The Undateables
9pm, Channel 4
Series eight of the heartwarming dating show begins with a new cast of lovable characters. With Tourette’s making it hard to control his movements, 19-year-old rugby player Luke is anxious to make a good first impression. Becky, a self-confessed romantic who has curvature of the spine, has never had a boyfriend but is ready to find love. And Sam, who’s finding the gay scene intimidating, decides to try his luck to see if he can find the romance he longs for. Hannah Verdier
How to Lose Weight Well
8pm, Channel 4
To broadcasters, food science is the gift that slightly boringly keeps on giving. Scheduled to caution those who think that January purge answers festive excess, Dr Xand van Tulleken and dietician Hala El-Shafie oversee and make sense of fad diets. Xand road-tests diet pills then – presumably quite quickly – talks us through the benefits of short-term plans, six-week and four-month plans. One suspects that slow and low is the way to go. John Robinson
Silent Witness
9pm, BBC One
The hardy crime drama returns, and almost a year after Emilia Fox punched her way out of a coffin in Mexico (though a mere six fictional weeks later) Nikki Alexander is still having nightmares about her premature burial. Fellow pathologist Sally Vaughan (Emma Fielding) might be able to help – until she too goes missing, and colleague David Cannon (Julian Rhind-Tutt) is chief suspect in her disappearance. Meanwhile, a body is discovered in a reservoir. Ali Catterall
Surgeons: At the Edge of Life
9pm, BBC Two
Special ops: this sobering new fly-on-the-wall series embeds with surgical staff at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where more than 700 operations take place every week. In the first instalment, two maxillofacial surgeons prepare for a radical, marathon procedure to remove a recently diagnosed facial tumour where, even if the potentially life-saving operation is successful, their patient will lose her upper jaw and right eye. Graeme Virtue
Next of Kin
9pm, ITV
The Good Wife star Archie Panjabi is given a promising set-up for her first lead role back home. In classic “comfy middle-class person’s life is turned upside down” thriller style, her doctor character Mona learns that her brother has been abducted in Pakistan, on the same day London is hit by a serious terror attack. Meanwhile, her wayward nephew has gone awol. Jack Davenport, formerly of This Life and Pirates of the Caribbean films, co-stars as Mona’s political lobbyist husband as the secrets and lies spill in all directions. Jack Seale
Into the Fire
10pm, Really
There are countless shows depicting the real-life, frontline work of the police and ambulance services, but doing the same for the fire brigade has proven tricky. This groundbreaking new series uses heat-resistant helmet cameras worn by the firefighters of a West Midlands station themselves to show the challenges they face. Tonight, these include an unexploded bomb in the wake of the Manchester Arena attack and a large snake in a burning house. David Stubbs
The Teacher Who Defied Hitler
9pm, PBS America
When contemplating the apparent unanimity of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, it’s easy to forget that many brave souls within the country attempted to mitigate the horror at great risk to themselves. Teacher Leonore Goldschmidt and her husband were two such people. They discovered a loophole that allowed them to open a school and provided refuge to hundreds of Jewish children. A timely reminder that resistance can take unlikely forms. Phil Harrison
Film choice
Gallipoli (Peter Weir, 1981) 6.35pm, Film4
Two young Aussie buddies are caught up in the slaughter of Anzac forces in the Dardanelles in the first world war; Mark Lee’s fervent patriot and Mel Gibson’s chancer are messengers, sprinting with life-or-death orders between units. It’s a touching friendship, all the more so for being pitched into Weir’s gory anti-war scenes, full of the dusty horrors of the trenches.
Life of Pi (Ang Lee, 2012) 8pm, E4
Ang Lee’s screen version of Yann Martel’s Booker prize-winning novel is an exquisite exercise in magical realism. Suraj Sharma is the teenage Indian boy Pi, who finds himself on a life raft on a storm-tossed ocean with a zebra, hyena, orangutan and Bengal tiger Richard Parker for company. It’s an epic tale awash with stunning special effects. Teasing, intelligent and funny.
Live sport
Test Cricket: South Africa v India 8.30am, Sky Sports Main Event. Day four of the first Test from Cape Town.
Darts: BDO World Championships 12.05pm, Channel 4. The other darts world championships, this time from Lakeside Country Club.
FA Cup Football: Brighton & Hove Albion v Crystal Palace 7pm, BT Sport 2. Seagulls v Eagles at the Amex Stadium.
