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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Mike Bradley, Phil Harrison, Jack Seale, Graeme Virtue and Paul Howlett

Saturday’s best TV: Mystery Road; Performance Live: Hofesh Shechter’s Clowns

Mystery Road.
Mystery Road. Photograph: BBC/Bunya Productions/all3media international

Mystery Road

9pm, BBC Four

This slow-burning six-part Australian drama is a spin-off from Ivan Sen’s films Mystery Road and Goldstone. The pace reflects the speed of life on a remote cattle station in western Australia, where a pair of backpackers happen upon an abandoned pickup truck with an empty petrol tank and the keys still in the ignition. Who was at the wheel? Local cop Emma James (the brilliant Judy Davis) enlists the help of indigenous detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen), a man of few words who embarks on an unconventional investigation. Mike Bradley

New Order Night

8.30pm, Sky Arts

They have had an unusually storied career and this evening of documentaries and live performances covers New Order’s full lifespan, exploring their traumatic but cathartic formation, a 2017 collaboration with artist Liam Gillick and, finally, a hit-heavy concert in Glasgow in 2006. Phil Harrison

The X Factor

8.35pm, ITV

Still more auditions. This year’s judging panel feels like a failed one-season experiment, with Louis Tomlinson too diffident and Robbie Williams not fun enough to compensate for the bizarre hiring of his wife Ayda Field. Putting Mrs W on cheesy one-liner duty has only made the cringe more acute. Jack Seale

How the Victorians Built Britain

9pm, Channel 5

Michael Buerk’s brisk historical doc concludes with a look at how mass manufacturing reshaped the UK. He seems tickled by the industrial rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester, and hears how the invention of the sewing machine was like “a nuclear weapon going off”. Graeme Virtue

Killing Eve

9.25pm, BBC One

Now that our introductions to the characters in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s seductive spy thriller have been completed, the plot gathers pace. MI6 give Eve her own office and permission to hire two agents. Meanwhile international assassin Villanelle is getting bolder with each kill. Mike Bradley

Performance Live: Hofesh Shechter’s Clowns

10.30pm, BBC Two

The Performance Live strand rarely disappoints, and this dance piece from Israeli choreographer Hofesh Schecter is no exception. It is a macabre circus of comedy, murder and desire, asking how far humanity will go in the name of entertainment. Mike Bradley

Film choice

The Skin I Live In, 12.20am, BBC Two

The Skin I Live In.
The Skin I Live In. Photograph: Publicity image from film company

Pedro Almodóvar’s diversion into mad-scientist horror undercuts his visual elan with the furtive nastiness of David Cronenberg. Antonio Banderas exudes icy threat as a plastic surgeon who keeps
the beautiful Eve (Elena Anaya) locked in his mansion in a weird, flesh-toned skinsuit. Paul Howlett

Live sport

Premier League Football: Fulham v Watford Top-flight action with Fulham needing a win at Craven Cottage. 11.30am, Sky Sports Main Event

Rugby League Super 8s: Warrington Wolves v St Helens From the Halliwell Jones Stadium. 3.15pm, Sky Sports Main Event

Darts: PDC Champions League More group-stage matches from Brighton Centre. 6.30pm, BBC Two


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