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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Andrew Mueller, Jonathan Wright, Jack Seale, Phil Harrison, Ben Arnold, Mark Gibbings-Jones, Ali Catterall, Paul Howlett

Friday’s best TV: The Secret, The Windsors

Ripe for lampooning ... The Windsors
Ripe for lampooning ... The Windsors. Photograph: Angus Young/Channel 4


Unreported World
7.30pm, Channel 4

There may be no more important generation than Iranians below the age of 35 – a huge demographic that will decide the future of their nation, as well as the wider Middle East. As this film by Shaunagh Connaire demonstrates, Iran’s young people also have more universal concerns. Increasingly unpersuaded by traditional marriage, and by tradition in general, they are finding their way online – much to the discomfort of their elders. Andrew Mueller

George Clarke’s Amazing Garden Rooms
8pm, Channel 4

Completing his look back at five years of Amazing Spaces, George Clarke turns his attention to building projects beyond the back door. These range from a clifftop stargazing retreat to a garden room that was once a derelict swimming pool, and a multi-purpose shed. Then there’s George’s own outdoor build, which saw the architect and Will Hardie grapple with an unloved lawn area and a rundown old garage. Jonathan Wright

The Secret
9pm, ITV

This bold true-crime drama is just as queasily disturbing here as in the stunning previous episode, which showed in detail how Coleraine baptist Colin Howell killed his wife and his lover’s husband. Now for the impossible part of the plan: living under God in a blended family made by murder. As guilt consumes Hazel (Genevieve O’Reilly), and the fanatical Colin (James Nesbitt) presses on regardless, we see what this is really all about: sex. Brilliant, but so grim. Jack Seale

Powers

9pm, Spike

Another superhero series to throw on the pile, Powers – adapted from a Marvel Comics spinoff imprint – lays out a world where superheroes and humans co-exist. Sharlto Copley’s Christian Walker used to have powers, but now he works as a detective in a division handling superhero-related crime. Wolfe, played by Eddie Izzard, was his mentor, now locked up in a secure facility, while teleporting Royalle (Noah Tayor) is at large. Sadly, it looks and feels cheap. Ben Arnold

The Five
9pm, Sky1

The final double bill of episodes from Harlan Coben’s expectation-evading thriller – and, given events this far, it’s hard to gauge whether the grand finale will provide closure for followers of the fallout from Jesse’s disappearance or merely leave viewers shambling down a dark alleyway. Before that box of answers is swung open, Danny and Mark take matters into their own hands, with at least one uncomfortable truth to be revealed. Mark Gibbings-Jones

The Windsors
10pm, Channel 4

The continuing appeal of the real-life royals probably now relies on a national weakness for kitsch celebrity trivia. Accordingly, the tone of this comedy is snarky but basically affectionate. Tellingly, there’s no sign of the Queen – the tacit assumption is perhaps that, shorn of her starchy gravitas, the essential silliness of the rest of the family is ripe for lampooning. Tonight, Harry faces an arranged marriage, and the fruits of Charles’s wild years cause succession problems. Phil Harrison

Mum
10pm, BBC2

The spirit of Mike Leigh is all over this flinty new sitcom – and not just because it stars Leigh regular Lesley Manville. In this opener, Manville’s recently widowed Cathy prepares to attend her husband’s funeral, accompanied by friends, family and obnoxious in-laws. Among the excellent cast (including a serenely growling Peter Mullan), Manville is superb as Cathy, keeping it together somehow – but a whisker away from screaming her heart out. Ali Catterall

Film choice

Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974) 12.35am, Channel 4

This near-faultless film noir recreates a dazzling 1930s Los Angeles shadowed by the themes of evil and corruption that seem to resonate in the Polanski psyche. Jack Nicholson is private eye JJ Gittes, Faye Dunawaye the femme fatale, the pair edging closer as a murder at a dam starts a tortuous trail towards lecherous old John Huston. Scriptwriter Robert Towne invests Gittes with a Chandleresque nobility, but locates him in a harsher world, cruel as a switchblade. Paul Howlett

Live sport

Cycling: Giro D’Italia 1.30pm, Eurosport 1 The road race continues.

IPL Cricket: Mumbai Indians v Kings XI Punjab 3pm, Sky Sports 1 From the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Championship Football 7.30pm, Sky Sports 1 Sheffield Wednesday host Brighton in the first leg of the opening play-off semi-final.

Challenge Cup Rugby: Harlequins v Montpellier 7.30pm, Sky Sports 2 The showcase game from the Stade de Lyon.

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