Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast
8pm, Channel 4
Fresh from their laudable campaign to get supermarkets to sell misshapen fruit and veg, Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty turn to the evils of overzealous sell-by dates, which cause tonnes of perfectly fine food to be binned each year. As well as a feast of yellow-stickered delights, Hugh Bonneville stops by to show off his pad thai skills garnered from travels in Asia, while J&J also do some droolsome things with two different kinds of slow-cooked pork. Ben Beaumont-Thomas
Race to the Pole
7pm, Channel 5
Richard Parks continues his series of physical challenges, this week taking part in the Jungle Ultra, a brutal foot trek through the Peruvian Amazon. Hazards he faces along the way include narrow ledges, wasps’ nests, poisonous snakes and fire ants. It’s a pleasure to watch Parks lumbering through some of the most treacherous terrain on the planet – pretty, also – though, mostly in a state of extreme discomfort, he doesn’t seem to notice. David Stubbs
Doctor Who: Earth Conquest – The World Tour
7pm, BBC3
In the more than 50 years since its inception, Doctor Who has become one of the BBC’s biggest exports. And since its 2005 revival, the audience has only grown. Here we follow the adventures of 12th Doctor Peter Capaldi and his companion Jenna Coleman on their international promotional tour just before the last series began. They’re everywhere: Sydney, Seoul, New York, Rio, and, of course, Cardiff (where the show is filmed), meeting excited Whovians. Bim Adewunmi
Champions Cup Rugby Union: Leicester Tigers v Scarlets
7pm, Sky Sports 3
With Toulon comfortably topping the Pool Three table, it’s up to Leicester and Scarlets to scrap over a potential best runners-up berth. Six penalties from fly-half Owen Williams saw Leicester defeat Toulon at Welford Road last month, while similar pen-kicking finesse from Rhys Priestland helped the Scarlets vanquish Ulster. With Toulon the only side having managed an away victory in pool three, Leicester seem the likelier to claim the three points here. Mark Jones
Sound of Song
9pm, BBC4
Following up his Sound of Cinema, pianist-composer Neil Brand returns for another charming three-parter, exploring the life-cycle of the popular song. In this opening episode, he looks at the roots of recorded music: we learn that Thomas Edison preferred an old-fashioned tune; that committing jazz to the cylinders he invented was crucial to the form’s development; and that Louis Armstrong invented scat-singing on the spot, after accidentally dropping his lyric sheet. Ali Catterall
Ascension
9pm, Sky1
This high-concept sci-fi mini-series posits an alternate present-day reality, in which JFK, fearing mutually assured destruction at the peak of the cold war hostilities, fired 350 volunteers into space in a bid to save the human race and colonise another planet. As we catch up with the pioneers 51 years into their journey – and at the point of no return – a murder on board the USS Ascension sends a shockwave through the ship’s crew. Battlestar Galactica’s Tricia Helfer and Cougar Town’s Brian Van Holt star. Ben Arnold
