Next of Kin
9pm, ITV
Episode one warned that this drama may squander an interesting story: leaden dialogue and nagging implausibilities dogged the too-slow rollout of the core facts. We know now, at least, that the brother of London GP Mona has been killed by Islamists in Lahore and that her vulnerable nephew is there, too, perhaps under radicalisation’s spell. So Archie Panjabi can get on with the rash heroism this kind of thriller demands. Mona is in Pakistan, and she’s ignoring advice. Jack Seale
Extreme Cake Makers
5.30pm, Channel 4
Another series for the baking show in which the creations are never easy as pie. This week, that means a lifesize edible cow created by cake maker Molly for Bakewell’s annual baking festival, a succulent-themed wedding cake from Suzanne and gallery-worthy hexagonal bakes by Nastassja. While there’s not enough time to get into the craft behind these treats and definitely no Bake Off-style thrills, there are worse ways to spend half an hour. Hannah J Davies
Silent Witness
9pm, BBC One
There is a sucker punch of an ending to tonight’s episode – appropriately, in a series that sees Jack sparring in the ring with DCI Naomi Silva. Speaking of the latter, Nikki is surprised to find Silva is the senior investigation officer in the case of Karen, a murdered, pregnant young woman, whose blood-soaked husband, Pete, is the prime suspect. Might there also be a connection to the cosmetic clinic, Hamilton Ashe hospital, where Karen was receiving free treatment? Ali Catterall
Surgeons: At the Edge of Life
9pm, BBC Two
This week at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, its heroic surgeons take on two procedures so hazardous that they wouldn’t have even been contemplated even a few years ago. The cardiac team decide to drain a 67-year-old chap, Bob, of all his blood, stop his heart and remove a tumour, while Jasmine, who is 74, has a large tumour removed from her abdomen. Nothing trivial, then, and not for the fainthearted. Ben Arnold
Anjelica Huston on James Joyce: A Shout in the Street
9pm, BBC Four
In 1987, Anjelica Huston starred in her father John’s film version of James Joyce’s The Dead. It was his last movie, and she brings an emotional connection to this account of the Irish writer’s life, from his first sexual awakening, his uneasy relationship with Ireland and his years of exile in Trieste, Zurich and Paris, where he enjoyed the prestige of being a banned writer. We’re also afforded an introductory taste of his great, if daunting works. David Stubbs
Active Shooter
9pm, Sky Atlantic
Re-examining notorious US mass shootings in detail sounds like a tough or, more likely, lurid watch. But this new series, which debuted in the US last year, makes a creditable effort to shift focus away from the perpetrators, gathering testimony from survivors and first responders to highlight the aftermath of such attacks. It begins in 2012 in Aurora, Colorado at a packed midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises. Graeme Virtue
The Wave
8pm, W
Rylan Clark-Neal has a beach bar boasting a pub quiz with a difference: the prizes are hundreds of metres from shore. Answers from one partner determines the contents of the money belt affixed to the other: cash if lucky, lead weights if not. The task is to swim ashore within a time limit with any accumulated cash. The concept is ultimately beached by lumpen production values, a supposedly thrilling finale throttled by mist-mangled long-lens shots. Mark Gibbings-Jones
TV films
The Grey (Joe Carnahan, 2011) 9pm, More4. A plane crash in snowy Alaska: the seven surviving oil riggers on board must trek to safety, pursued by a pack of ferocious timber wolves. Luckily, Liam Neeson’s Ottway, a wolf-hunter by trade, is in charge, though that doesn’t prevent some nasty ends in a chilly, thrilling adventure, atmospherically shot by Masanobu Takayanagi.
Live sport
Tennis: The Australian Open 7.45am, Eurosport 1. Coverage of day one of the opening grand slam event of the season.
Test Cricket: South Africa v India 8am, Sky Sports Main Event. Day three of the second Test from SuperSport Park in Centurion.
Premier League Football: Manchester United v Stoke City 7pm, Sky Sports Main Event. Unsettled Stoke try their luck at Old Trafford.
