Friday, September 20, 2024

TV tonight: Strictly is back, hopefully minus scandals

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Strictly Come Dancing

BBC One, 7.20pm

This has been a bruising year for the BBC’s marquee Saturday evening entertainment series. Allegations of bullying and abuse by the professional dancers towards celebrities have stung because they undermine the inclusive, supportive vibe that sustains the show. This year, the intrepid celebrities risking the wrath of the pros include Chris McCausland, Toyah Willcox, Punam Krishan and Paul Merson. Time to face the music – and dance. Phil Harrison

Last Night of the Proms

BBC Two, 7.05pm

Always a spectacle … the Last Night of the Proms. Photograph: BBC

Katie Derham presents an evening of performance from the Royal Albert Hall, which begins with pieces by Walton, Puccini, Fauré and Ives before climaxing with the usual flag-waving mayhem. The final night of the Proms is generally the least musically interesting event of the whole affair but, even so, it’s always a spectacle. It continues on BBC One at 9pm. PH

Songs of Survival at the BBC

9pm, BBC Two

This BBC archival special feels like a karaoke roll call as it showcases songs of perseverance and endurance. Among the selected anthems are Rocky Balboa’s immortal hymn to coming back for more, Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger, and Gloria Gaynor’s bounce-back anthem I Will Survive. PH

Sambre: Anatomy of a Crime

9pm, BBC Four

This powerful fact-based drama – about the decades it took for French cops to bring a serial sex attacker to justice – began in 1988. As the final double bill opens, it is 2012 and a Lille cold case expert (Olivier Gourmet) is assigned the file. The muddle of misfiled reports horrifies him. Graeme Virtue

Strictly Come Dancing: Secrets, Sex & Scandals

9pm, Channel 5

A chorus line of Strictly’s most memorable moments to coincide with the new series. These stretch back to its 1950s precursor Come Dancing, through the “curse of Strictly” and up to its present-day championing of same-sex pairings and disabled dancers. Ellen E Jones

The Killing Kind

11.10pm, ITV1

First screened on Paramount+, this dark drama was adapted from Jane Casey’s novel and stars Emma Appleton as Ingrid Lewis, a barrister who is trying to rebuild her life after getting too close to dangerous but magnetic client John Webster (Colin Morgan). But just as she’s gaining some psychological distance, guess who reappears? PH

Film choice

The King’s Speech, 8pm, Sky Cinema Greats

Rousing … Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter in The King’s Speech. Photograph: The Weinstein Company/Allstar

The Americans love a good royal story, and Tom Hooper’s 2010 film duly bagged four Oscars. It’s a skilful, rousing drama, wrapping the true tale of the future George VI (Colin Firth) and his struggles with a stammer inside the wider strife of the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII, and the impending second world war. Geoffrey Rush is his usual scene-stealing self as Lionel Logue, the unconventional Australian speech therapist who trains “Bertie” up to broadcast quality, with Helena Bonham Carter a jolly sort as Queen Elizabeth. Simon Wardell

Live sport

T20 Blast Cricket, 10.30am, Sky Sports Cricket Finals day at Edgbaston, with Surrey v Somerset, then Gloucestershire v Sussex in the semis.

Premier League Football: Southampton v Man United, 11am, TNT Sports 1 Aston Villa v Everton and Bournemouth v Chelsea are on Sky Sports Main Event from 5pm.

Golf: Solheim Cup, 11.30am, Sky Sports Golf Day two of Europe v the USA.

Women’s Rugby Union: England v New Zealand, 2pm, BBC One A friendly at Twickenham.

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