Auction
7pm, Sky Arts
The highbrow alternative to Bid-Up TV returns for a sixth series. Firstly, proving timing is everything, Sotheby’s boasts a rare offering indeed – a Turner landscape of Rome - coming up at the same time as Mike Leigh’s biopic of the artist and the Tate’s Turner exhibition. Elsewhere, pop impresario Pete Waterman parts with personally commissioned replicas of classic locomotives, each a work of art far beyond the Hornby sets that would crop up at the back of Whizzer and Chips. Tonight’s second episode includes a portrait of Mozart. Mark Gibbings-Jones
Show Me A Hero
9pm, Sky Atlantic
David Simon’s New York housing drama, set in the late 80s and early 90s, has been justly heralded as his best work since The Wire: pacier and less overtly didactic than recent projects, while still carrying that trademark clout. Given its period setting, the casting of Winona Ryder feels especially serendipitous. In this second episode, tensions mount between city hall and outraged nimby voters as young mayor Nick Wasicsko realises he must press ahead with the building of low-income homes. David Stubbs
World’s Busiest Railway 2015
9pm, BBC2
Showing on consecutive nights this week as part of the BBC’s India Season, this series boggles at the immense railway network that somehow holds India together. Dan Snow, Anita Rani and Robert Llewellyn brave Mumbai’s overstuffed commuter carriages – and take a look behind the scenes at Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus to see the logistics of keeping trains moving and railway workers fed. In the Himalayas, John Sergeant rides on the Darjeeling steam railway. Andrew Mueller
Travel Guides
9pm, ITV
Despite airing in the age of TripAdvisor rather than, say, the early 90s, this series in which families rate their getaways is rather entertaining. After Thailand, Dubai and Tenerife, this final jaunt finds them closer to home. While the bohemian Boyles – Travel Guides’ equivalent of Gogglebox’s merlot-quaffing Dom and Steph – are fans of the Lake District’s scenery, Riah is soon pining for Wi-Fi and Nando’s. How will the Chapman-Blackwells, the Brearleys and Whartons fare in the great outdoors? Hannah J Davies
Escaping Scientology – And Escaping The Witnesses
9pm, Channel 5
Three women tell harrowing stories of life inside both the Church of Scientology and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. One woman found herself signed up to a “billion year” contract as part of the Church of Scientology’s devout Sea Organisation, living at the church’s Saint Hill Manor. The conditions she describes – all denied by the church – were squalid and degrading. She also says she was coerced into having an abortion. Another describes fear and isolation as a Jehovah’s Witness. Ben Arnold
Soup Cans & Superstars: How Pop Art Changed The World
9pm, BBC4
As the Who (a self-declared “pop art” band) said, “the simple things are all complicated”. Visually straightforward but full of satire, the work of Andy Warhol and company was a lot less asinine than its opponents contended. Alastair Sooke’s film develops that idea well, albeit at the expense of abstract expressionism, but he’s mighty low on vibes. There are good interviewees (Ed Ruscha, Claes Oldenburg), but the more taciturn James Rosenquist throws him completely. John Robinson
Muslim Drag Queens
10pm, Channel 4
A sensitive and moving look at the UK’s gay Asian community through the eyes of three men. Asif describes himself as the first “out and proud” Muslim drag queen, but he and his family have received death threats because of his high profile. As he mentors Ibrahim, whose parents have supported him since he came out, he’s also trying to change attitudes within his culture. Imran, meanwhile, is looking for love and finds his female alter ego Zareena is a hit with men on dating websites, especially married ones. Hannah Verdier
Film choice
The War Lord (Franklin Schaffner, 1965) 10.30am, More4
This sombre medieval epic stars Charlton Heston as a Norman warrior indulging his feudal right to take a bride from her husband on their wedding night. He is all brooding bitterness, wounded physically and mentally by years of conflict; she – Rosemary Forsyth’s Bronwyn – is a vital force of pagan beliefs and fertility. A fascinating drama, with superb photography by Russell Metty. Paul Howlett
Hard Times (Walter Hill, 1975) 2pm, Movie Mix
Hill’s debut as a director is a tough tale set in Depression-era New Orleans, where men make a hard living in illegal bareknuckle boxing bouts. Hill’s style is impressively economical but he was helped too by the presence of two former members of The Magnificent Seven in a no-nonsense pairing – Charles Bronson the impassive fighter, James Coburn his gabby manager. PH
Today’s best live sport
Test Cricket: The Ashes The final day of the series, assuming the game has lasted this long. 10am, Sky Sports Ashes
World Athletics Championships Today, medals will be decided in the men’s pole vault and 3,000m steeplechase, and women’s triple jump, 10,000m and 100m. 11am, BBC2
Premier League Football: Arsenal v Liverpool Brendan Rogers brings his remodelled team to London to face Arsène Wenger’s freshly hopeful Gunners. 7pm, Sky Sports 1
