OLD BOY’S TV CHOICE

OLD BOY’S TV CHOICE

This thread is designed to draw your attention to the best new films and also those unmissable movies from the last 20 years; the most watchable dramas; new documentaries; and popular music being screened each week on your TV, as assessed by OLD BOY.

These listings are designed to be used for recording and bookmarking, and so programmes repeated at a later date will not normally feature on the list. However, discretion will be used where a programme has proved to be very popular or otherwise has particular merit, just in case you didn’t list it first time around.

Sport, soaps and reality shows generally will not feature in these listings.

Watching programmes live from the schedules is not the best use of your time and does not provide a particularly good experience for the TV viewer - on demand and pre-recorded viewing is highly recommended! If you record or bookmark all the programmes of interest to you on this thread each week, you will be surprised how quickly your list builds up, week by week, even during the summer season, when the good programmes are harder to find.

I hope you find these listings useful. If you have any suggestions on how this thread can be improved, please post your ideas here.

OLD BOY’S TV CHOICE: 15 JANUARY 2022

🔘 - Standard definition

🤗 - Sounds good

🤔 - Might be worth a look

🆕 - New to TV

↔️ - Series

📀 - Film

👬 - For under-12s

📲 - Channel/time

***SUGGESTED RECORDING PICKS

From your TV channels

All content is presented in HD or UHD except where otherwise indicated

Regional variations may apply for certain programmes on BBC and the main ITV channel.

These listings apply to viewers in England on the Virgin Media platform. Sky Atlantic listings are included for those who also have the Now entertainment package.

The focus of these listings is on films, dramas, music, entertainment shows, important scheduled events (not sport) and documentaries.

———————

👁SATURDAY

15 January 2022

———————

🆕📀THE PAPER TIGERS (2020)🤔

Comedy drama about three men who have turned 50 who decide to investigate who killed their martial arts master.

📲Sky Cinema Premiere, 8pm

TOP PICK

🆕↔️HIDDEN ASSETS 🤗

Detectives from Ireland and Belgium have to work together when a bag of diamonds linked to recent Belgian bombings are discovered in Ireland.

📲BBC4, 9pm

📀MAN ON FIRE (2004) 🤗

A bodyguard takes responsibility for taking a schoolgirl into school each day and is filled with a need for revenge when she is kidnapped.

📲Film4, 9pm

TOP PICK

↔️🔘TRACES 🤗

Emma’s return to Dundee brings her mother’s unsolved murder into sharp focus. Resolved to find the truth, Emma puts love and life at risk as she fights to bring the killer to justice.

📲Drama, 9pm

📀YULI (2018) 🤔

Drama about the life of a Cuban dancer who leads some of the best ballet productions.

📲BBC2, 10pm

📀THE TAKE (2016) 🤗

A rogue CIA agent forms an unlikely partnership with a pickpocket to stop a terrorist conspiracy in Paris.

📲Channel 4, 11.50pm

——————-

👁SUNDAY

16 January

——————-

🆕↔️DANCING ON ICE

📲ITV, 6.30pm

🆕📀PIG (2021) 🤗

A man who owns a pig to sniff out truffles is devastated when his ‘pet’ is stolen and he plans to retrieve it.

📲Sky Cinema Premiere, 8pm

🆕↔️THE 80s TOP 10

Rob Lowe talks about the things he remembers most about the 1980s.

📲National Geographic, 8pm

🆕↔️SPYCRAFT

📲Sky History 2, 8pm

🆕↔️KALAHARI: LAND OF SECRET ALLIANCES

📲Sky Nature, 8.30pm

🆕↔️SUE PERKINS’ BIG AMERICAN ROAD TRIP

Sue travels through California and Colorado in her camper van.

📲Channel 4, 9pm

📀TULIP FEVER (2017) 🤔

A young married woman falls for the artist commissioned to paint her portrait during the tulip mania of 17th century Amsterdam.

📲BBC2, 10pm

↔️🔘DEATH IN HOLY ORDERS 🤔

Cerebral police detective Adam Dalgleish investigates a death at a theological college where he spent happy times as a youth.

📲Drama, 10pm

↔️🔘BROKEN 🤔

Father Michael reaches out to a troubled parishioner, a single mother of three, who is struggling for money following a series of unfortunate events.

📲Drama, 12 m’t

📀END OF WATCH (2012) 🤗

Two LAPD officers deal with marriage, love and fatherhood amid the harsh realities on the streets of Los Angeles.

📲BBC1, 12.10am

📀THE WITCH (2015) 🤗

When their baby son disappears in the year 1630, the parents blame their teenage daughter, who is a witch.

📲Channel 4, 12.55am

——————-

👁MONDAY

17 January

——————-

🆕↔️RIP OFF BRITAIN: HOLIDAYS

📲BBC1, 10am

🆕↔️WATERCOLOUR CHALLENGE

📲Channel 5, 4pm

🆕↔️PROPERTY BROTHERS: FOREVER HOMES

📲W, 6pm

🆕↔️WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? USA

📲Dave, 7pm

🆕↔️GEORDIE HOSPITAL

📲Channel 4, 8pm

🆕↔️BREAKING DAD

With Bradley & Barney Walsh.

📲ITV, 8pm

🆕↔️DRIVING FORCE

Documentary on the life of footballer Eniola Aluko.

📲ITV4, 8pm

🆕↔️AIR CRASH INVESTIGATION

National Geographic, 8pm

🆕KELVIN’S BIG FARMING ADVENTURE

📲BBC1, 8.30pm

🆕↔️KEEPING UP WITH THE ARISTOCRATS

📲ITV, 9pm

📀CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (2013) 🤗

The Captain of a container ship is taken hostage by Somali pirates.

📲ITV4, 9pm

🆕↔️999: WHAT’S YOUR EMERGENCY?

📲Channel 4, 9pm

🆕IMPRACTICAL JOKERS: TWISTS AND TURNS

📲Comedy Central, 10pm

🆕ATTILA’S FORBIDDEN TOMB

📲Sky History, 10pm

🆕📀LOVING VINCENT (2017)🤔

Animated drama about the life and death of Vincent van Goch

📲Film4, 11.45pm

——————-

👁TUESDAY

18 January

——————-

🆕↔️WINTERWATCH

📲BBC2, 8pm

🆕GHISLAINE, PRINCE ANDREW & THE PAEDOPHILE

Documentary about the sex trafficking case.

📲ITV, 9pm

🆕WHY SHIPS CRASH

Documentary featuring the story of the ‘Ever Given’ container ship that blocked the Suez Canal last March, contributing to supply chain problems even now.

📲BBC2, 9pm

🆕↔️24 HOURS IN A&E

📲Channel 4, 9pm

📀🔘EVEREST (2015) 🤗

Two teams of mountaineers are trapped on Mount Everest is a fierce snowstorm.

📲GREAT! movies, 9pm

📀LAND (2021) 🤔

A local hunter brings a grieving lawyer back from the brink of death after she retreats to the harsh wilderness of the Rockies.

📲Sky Cinema Premiere, 10pm

📀🔘CARRIE (2013) 🤗

Updated version of the film about a girl with a strange kinetic power who turns the tables on the pupils at her school who have been tormenting her.

📲5STAR, 11.50pm

——————-

👁WEDNESDAY

19 January

——————-

🆕↔️DREAM HOME MAKEOVERS

With Sophie Robinson.

📲Channel 5, 7pm

🆕AZF: FRENCH FACTORY EXPLOSION

Documentary about the Toulouse incident.

📲National Geographic, 8pm

TOP PICK

🆕↔️PRETTY HARD CASES 🤗

Comedy drama about Kelly, a drug-squad detective, who works with a crime detective, Samantha, to take down a drugs lord.

📲Alibi, 9pm

📀CONCRETE PLANS (2020)🤗

When builders are brought in to renovate a farmhouse, they fall out amongst each other, and on top of that, the owner refuses to pay them. Expect a violent reaction…

📲Film4, 9pm

🆕↔️TREADSTONE 🤔

🔘on Sky

Superhuman assassins created during a covert operation are reactivated to resume their deadly missions.

📲5Action, 9pm

📀APOLLO 11

Documentary.

📲Sky Documentaries, 9pm

📀HUMMINGBIRD

🔘on Sky

📲5Action, 10.05pm

🆕STACEY DOOLEY: STALKERS

📲BBC1, 10.35pm

——————-

👁THURSDAY

20 January

——————-

🆕📀MASS ( 2021)🤗

The parents of a boy who was a victim of a school shooting and those of a boy who did the shooting meet years afterwards and try to make sense of it all.

📲Sky Cinema Premiere, 8pm

🆕🔘GERMANY’S NEO-NAZIS AND THE FAR RIGHT

📲PBS America, 8.40pm

🆕↔️🔘BANGERS AND CASH

📲Yesterday, 9pm

🆕↔️THE ROOKIE

John Nolan goes full speed ahead to solve a kidnapping case.

📲Sky Witness, 9pm

🆕↔️BUILDING OFF THE GRID

Looking at buildings constructed in dangerous places.

📲Discovery, 9pm

——————-

👁FRIDAY

21 January

——————-

🆕📀NOBODY (2021) 🤗

Once an assassin, a bored middle-aged man suddenly faces a home invasion, and he puts his old skills back into use. Plenty of action in this film!

📲Sky Cinema Premiere, 8pm

🆕↔️THE GREAT SONGWRITERS

Gary Kemp starts the series with a look at his songwriting process and his creative vision.

📲Sky Arts, 8pm

🆕DEPECHE MODE - EXCITER LIVE IN PARIS

📲Sky Arts, 9pm

🆕↔️NEW YORK HOMICIDE

📲Sky Crime, 9pm

🆕↔️THE IMPOSSIBLE ROW

📲Quest, 9pm

🆕🔘NETHERWORLD

Documentary about the Paris catacombs.

📲Really, 9pm

_______________

OLD BOY’S TV CHOICE: Previous week

🔘 - Standard definition

🤗 - Sounds good

🤔 - Might be worth a look

🆕 - New to TV

↔️ - Series

📀 - Film

👬 - For under-12s

📲 - Channel/time

***SUGGESTED RECORDING PICKS

From your TV channels

All content is presented in HD or UHD except where otherwise indicated

Regional variations may apply for certain programmes on BBC and the main ITV channel.

These listings apply to viewers in England on the Virgin Media platform. Sky Atlantic listings are included for those who also have the Now entertainment package.

The focus of these listings is on films, dramas, music, entertainment shows, important scheduled events (not sport) and documentaries.

———————

👁SATURDAY

8 January 2022

———————

🆕↔️ALEXANDER ARMSTRONG’S AMAZING ICELAND

📲Channel 5, 6.15pm

🆕↔️ANT & DEC’S LIMITLESS WIN

Game show with an (allegedly) limitless money prize.

📲ITV, 8.30pm

🆕↔️SECRETS OF THE ROYAL

PALACES

📲Channel 5, 8.30pm

🆕🔘A DEADLY DOSE

Investigation into the case of attorney Susan Winters, who was thought to have committed suicide. But we’re the right conclusions reached?

📲Quest Red, 9pm

🆕↔️THE JOHN BISHOP SHOW

A new stand-up comedy and chat show.

📲ITV, 9.30pm

🆕↔️POSH WEEKENDS WITH SALLY LINDSAY

📲Channel 5, 9.30pm

TOP PICK

↔️UNDERGROUND 🤗

Another chance to see this series, which you may well have missed. As a group of slaves plan to escape from his plantation, Tom Macon looks to enlist his abolitionist lawyer brother to manage his campaign to be Georgia’s next senator.

📲Virgin Ultra HD, 11.55pm

📀MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (2015) 🤗

A superb and gripping sci-fi thriller about a man who rescues his son from a cult that believes him to be a prophet due to his strange powers. But the cult is determined to get him back.

📲BBC1, 12.30am

——————-

👁SUNDAY

9 January

——————-

🆕↔️HIDDEN WONDERS OF EUROPE

📲National Geographic Wild, 6pm

🆕THE GREEN PLANET

Sir David Attenborough on the behaviour of plants.

📲BBC1, 7pm

TOP PICK

🆕↔️VERA 🤗

The detective investigates a hit-and-run incident, which becomes more intriguing when the victim’s son is kidnapped.

📲ITV, 8pm

🆕📀LAND (2021) 🤗

A woman escapes to Wyoming, where she makes a home in a shack with no services. But as autumn turns to winter, life becomes difficult and dangerous.

📲Sky Cinema Premiere, 8pm

🆕↔️BARGAIN-LOVING BRITS IN THE SUN

📲Channel 5, 8pm

🆕↔️CELEBRITY ANIMAL

ENCOUNTERS

📲Animal Planet, 8pm

🆕↔️EXPEDITION DEEP OCEAN

📲Discovery, 8pm

🆕↔️THE KILLER NANNY: DID SHE DO IT?

Documentary in three parts about Louise Woodward, who was alleged to have killed a baby when carrying out her duties as a nanny. Was she guilty beyond all reasonable doubt?

📲Channel 4, 9pm

🆕↔️MEN AT THE BARRE - INSIDE THE ROYAL BALLET

📲BBC4, 9pm

TOP PICK

CONFIRMATION 🤗

Drama about a true-life sexual harassment scandal.

📲Sky Atlantic, 9pm

🆕↔️HOTEL BENIDORM: SUN, SEA & SANGRIA

📲Channel 5, 9pm

🆕↔️SNAPPED BEHIND BARS

📲CI, 9pm

🆕↔️LIFE ON THE BAY

📲BBC Scotland, 9.30pm

📀THE SISTERS BROTHERS (2018) 🤗

Family ties are tested as the Sisters brothers journey through the northwest to the mountains of Oregon in this unusual western.

📲BBC2, 10pm

——————-

👁MONDAY

10 January

——————-

🆕↔️WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? USA

📲Dave, 7pm

🆕INSIDE ART SPECIAL: COVENTRY CITY OF CULTURE

📲Sky Arts, 7pm

📀BAD EDUCATION (2019) 🤗

True story about two people who are caught embezzling school funds.

📲Sky Cinema Drama, 8pm

🆕↔️🔘UNDERGROUND WORLDS

📲Yesterday, 8pm

🆕↔️OCEAN’S WIERDEST

📲National Geographic Wild, 8pm

🆕↔️UNLIKELY ANIMAL FRIENDS: PUPPY LOVE

Rescue dogs who look after vulnerable animals.

📲National Geographic Wild

🆕↔️THE MURDERS AT STARVED ROCK

📲Sky Showcase, 9pm

🆕↔️EUPHORIA 🤔

Return of the drama series. Rue must now pick up the pieces.

📲Sky Atlantic, 9pm

🆕↔️GUESSIBLE?

Comedy panel show.

📲Comedy Central, 9pm

🆕↔️COUPLES THERAPY

Documentary about four couples who consult a relationship counsellor.

📲BBC2, 10pm

——————-

👁TUESDAY

11 January

——————-

🆕↔️WONDERS OF THE BORDER

📲ITV, 7.30pm

🆕↔️THE SECRET LIFE OF OUR PETS

How different species communicate with one another.

📲ITV, 8pm

🆕CRAIG CHARLES: UFO CONSPIRACIES

📲Sky History, 9pm

TOP PICK

🆕↔️RULES OF THE GAME 🤗

Thriller with Maxine Peake about a businesswoman who runs a sportswear company. When a new HR manager is appointed, she is alarmed to find that a toxic working environment exists at the company.

📲BBC1, 9pm

📀FIRST MAN (2018) 🤗

The story of Neil Armstrong’s mission to be the first man to land on the moon. Surprisingly tense story, with Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong and Claire Foy as his wife.

📲Film4, 9pm

📀🔘JOE (2013)🤗

A man who leads a team working for a lumber company takes a teenager under his wing in this gritty drama.

📲GREAT! movies, 9pm

🆕↔️🔘CHARLOTTE CHURCH’S DREAM BUILD

📲Really, 9pm

🆕↔️THE UNXPLAINED WITH WILLIAM SHATNER

📲Sky History, 10pm

🆕↔️SECRET BODY

Weight loss show.

📲BBC Scotland, 10pm

——————-

👁WEDNESDAY

12 January

——————-

🆕↔️LANDSCAPE ARTIST OF THE YEAR

📲Sky Arts and Sky Showcase, 8pm

TOP PICK

🆕↔️THE BAY 🤗

The series returns with a new Family Liaison Officer who takes over from previous incumbent Lisa Armstrong. Jenn Townsend is assigned to work with the family of a boxer, whose body was found in Morecambe Bay.

📲ITV, 9pm

🆕JFK RE-VISITED: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

📲Sky Documentaries and Sky Showcase, 9pm

——————-

👁THURSDAY

13 January

——————-

🆕↔️🔘MYSTERIES AT THE MUSEUM

📲Discovery History, 4pm

🆕↔️GO VEGGIE AND VEGAN WITH MATT TEBBUTT

📲Channel 5, 7pm

🆕↔️MONSTERS OF THE WILD

📲National Geographic Wild, 8pm

🆕↔️MARTIN CLUNES: ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC

📲ITV, 9pm

🆕↔️THE WORLD’S MOST LUXURIOUS HOLIDAYS

📲More4, 9pm

🆕COSTA CONCORDIA

On 13 January 2012, the luxury liner Costa Concordia collided with a rock off the Italian island of Gigli. Experts reconstruct the drama using eyewitness accounts, interviews and film footage.

📲Sky Documentaries, 9pm

🆕↔️🔘CHAOS IN COURT

📲Quest Red, 10pm

⚽️🆕KASPER SCHMEICHEL: KEEPING THE FAITH

Profile of the Leicester City footballer.

📲ITV, 10.45pm

——————-

👁FRIDAY

14 January

——————-

📀MILITARY WIVES 🤔

Wives of Army personnel get together to form a choir, but they form an uneasy partnership.

📲Sky Cinema Drama, 6.05pm

🆕📀SAVE THE CINEMA

A hairdresser discovers that a new shopping centre that will require the demolition of the local cinema is proposed and galvanises the local community in a campaign to save it.

📲Sky Cinema Premiere, 8pm

🆕↔️CHICAGO MED 🤔

Halstead returns to Med to help Goodwin with a secret investigation.

📲Sky Witness, 8pm

🆕🔘MAE WEST: DIRTY BLONDE

Documentary on the life of the actress.

📲PBS America, 8.40pm

🆕↔️CHICAGO FIRE 🤔

Firehouse 51 deals with the aftermath of the capsized boat rescue.

📲Sky Witness, 9pm

📀THE ROLLING STONES: CROSSFIRE HURRICANE (2012) 🤗

Documentary about the highly successful rock band.

📲BBC4, 9pm

🆕↔️RELATIVELY FAMOUS: RANCH RULES

Eight celebrity offsprings live and work as ranch hands in Colorado, hoping to prove that they are more than famous last names.

📲E!, 9pm

🆕FIRST TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD

📲Quest, 9pm

🆕↔️CHICAGO PD 🤔

When a prominent PD informant is murdered, the team digs in to track down the perpetrator only to learn the shocking truth.

📲Sky Witness, 10pm

📀MUM’S LIST (2016)

A father must cope after his wife dies of breast cancer.

📲BBC1, 11.25pm

📀SUPER 8 (2011) 🤗

Young people who are making a film witness a train crash, after which mysterious events follow and the military arrive in force.

📲Channel 4, 12m’t

____________

Quote from Horizon

Oh well, just have to live with that!

These lists are a very good reminder of just how much good telly there is, but still spread across too many channels. One day we might be down to a couple of dozen channels or less and that is more than plenty to offer a wide range of shows and films.

Thanks OB as always.

Thank you, Horizon. There is quite a lot of stuff to watch spread over all those channels as you say, but most of the scripted drama at the moment is films. There are lots of new dramas in the making, though, so hopefully the Autumn season will show a big improvement.

The latest TV listings have now been added above for the week commencing 17 July.

The eagerly awaited third series of ‘Manifest’ starts on Sky 1 tonight at 9pm. All 13 episodes of the new series are available on demand already. If you have not watched the first two series about the mystery of the plane that disappeared off the radar for five years, then suddenly reappeared, this is a must-see, and you can catch up from the beginning on demand.

Also worth a look is ‘The Pact’, in which a snap decision at a work party has shocking repercussions. Watch this series from the beginning on the BBC I-player.

As the summer season groans on, it is necessary to pick and choose what to watch. Fortunately, there are some good films to enjoy when our entertainment channels fill their schedules with game shows, reality programmes and the like.

Just two dramas of note in the week commencing 24 July. We have ‘Quiz’ which is the story about an attempt to cheat on the ITV show ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’. This is a second chance to view this drama, which is actually well worth a look if you missed it first time around.

The ‘Law and Order’ series was good, and the spin off being shown on Friday ‘Law and Order: Organised Crime’ should not disappoint if you liked the original series.

The murky truth behind Ted Kennedy’s car crash which killed his campaign worker is re-enacted in the 2017 film ‘Chappaquiddick’. This incident was suspicious at the time for those who were around then - this film tells us that we were right to have our doubts. I thought his political career would be over after that, but amazingly he was elected President not long afterwards.

If you missed ‘The Rook’ first time around and you enjoy the well produced futuristic stuff, you’ll be pleased to know that it’s back on from the start - Thursday just after midnight on Virgin Ultra HD. See above listings for details in post #2.

Well, we are coming to the end of the summer season, and so there is still a heavy reliance on films, documentaries and repeats for the best entertainment this coming week (see post #2).

The only Top Pick this time is ‘The Bay’, which is well worth watching.