Royal Recipes
3.45pm, BBC1
What do royals like to chow down on? Shepherd’s pie of dubious provenance, over-boiled cabbage and spotted dick with lumpy custard, probably, but that’s what boarding school does to your palate. Meanwhile, in the company of, among others, historian Polly Russell and chef Paul Ainsworth, Michael Buerk hosts a 15-part weekday series looking at dishes served up from George IV’s time to the reign of Elizabeth II. First up, crowning-day food, including, natch, coronation chicken. Jonathan Wright
Winterwatch 2017
8pm, BBC2
RSPB Arne in Dorset plays host to this daily strand of live wildlife programming. In practical terms, we know that we’ll largely be watching Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan sitting there in woolly hats waiting for something to happen but, scientifically, Poole harbour’s biodiverse environment means that it’s buzzing with all kinds of life. In addition to some visually attractive photography, we can also expect narratives about hedgehogs, mice, wading birds, cranes and ravens. John Robinson
Undercover: Britain’s Cheap Clothes – Channel 4 Dispatches
8pm, Channel 4
The issue of factories employing low-paid workers to make clothing is one that we think of as occurring in some far-flung country. Yet, it’s also happening closer to home. That’s what Tazeen Ahmad finds as she returns to the subject of her 2010 investigation: British-made clothes for big brands are stitched by staff who face unsafe conditions to earn a pittance. It’s a problem exacerbated by disposable “fast fashion”. Jack Seale
Horizon: Hair Care Secrets
9pm, BBC2
Hair is the dead protein that keeps our noggins warm, but throughout history it has held a cultural heft that far outweighs that reality. As such, the UK haircare market is worth hundreds of millions, but what do consumers know about the products they are buying? Do they live up to their claims and can big companies admit the limitations of their science? A nicely done – if slightly workaday – analysis led by scientist Anne Glover and GP Zoe Williams. Hannah J Davies
The Halcyon
9pm, ITV
It’s August 1940 and Americans are leaving town as the threat of German invasion looms, but inside the Halcyon, mini-dramas, fabulous costumes and an air of glamour still reign. Resident singer Betsey is distracted from her day job by a visit from her tipsy mother and Joe gets a tempting offer of a chatshow, although only if he leaves London. Receptionist Emma keeps her mind on the job as her romance with Freddie suffers a scare, but she has no shortage of alternative suitors. Hannah Verdier
The Affair
9pm, Sky Atlantic
As last week’s quietly tragic instalment showed, The Affair continues to depict the truth and sadness of the longings of the human heart, and the scrapes it gets us into, with an acuity that few shows can match. This week, the focus is on Maura Tierney’s Helen and Dominic West’s Noah. She makes an escape to Montauk but this only intensifies her feelings of guilt. Meanwhile, Noah, falling to pieces, gets involved in a violent confrontation unlikely to help matters. David Stubbs
Science of Stupid
10pm, National Geographic
As the show examining the logic lurking behind online lunacy reaches its fourth series, it’s fortunate there’s a near limitless lake of human haplessness to plunge into. Tonight’s double bill sees Dallas Campbell examine the fundamental flaws in such acts as performing pogo backflips and rattlebrained reverse parking. Of course, some equations involving skateboards, idiots and bollards are never really going to require the services of a Brian Cox. Mark Gibbings-Jones
Film Choice
Belle (Amma Asante, 2013) 9pm, Film4
Asante‘s 18th-century costume drama is based on the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the daughter of a ship’s captain and an African slave who was brought up in north London by her enlightened great-uncle, Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson). In society’s eyes, she is awkwardly unique, but her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray (Sarah Gadon), and campaigning clergyman’s son John Davinier (Sam Reid) are loving allies in a tale that addresses issues of slavery, race and class. Paul Howlett
The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki, 2013) 1.15am, Film4
A magical animated movie about a plane designer. Miyazaki’s final film is loosely based on the life of Jiro Horikoshi, creator of the Japanese Zero fighter, and out of the unlikely material comes a fantasy of breathtaking beauty to rival Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle. Set-pieces such as the 1923 Tokyo earthquake are simply staggering. PH
Today’s best live sport
Bowls: World Indoor Championships Coverage of the men’s pairs final. 1pm, BBC2
Africa Cup of Nations Football: Senegal v Algeria Mahrez’s Algeria take on the Lions of Teranga. (Tunisia v Zimbabwe is on simultaneously on Eurosport 2.) 6.45pm, Eurosport 1
Australian Open Tennis Coverage of the opening singles quarter-finals in both the men’s and women’s draw. 12midnight, Eurosport 1
