Monday, December 23, 2024

TV tonight: Rob Rinder and Rylan Clark enjoy soul-searching and macaroni in Rome

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Rob and Rylan’s Grand Tour

9pm, BBC Two
It has been a total treat joining Rob Rinder and Rylan Clark on their cultural odyssey, which along the way has turned into a tender journey of soul-searching and friendship. They finish in Rome, where Rylan opens up about what it all means to “a ginger kid from a council flat in Stepney Green” who was expected to “stay in his lane”. There’s lots of fun on the agenda, too: dressing as a macaroni comes more easily to Rylan than Rob. Hollie Richardson

Inside Classical: Music Night from Alexandra Palace

7.30pm, BBC Four
Katie Derham hosts this celebration of more than 70 years of BBC Radio’s Friday Night Is Music Night series, along with tenor and MasterChef winner Wynne Evans and violinist Aleksey Semenenko. It is conducted by Ann-Maria Helsing and features favourites by Tchaikovsky and Sibelius. HR

The Responder

9pm, BBC One

Martin Freeman and Adelayo Adedayo in The Responder. Photograph: Kerry Spicer/BBC/Dancing Ledge

More overwhelming stress for Martin Freeman’s beleaguered night copper Chris Carson. Chris’s ill-advised relationship with drug lord Franny puts him in extreme peril. As he decides what to do with Franny’s encrypted phone, the drug squad await and Franny closes in. Impossible dilemmas everywhere you look. Phil Harrison

Red Eye

9pm, ITV1
Breathe a sigh of relief, nervous flyers: the final episode of the rollercoaster drama takes viewers off the plane of doom and flashes back to Beijing on the night of the crime. But there’s more tension as the flight gets ready to land, allowing room for more twists, turns and a fight with a tea cup. Hannah Verdier

The Piano

9pm, Channel 4
Claudia’s piano pulls up in one of Britain’s most musical areas, “City of Pop” and home of the Beatles – Liverpool. At Lime Street Station, they discover a rapping call centre manager and gather round for a singalong with local legend Billy the Hat. Who will win the last concert spot? Ellen E Jones

Maya Angelou at the BBC

9pm, BBC Four
An evening dedicated to the US writer and activist begins with a rummage through the archives conducted by Bonnie Greer. Some writers shrink from a lens, but not Angelou: she is seen here ably transferring her gift for storytelling and righteous inspiration to the filmed spoken word. Jack Seale

Film choice

John David Washington and Robert Pattinson in Tenet. Photograph: Melinda Sue Gordon/AP

Tenet (Christopher Nolan, 2020), 10pm, BBC Two
Two quotes from Christopher Nolan’s time-flipping 2020 thriller sum it up neatly: “Don’t try to understand it, feel it” and “Does your head hurt yet?” Just go with the flow and you’ll have a fun time negotiating his drama of high-tech espionage and war, as John David Washington’s US agent tries to foil Russian criminal Sator (Kenneth Branagh) and his backers from the future in their plot to rewrite the present. The play-rewind-replay of heists, fights and car chases is stupifying but exhilarating. Simon Wardell

Live sport

Tennis: French Open, 10.55am, Eurosport 1
Day one of the tournament at Roland-Garros in Paris.

Rowing: World Cup, 1.30pm, BBC Two
The final day of the second regatta of the season, held at Lucerne.

Championship Football: Leeds v Southampton, 2.45pm, Sky Sports Main Event
The play-off final at Wembley, with Leeds relying on their 21-goal top scorer Crysencio Summerville for the win.

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