprises. Tonight’s structures are eccentric, perhaps, but all pale in comparison to our host, the reliably absurd Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Trevor Eve Remembers Waking the DeadBBC Four, 10pmNot a man known for indulging his lighter side on screen, Trevor Eve found perhaps his archetypal role in DS Peter Boyd, a cold-case expert haunted by the absence of an estranged son and, later, the death of a colleague. Here, he recounts the genesis of the crime series which ran for nine series and whose first two proper episodes air back-to-back this evening.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) ★★★★Film4, 6.35pm In the halcyon days before romcoms fell out of favour with studio execs (until Anyone But You, that is – see Friday), Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey shone as an unlikely couple brought together by an unlikely scheme (and their devilish good looks) – respective bets that they could convince the other to fall in love. McConaughey, Hollywood’s golden Texan, is just as spellbinding as he is in serious dramas.
For Your Eyes Only (1981) ★★★ITV4, 8pm In Roger Moore’s fifth Bond film, 007 is sent to recover a device that was lost in the depths when a British spy ship sank in the Ionian Sea. It can order attacks from Britain’s submarine missiles, so Bond must reach it before the Soviets do, but of course he gets distracted by mysterious beauty Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet), whose parents were murdered by the KGB. The vastly superior Octopussy is on Thursday at 8pm.
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) ★★★★Sky Showcase, 9pm Matt Damon returns for another crunchingly violent instalment of the pulsating spy series (directed for the second time by Paul Greengrass). Jason Bourne (Damon), the amnesiac CIA agent, is trying to find out his true identity before double-crossing CIA bods assassinate him. Why? Once he recovers his memory, Bourne has access to secrets that would be their undoing. Julia Stiles co-stars.
Thursday 4 July
Clive Myrie and Laura Kuenssberg present the General Election for the BBC
Credit: Jeff Overs
Election NightBBC One, BBC Two, ITV1, Channel 4 & Sky News, from 9pmIf the pollsters are to be believed, the 2024 General Election promises to be one of the most extraordinary nights in recent political history. But which channel will you watch the results on? The BBC’s coverage will begin on BBC One at 9.55pm, with anchors Clive Myrie and Laura Kuenssberg analysing the night’s results with the help of an array of familiar faces, including Jeremy Vine. Meanwhile, on ITV1 (9.50pm), Tom Bradby welcomes former Chancellor George Osborne and former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to dissect the result. Sky’s Kay Burley will be joined by Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Ruth Davidson, the former Leader of the Scottish Conservatives, from 9pm. Channel 4, unsurprisingly, have gone for something slightly different. Airing from 9.45pm, Britain Decides… will be led by Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Emily Maitlis, alongside The Rest is Politics podcast hosts Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart. There will be big name political guests (former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, for instance) but also contributions from the cast of Gogglebox. How late will you stay up? SK
Gardeners’ WorldBBC Two, 8pmTonight’s special edition comes from the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival. Nick Bailey and Rachel de Thame will share highlights of the best gardens, gold medal winner Tom Massey provides tips on designing your own and Arit Anderson talks sustainable planting.
Supermarket Own-Brands: The Big Taste TestChannel 5, 8pmThis fizzy one-off special investigates the relationship between well-known food and drink brands and their cheap supermarket knock-offs. Can a panel of taste testers tell them apart? In the case of Coca-Cola, you might be surprised. Other brands tested include Cheerios and Jaffa Cakes.
Tom Kerridge Cooks BritainITV1, 8.30pmMichelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge takes to the road in this tasty new series, which is themed around what it takes to produce the food on our plates. Tonight he drives his food truck to Kent and Cambridgeshire. While travelling around the latter he visits one of the country’s biggest farms to trace the origins of a delicious beetroot and pearl barley salad.
Douglas is CancelledITV1, 9pmSteven Moffat’s cancel culture satire continues. Tonight sees Douglas (Hugh Bonneville) being prepared for a potentially gruelling interview. The main theme, though, is the tug-of-war between his formidable wife Sheila (Alex Kingston) and his manipulative co-anchor Madeline (Karen Gillan). Stay tuned until the end for a superb cliffhanger.
Susan Calman’s Grand Day OutChannel 5, 9pmSusan Calman hops between the Channel Islands, beginning with Jersey, where she samples their famed potatoes and explores the third largest tidal range in the world. And on petite neighbour Guernsey, she receives the honour of firing the island’s traditional noon day cannon. Paul Whitehouse’s Sketch Show YearsGold, 10pmThe second week of Paul Whitehouse’s sketch comedy retrospective takes a stroll through the 1980s. There are obvious picks – Not the Nine O’Clock News and the significance of Lenny Henry – alongside a welcome spotlight on the quietly bold ITV comedians Hale and Pace, who inspired a flood of complaints with their microwave cat sketch.
Space Cadet (2024)Amazon Prime Video Emma Roberts returns to the kind of flitty, flirty comedy that made her name (Easy A, Scream Queens). In Liz W Garcia’s film, Roberts is Rex, a fun-loving Florida party girl who somehow winds up as Nasa’s number one space cadet. Up against other candidates with stronger CVs and, let’s be honest, bigger brains, it’s down to Rex’s sparky personality to see her through; think of it as a modern, space-centred update on Legally Blonde.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)Film4, 9pm ★★★★ ★Quentin Tarantino’s homage to war films is audaciously bloody, darkly comic and anchored by actors playing thrillingly against type. Christoph Waltz won an Oscar for his incendiary turn as the “Jew Hunter”; Brad Pitt is almost as memorable as the chief Nazi-killer, Aldo “the Apache” Raine. Django Unchained, Tarantino’s brilliant Western pastiche, set on a slave plantation, is on Film4 on Friday at 9pm.
Moulin Rouge! (2001) ★★★★BBC Two, 10.25pm Baz Luhrmann’s intoxicating spectacle was the first musical to be nominated for Best Picture in 22 years. Set in 1899 Montmartre, it follows a poet (Ewan McGregor) who becomes love-struck with a courtesan (Nicole Kidman). The mix of modern pop and a period setting, now the familiar tools of Luhrmann’s oeuvre, ensure that this is a thrilling assault on the senses. The dazzling stage show is currently in the West End.
Friday 5 July
Brats: Demi Moore and Andrew McCarthy
Credit: Disney+
BratsDisney+Sometimes only an insider – someone who’s actually lived it – can get under the skin of a story. That’s certainly how it is with this fascinating – if at times self-indulgent – documentary from Andrew McCarthy, about the 1980s phenomenon in which he played a part: the Brat Pack. A flash in the pan that encompassed a hyper- glamorous group of party-loving young film stars (Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy and McCarthy) and the movies they broke through in, from Pretty in Pink to St Elmo’s Fire and The Breakfast Club. Films that tapped into the burgeoning materialism of the era and the angst that came with it, epitomising all that was youthful, beautiful and exciting about the 1980s to some, and everything that was shallow and commodified to others. What no one stoppedto wonder was whether the Brat Pack label might be a curse rather than a blessing for those stuck with it. It’s a theme McCarthy explored in his 2021 memoir Brat: An 80s Story. Here he reaches out to his fellow Brat Packers (most of whom he hasn’t seen for decades) to see if their experiences were, in retrospect, as mixed as his own. GO
Election 2024: The ResultsBBC One, ITV1, Channel 4 & Sky News, from 6amIt’s the morning after polling day and the TV schedules are packed with news and analysis of the results. BBC One and ITV1’s coverage rolls on deep into the afternoon, as does Sky News’ led by Sophy Ridge from 7am. There are also plans for another Question Time special (9pm/11.10pm depending on the football) while Channel 4 offers light relief with The Last Leg: Election Special (10pm).
Motorway: Hell on the HighwayChannel 5, 8pmThis week’s focus is on driving disasters caused by bad weather, such as torrential rain. As ever, though, there’s plenty of non climate-based chaos on display, too, such as a driver pulling over in the M1’s outside lane to answer a call of nature.
Celebrity GoggleboxChannel 4, 9pmThe celebrities (including Rylan Clark and mum Linda, Shaun Ryder and Bez, Fearne Cotton and Gok Wan) zoom in on the most talked-about TV in the run up to the election. There could even be overlap with last night’s C4 coverage, which featured some Gogglebox stars. But if you were up all night watching that, the likelihood is you won’t still be up for this.
Kylie at the BBCBBC Four, 9pmIf your mood demands pop not politics, here’s 90 minutes of Kylie from the archive, followed by her performance at last year’s Radio 2 in the Park in Leicester, at 10.30pm. Plus, a selection of hits from other Stock Aitken Waterman acts such as Rick Astley, Bananarama and Jason Donovan, at 11.35pm.
The Sommerdahl MurdersMore4, 9pmThe Scandi-agony continues as Danish police inspector Dan (Peter Mygind) and his forensics officer wife Marianne (Laura Drasbæk) embark on another double-episode investigation, despite their collapsing marriage. Tonight, when a woman falls to her death from a height, news that she recently won the lottery raises suspicions. Nikki Glaser: Someday You’ll DieSky Comedy, 10.15pmIn this hilarious stand-up special, the popular American comedian and reality star dives into why she hasn’t decided to have children, the harsh realities of ageing, her remaining sexual fantasies, and her carefully laid plans for death – or, at least, what happens after it.
The Imaginary (2023) ★★★Netflix Studio Ghibli might be the most famous Japanese animation house, but new-kids-on-the-block Studio Ponoc are offering their own array of delights. The Imaginary follows Rudger, who belongs to the invisible species known as Imaginaries created by a grieving girl, Amanda. The story has echoes of Pixar’s Inside Out franchise, but with a sweeter, more dreamlike spin. The voice cast includes Kokoro Terada and Rio Suzuki.
Anyone But You (2023) ★★★★Sky Cinema Premiere, 8pm Another Shakespeare play gets the modern romcom treatment, this time Much Ado About Nothing. Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney takes the lead as law student Bea; Glen Powell (Hit Man) is the charming finance bro she has an “enemies to lovers” fling with. Filmed mostly in Australia, it’s cheesy, yes, but the two leads have sizzling chemistry – little wonder it was the highest-grossing romcom of the past decade.
Shirley Valentine (1989) ★★★★5STAR, 9pm Willy Russell adapts his witty one-character play for this delightful kitchen-sink drama. Shirley Valentine (Pauline Collins) is a middle-aged Liverpool housewife who travels to Greece to escape midlife malaise, and to learn if there’s more to life than the kitchen. Swept off her feet by Greek bar owner Costas (Tom Conti), she sees herself in a new light. Joanna Lumley, Alison Steadman and Julia McKenzie co-star.
The Woman in Black (2012) ★★★★BBC One, 12.10am Thanks to its hyper-Edwardian setting and some canny alterations, this feels less like a remake of Susan Hill’s acclaimed ghost story (that’s terrified West End audiences for years) than a new reading of an old tale with spooky new resonances. Daniel Radcliffe gives a chilling, memorable performance in his first film post-Harry Potter, while director James Watkinsuses shadows and empty spaces to create a percolating sense of dread.
Television previewers
Stephen Kelly (SK), Veronica Lee (VL), Gerard O’Donovan (GO), Poppie Platt (PP) and Gabriel Tate (GT)