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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Jonathan WrightMark Gibbings-JonesBen ArnoldPhil HarrisonHannah VerdierGraeme VirtueDavid StubbsPaul Howlett

Saturday’s best TV: I Know Who You Are; Imagine: Chris Ofili

Imagine…Chris Ofili: The Caged Bird’s Song
Imagine…Chris Ofili: The Caged Bird’s Song Photograph: BBC/Oxford Film and Television/Jim Petersen

I Know Who You Are

9pm, BBC4

A confused and haggard middle-aged man walks down a remote road. Clearly, no good can stem from such a scenario, and so it proves in this Spanish legal thriller-cum-police procedural. The man is high-flying Spanish lawyer Juan Elías; his niece, whose blood was found in his car, is missing; and Elías claims to have lost his memory, echoing court cases in which his firm has been involved. An impressive opening double bill, all small clues and misdirections. Jonathan Wright

Pitch Battle

7.30pm, BBC1

Heat five of the choral contest, with a fresh sprinkling of polyphonic sprees summoned to the stage. Tonight’s sonic syndicates are the young chamber choir Tring Park 16, theatre-loving West Midlands ensemble Crescendo, pun-loving a cappella group Oxford Alternotives, classical quintet Vox-Xover, pop collective Vocalities and Dublin barbershop choir the Ramparts. Judges Gareth Malone and Kelis shuffle up for guest judge and Jonas Brother, Joe Jonas. Mark Gibbings-Jones

The Voice Kids Semi-Final

7.30pm, ITV

There have been ups, downs, duff notes and tears, but the junior version of spinning-chair talent show The Voice has now got its final 12 hopefuls. Judges Danny Jones from McFly, Pixie Lott and Will.i.am, each currently with four kids in the running, will have to cut two before the show is over, and the final tomorrow. The spoils for the winner include 30 grand, a trip to Disneyland Paris and likely a shot at a career in the music business. Ben Arnold

Imagine: Chris Ofili – The Caged Bird’s Song

9pm, BBC2

A new series of the arts perennial begins with a look at the background to Weaving Magic, Chris Ofili’s new exhibition at the National Gallery. As ever, Alan Yentob’s persistent presence will be a stumbling block to many but Ofili is fascinating company, taking his inspiration from Trinidad, classical craft traditions and, unexpectedly, eccentric Italian footballer Mario Balotelli (“There’s a deep, underlying sadness to him”, apparently). Phil Harrison

Big Brother

9pm, Channel 5

This year’s round of Big Brother housemates have been tricky to like. Still, as viewers defect to the more lusty and glamorous Love Island, the series limps on. Another daily visit to the house should bring the usual petty arguments, bedroom moves and stroppy visits to the diary room. Will Chanelle take Simone up on her invitation to hit her in the face? And who will be the next housemate to be forcibly removed from the show for being awful? Lovely stuff. Hannah Verdier

Explorer

10pm, National Geographic

Even if you’ve never heard of Explorer – a long-running yet nomadic US magazine show that packages up far-flung reports – it is well worth tuning in tonight for extra-special guest host Jeff Goldblum. The man who made chaos theory sexy in Jurassic Park dons a professorial turtleneck to wryly introduce stories from Japan, Antarctica and New Mexico, as well as having a discursive chinwag in the studio with actor Sam Rockwell. Graeme Virtue

Secret War on Drugs

9pm, History

“Drugs Win Drugs War”, ran a famous headline by the satirical Onion magazine, summing up the stupidity of counterproductive attempts by successive US administrations to eliminate narcotics. In this week’s episode, we reach the Reagan era and its strange mix of censorious moralising and utter liberalisation. Cocaine was the rise, lining the pockets of violent cartels, as well as a crack epidemic to which the CIA itself was allegedly connected. David Stubbs

Film choices

The Duke of Burgundy, (Peter Strickland, 2014) Saturday, 1.30am, Film4

The Duke of Burgundy
A curious tale of moths and sadomasochism … The Duke of Burgundy. Photograph: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock

This curious tale of moths and sadomasochism from the director of the creepy Berberian Sound Studio opens with housemaid Evelyn (Chiara D’Anna) cycling to a rural mansion to be bossed and punished (behind closed doors) by the haughty lepidopterist Cynthia (Borgen’s Sidse Babett Knudsen). Soon we learn that they are lovers, and it is Evelyn who strictly controls their S&M scenes with handwritten scripts. It’s shot with a loving eye for lingerie and an arthouse appreciation of butterflies. Tender, erotic and sweetly funny. Paul Howlett

Inception, (Christopher Nolan, 2010), 9.45pm, ITV
Nolan’s scintillating, cerebral sci-fi action movie combines the kinetic violence of his Batman films with the headbanging complexity of Memento. Leonardo DiCaprio is Cobb, an industrial spy who breaks into people’s minds. He is commissioned by Ken Watanabe’s mysterious magnate to carry out an “inception” – infiltrating many layers of dreams-within-dreams to plant a sabotaging thought in the head of business rival Cillian Murphy. A brilliantly compelling yet playful drama. Paul Howlett

Heat, (Michael Mann, 1995), 9pm, Dave
Mann’s masterly gangster movie sets up a deadly contest between two of the screen’s most charismatic performers: Al Pacino’s driven detective, cat-and-mousing with hood Robert De Niro. The whole cast, including Val Kilmer and Diane Venora, is beefy and believable. The action – a crackling city street shootout – is superbly staged. And the air is full of macho melancholy. Paul Howlett

The Hunger Games, (Gary Ross, 2012), 10pm, Channel 4
The first in the series based on Suzanne Collins’s bestsellers creates a mildly satirical dystopia in which a totalitarian state channels the aggression and frustration of the downtrodden masses into a televised gladiatorial game that has teenagers fighting to the death. Nothing new there, except for the creation of a striking screen hero: Jennifer Lawrence’s courageous, self-reliant, deadly accurate archer, Katniss Everdeen. Paul Howlett

Live sport

Test Cricket: England v South Africa The second day of the second Test from Trent Bridge. 10am, Sky Sports 2

Tennis: Wimbledon 2017 Coverage of the women’s singles final. 1pm, BBC1

Athletics: World Para Championships 2017 Day two of the championships, which takes place at the London Stadium. 7pm, Channel 4

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