Sherlock
8.30pm, BBC1
Did you miss him? The clever man in the coat (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) returns with his crime-fighting family, now including John and Mary’s baby. But cute it’s not. Keep your eyes on the rug, because Moffat and Gatiss hold its edge, waiting for the right moment to yank it from under you. The Six Thatchers sees Sherl on the trail of a smashing bust (well, six of them). Who is going around the country, destroying effigies of Maggie Thatcher and why? Julia Raeside
Alan Rickman: Talking Pictures
2.40pm, BBC2
The death of Alan Rickman on 14 January 2016 robbed us of a brilliantly versatile actor every bit as comfortable in Chekhov plays as he was in Hollywood blockbusters. Many people think of him in connection with Die Hard and Harry Potter, but his career also encompassed Shakespeare and Trollope; Coward and Ibsen. This doc, featuring interviews recorded at various stages in his career, bears witness to a life well lived. Phil Harrison
World’s Strongest Man 2016
7pm, Channel 5
Pun-toting podcaster James Richardson presents final-day action at the annual muscle hustle, from Botswana’s Chobe national park. With 10 contenders clamouring for the title, the final promises to determine the daddy of the Deadlift, the king of the Keg Toss and the premier of the Power Stairs. All broadcast on a day when much of the viewership can barely lift themselves from the sofa to grab a Quality Street. Mark Gibbings-Jones
Titanic: the New Evidence
8pm, Channel 4
Why did RMS Titanic steam at full speed through an area where there were known to be icebergs? And why did the liner, still afloat two hours after its collision, suddenly start to sink so rapidly? According to journalist and Titanic expert Senan Molony, an answer to both these questions lies in a fire smouldering in the ship’s boiler rooms, a blaze allegedly concealed from its passengers. In a one-off documentary, he shares his thinking. Jonathan Wright
Mrs Brown’s Boys New Year Special
10pm, BBC1
In a second interminable festive instalment of Mrs Brown’s Boys, Agnes’s grandson Bono is being bullied, so, erm, she decides to threaten to stab the bully in question at the school gates. Unsurprisingly, that inflames the situation, so a mediation session with the boy’s mother is called, prior to which Agnes gets stoned on Grandad Brown’s medical marijuana. As ever, the best bits are when the cast – mercifully – forget their lines. Ben Arnold
Hawaii Five-0
9pm, Sky1
Season seven begins with a typically workaday case: a vigilante turns serial on serial killers, leaving chess pieces in the victims’ mouths. The most notable aspect of this episode, however, is the opening scene, in which McGarrett – recovering from last season’s operation – visits a chapel and strikes up a conversation with a ghostlike stranger who refers to having worked for the police. Could it be the original McGarrett, the late Jack Lord? Spooky. David Stubbs
Ancient Secrets Day
From 6am, PBS America
Chill and learn with PBS’ thorough documentaries, mixing standard history-show fare (dramatic reconstructions, talking heads) with big experiments and restorations. Among them, Secrets Of The Parthenon – in which we join a team of architects preserving the Acropolis temple – digging for origin-story clues in Secrets Of Stonehenge, and Secrets Of The Colosseum, which winches a live wolf into the ruins of the amphitheatre. Jack Seale
Film choices
ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982) 4.30pm, ITV
Spielberg’s consummate sci-fi fairytale about lonely earthboy Elliott (Henry Thomas), who befriends a cute stranded alien and helps him go home is schmaltz of galactic proportions. But it’s hard not to sob when ET’s little heart starts a-glowing again; or to cheer when he takes the young bikers on a flight to freedom. A perennial family treat. Paul Howlett
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (Brad Bird, 2011) 9pm, Channel 4
Tom Cruise pits his Impossible Missions team against terrorist Michael Nyqvist, who plans a nuclear armageddon. It’s the same old stuff, but Brad Bird, director of The Incredibles, excels in the action sequences, from the Russian prison breakout to a stunning scene 100 storeys up Dubai’s Burj Khalifa skyscraper. Simon Pegg’s nerdy techie Benji lightens the mood. PH
The Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists! (Peter Lord, Jeff Newitt, 2012) 11.10am, BBC1
Another wonderful fantasy from Aardman Animations, in which the Hugh Grant-voiced Pirate Captain sets sail to beat rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) to the Pirate of the Year award. When he happens on Charles Darwin (David Tennant) aboard the Beagle, all sorts of landlubberly machinations threaten to sink his plan, in an irrepressibly funny and witty adventure. PH
Today’s best live sport
Premier League Football: Watford v Tottenham Hotspur 12.30pm, Sky Sports 1 From Vicarage Road. Followed by Arsenal v Crystal Palace.
Racing: Cheltenham 1pm, ITV Coverage from the cards at Cheltenham and Musselburgh, as the sport returns to ITV for the first time since 1985.
World Darts Championship 7pm, Sky Sports 1 Day 14 of the contest from London, featuring the semi-finals.
