Wednesday, November 13, 2024

TV tonight: the final part of Hilary Mantel’s beloved Tudor trilogy

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Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light

Sunday, 9pm, BBC One

The highly acclaimed adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s rich tapestry of a Tudor trilogy concludes with The Mirror and the Light. It is 1536 and King Henry (Damian Lewis) has ordered the beheading of Anne Boleyn (a very brief return for Claire Foy) to marry Jane Seymour (Kate Phillips), leaving Mark Rylance’s ambitious son-of-a-blacksmith Thomas Cromwell more paranoid and morally muddled as he continues to claw his way up the ranks. His first priority is to get Henry’s daughter Mary (Lily Lesser) to declare she is no heir, while saving his own neck and dealing with squabbling nobles. The tension is palpable as it transports you to the court royal corridors. Hollie Richardson

Asia

6.20pm, BBC One

It wouldn’t be autumn without some lavishly escapist David Attenborough action on a Sunday evening, and this series continues to offer beautiful sights and sounds from Asia. We’re at high altitude, meeting cave-dwelling swifts, mountain elephants and, most excitingly, the incredibly elusive red panda. Phil Harrison

All Aboard! Scotland’s Poshest Train

8pm, Channel 4

Choo-choo-choose luxury … Alan Cumming boards the Royal Scotsman. Photograph: Peter Sandground

A journey on the Royal Scotsman really is something special – and not just because it’s rarely delayed or cancelled. Rail enthusiast and lover of the glamorous life Alan Cumming boards the train in Edinburgh – led by a bagpiper – and shows us the luxuries as they chug towards Loch Lomond. HR

Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War

8pm, Sky Arts

A fresh angle on remembrance comes with two documentaries dedicated to artistic renderings of conflict. First, there’s a profile of the British painter Eric Ravilious, who died during active service in 1942 but established himself as a distinctive chronicler of war. Then at 9.45pm, Eddie Redmayne – who is an art historian as well as an actor – looks at the history of battlefield art. PH

Shoot to Kill: Terror on the Tube

9pm, Channel 4

In 2005, two weeks after the 7/7 bombings in London, electrician Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by a police officer who mistook him for a suicide bomber. The officer, who remained anonymous after the killing, now speaks in this two-parter, which takes a forensic look at what happened that day. HR

Generation Z

10pm, Channel 4

With intergenerational conflict, conspiracy subplots and toxic online influencers, Ben Wheatley’s oddball zombie drama sometimes feels too obsessed with the zeitgeist to concentrate on telling its story. But that story is intriguing: the residents of Dambury have decided to take a stand, just as physical changes become apparent among the predatory horde. PH

Film choice

Deliverance, 10pm, BBC Two

High levels of tension in Deliverance on BBC Two. Photograph: Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy

“Sometimes you have to lose yourself before you find anything.” The words of would-be survivalist and bullish risk-taker Lewis (Burt Reynolds) become uncomfortably real for him and his pals (Jon Voight, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox) as they set off on a canoeing trip down a remote Appalachian valley due to be flooded for a reservoir. John Boorman’s dark action adventure adopts the slasher horror template of urban types fighting for their lives against backwoods folk, squeezing high levels of tension from perilous rapids and unknowable foes. Simon Wardell

Live sport

Women’s Super League Football: Liverpool v Chelsea, 12.15pm, BBC Two At Totally Wicked Stadium.

International Rugby Union: Wales v Fiji, 12.30pm, TNT Sports 1 Scotland, with new captain Sione Tuipulotu (pictured above) take on South Africa at 3.45pm.

Premier League Football: Nottingham Forest v Newcastle, 1.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event Chelsea v Arsenal follows at 4pm.

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