Strictly Come Dancing
6.50pm, BBC One
It is back to base camp after last week’s Blackpool extravaganza and the seven couples who made it through face a new challenge. This week they must take on a “Pasodoble-athon” in which they all have to hoof that paso doble at the same time. And, in a new twist, there are extra points for the dancers who do the best job. With Jonnie and Oti heading for home last week, the fabulous Debbie McGee continues to shine as the competition hots up. Hannah Verdier
The X Factor: The Semi Finals
7.30pm, ITV
In theory, giving this year’s edition of the veteran talent show a shake-up wasn’t the worst idea. After all, this is a programme that’s even older than the decrepit Apprentice and Dragons’ Den. In practice, though, it didn’t quite work; it now lacks any real tension, extinguished in favour of two live shows, double eliminations and sing-offs for weekly prizes. As we reach the semi-finals, can anyone challenge slick boyband Rak-Su? Hannah J Davies
Michael McIntyre’s Big Show
8.10pm, BBC One
This week on McIntyre’s Big Show, Danny “197th in line to the throne” Dyer allows the liberal use of his phone in the Send to All segment, while Gary Barlow – having chosen a truly unforgivable suit jacket for the occasion – takes to the stage to publicly embarrass a group of unsuspecting folk with a Take That karaoke skit that goes on for just a bit too long. If all that wasn’t sufficient deterrent, there’s Russell Kane. Ben Arnold
Joe Orton Laid Bare
9pm, BBC Two
“I have high hopes of dying in my prime,” Joe Orton wrote in his diary in July 1967. Wish granted. Fifty years after his brutal murder at the hands of lover Kenneth Halliwell, this revealing, rude and melancholy film, featuring the playwright’s own words, explores his short but dazzling life and career, plus a performance of an unpublished “pornographic” playlet (“While you were diddling Auntie, I got carried away with several rolls of embroidery cotton”). Ali Catterall
Witnesses: A Frozen Death
9pm, BBC Four
After this French crime thriller first aired on Channel 4 in 2015, a second, standalone series has been snapped up by the home of foreign-language drama, BBC Four. That bodes well, as does the presence of Spiral’s Audrey Fleurot, who plays an amnesiac, linked to 15 dead men found frozen aboard an abandoned bus. It’s a far-fetched set-up, but the level-headed Lieutenant Sandra Winkler (Marie Dompnier) is still on hand to investigate. Ellen E Jones
The Marijuana Revolution
9pm, History
A briskly told social history of the recreational drug. As the film makes plain, though, pot is more than that. Since the last century, its users have been prosecuted as a way of clamping down on dissenting American voices, at a cost of billions. However, leniency around medical marijuana since the 1980s has changed the legal outlook. Four states have legalised recreational use, and markets are evolving. Corporate pot can’t be far away. John Robinson
Counterterror NYC
7pm, National Geographic
The eight people killed by the driver of a truck in Manhattan earlier this month were New York’s first victims of Islamist terrorism since 9/11. This predictably but perhaps forgivably gung-ho doc focuses on the people due much credit for that long stretch of relative security: the counterterrorism bureau of the NYPD. They face the same challenge as all great cities: maintaining a balance between openness and security. Andrew Mueller
Film choice
Murder on the Orient Express, (Sidney Lumet, 1974) Saturday, 10.10am, ITV3
Kenneth Branagh’s valiant update notwithstanding, Sidney Lumet’s lustrous and elegant thriller is still the best screen adaptation of any of Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries. The question is: who killed irritating industrialist Richard Widmark? Albert Finney is the famously pernickety Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, who must solve the riddle before the express chugs into Paris. Among the glittering cast helping with his inquiries are Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Jacqueline Bisset, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave and Michael York. Paul Howlett
Ex Machina, (Alex Garland, 2015) Saturday, 9pm, Channel 4
Innocent nerd Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a techie working for a software giant, wins the big prize: a trip to the remote, hi-tech estate of corporation founder Nathan (Oscar Isaac). There he is presented with Alicia Vikander’s beautifully formed Ava, who is clearly a robot (you can see most of her mechanical bits), but does she have consciousness? Writer Alex Garland’s directorial debut creates a bright and gleaming, Kubrickian near-futureworld, in which an eerie love story unfolds. Paul Howlett
Avatar, (James Cameron, 2009), 3.20pm, Film4
Hang on to your sofas, here’s James Cameron’s famously 3D space epic. This Pocahontas tale writ unbelievably large stars Sam Worthington as a paraplegic marine who, through avatar technology, gets to run, fly, fight and schmooze with the Na’vi inhabitants of the moon Pandora. It’s an exhilarating ride boasting some stunning special effects. Paul Howlett
Albert Nobbs, (Rodrigo Garcia, 2011), 11.35pm, BBC Two
Star, co-writer and producer Glenn Close had wanted to bring this project to the screen since playing Albert Nobbs on stage in the early 80s. It’s set in a small Dublin hotel where Nobbs has long worked as a waiter, guarding the secret that she is in fact a woman in man’s clothing. It’s involving enough as a study of gender inequality and identity, but Close is an awkward, uncomfortable presence in her male skin. Paul Howlett
Live sport
International Rugby Union: England v Samoa With Wales v New Zealand to follow at 4.45pm on BBC Two. 2.45pm, Sky Sports Main Event
Premier League Football: Liverpool v Chelsea Jürgen Klopp’s improving scousers host Chelsea. 5pm, BT Sport 1
Ashes Cricket: Australia v England The fourth day of the first Test from the Gabba, Brisbane. 11.30pm, BT Sport 1
