Whitney: Can I Be Me
9pm, BBC2
An artist from a gospel background who became a mainstream sensation, Whitney Houston struggled with compromise. Here, great archive footage (singing in church aged 12, say) and strong interviews (the band from her 1999 tour serve up insights about her performance and background) turn this into a superior documentary from Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal. Drugs are a thing, for sure, but never underestimate the effects of family weirdness. John Robinson
Cannonball
7pm, ITV
Proof that just because something is self-aware enough to know it’s trash doesn’t mean it isn’t intensely irritating. In short: a new gameshow that’s a poundstore Total Wipeout, with “comedy” sound effects, ear-pounding musical accompaniment, editing that will probably give you a migraine, and inane banter-commentary from Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff that definitely will. Presumably everyone involved got a nice holiday to Malta out of it, so there’s that. Luke Holland
Venice Biennale: Britain’s New Voices
7.25pm, BBC2
Brenda Emmanus presents this profile of emerging artists preparing their contributions to the first Diaspora Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Filmed earlier this year, it now serves as a memorial to one of the artists included – Khadija Saye, who died in Grenfell Tower. All of the artists profiled have backstories at least as interesting as the work they’ve created to express them; the Diaspora Pavilion is as captivating as it is overdue. Andrew Mueller
The X Factor
8pm, ITV
The BBC’s recent attempts at Saturday night entertainment have made Simon Cowell’s fading talent show look fresh. And as the song tycoon hauls his creaking charabanc around the circuit once again for season 14, he hasn’t lost or sacked any judges: Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger all return, the first time there’s not been a reshuffle since the golden Simon-Cheryl-Dannii-Louis era. Is the winner hiding among the hopefuls at this first wave of auditions? Jack Seale
Inspector Montalbano
9pm, BBC4
This series is about so much more than mere murder mysteries; it’s about the crumbling but elegant Sicilian landscape and the pleasures of a morning coffee overlooking the sea. Tonight’s vignette/episode sees our hero make an act of kindness towards a vagrant. However, murder there must be, and the case involves Cosimo Barletta, an ageing lothario and businessman with a taste for young women, who appears to have been both shot and poisoned. David Stubbs
Year Million
9pm, National Geographic
If you enjoy lingering shots of latex-faced robots accompanying your worrisome predictions (and a Laurence Fishburne voiceover), then Year Million will be right up your strasse. The gist: once automation takes hold, vast swaths of society will be out of a job: 40% in the next 20 years is one figure. Suddenly as a species we’re a bit redundant. Hats off to this new series for snaring futurist visionaries such as Ray Kurzweil as talking heads, mind. Ben Arnold
Cruel and Unusual
9pm, More4
Robert King, Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace were dubbed “the Angola three”, after the Louisiana prison where they spent decades in solitary confinement for a murder they always claimed they didn’t commit; in the case of Woodfox (he was released in 2016), an unimaginable 43 years. This feature-length documentary tells of their fight not only for justice, but also basic human rights against a sadistic system seemingly biased at its core. A difficult but vital watch. Sharon O’Connell
Film choice
I’m So Excited (Pedro Almodóvar, 2013) Saturday, 12.25am, BBC2
A circling plane on the verge of crashing is a metaphor for the plight of Spain’s collapsing economy in Almodóvar’s fun-filled satire. In a parody of Hollywood’s aerial disaster films, cameo stars Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas are the ground staff who accidentally leave Madrid-to-Mexico flight 2549 fatally compromised. With economy class drugged into unconsciousness, the action unfolds around the cockpit, seven business class passengers and three sky-high gay air stewards. Paul Howlett
The Book of Life (Jorge R Gutiérrez, 2014) 1pm, Film4
Mexico’s day of the dead festival seems an unlikely setting for an animated children’s adventure, but Gutierrez’s story of a puppet love-triangle is a real treat. It’s a vivid tale of the rivalry between musician-turned-matador Manolo (Diego Luna) and warrior Joaquin (Channing Tatum) for the love of free-spirited Maria (Zoe Saldana). A fantastic film. PH
Mrs Miniver (William Wyler, 1942) 8.35am, BBC2
Sentimental, stirring wartime drama. Greer Garson won an Oscar as the eponymous heroine, disarming a German airman who has the temerity to land in her village garden. Hubby Walter Pidgeon forsakes the dahlias to lend a hand at Dunkirk, and it ends with a sermon in the ruins of a bombed church. PH
The Masque of the Red Death (Roger Corman, 1964) 6.40pm, Horror Channel
A marvellous, macabre horror story from Corman and star Vincent Price’s Edgar Allan Poe series. Price is at his diabolical best as 12th-century Italian satanist Prince Prospero, who, supposedly safe in his castle from a rampant plague called “the red death”, torments his guests and indulges in devilish orgies, unaware of the strange, crimson-cloaked figure hanging about in the graveyard. Nicolas Roeg’s startling photography revels in the baroque atmosphere. PH
Today’s best live sport
Horse Racing: Sandown Park, Chester, Beverley 1.30pm, ITV4 Oli Bell hosts coverage of today’s three meetings.
Premiership Rugby Union: Saracens v Northampton Saints 1.30pm, BT Sport 1 The opening round of fixtures gets under way at Twickenham.
Triathlon: British Mixed Relay Cup 2.15pm, BBC1 Ore Oduba presents coverage of the inaugural international event from Nottingham.
