Planet Earth II
8pm, BBC1
Planet Earth first caressed our screens 10 years ago, offering near-unparalleled access to the natural world. Now this sequel promises even more immersive majesty, utilising new techniques to capture nature in greater detail. We open with island life, thousands of distinct ecosystems peppering the planet and offering unique challenges for inhabitants, reality providing just as much heart-wrenching tension as any drama. A worthy successor to the original, this is unmissable. Mark Gibbings-Jones
Poldark
9pm, BBC1
The world of Poldark is in a right mess as the series draws to a close. Demelza is still unable to forgive Ross for that shameful night with Elizabeth, so she heads off to spend time with the very pregnant Verity. Back at home, Dwight joins the navy when he hears some news about Caroline and Ross is thinking about going off to war. Elizabeth’s having a miserable time with George and it doesn’t look as if it’ll get any better as the locals turn on them. Hannah Verdier
The Next Great Magician
7pm, ITV
It’s The X Factor for magicians, hosted by Stephen Mulhern and Rochelle from the Saturdays. Every week, six illusionists will unveil their talents, with the grand prize being their own ITV special. The twist is that the performers have to conduct the judging among themselves. Why? Well, it stops them needing a starry panel of conjurors, so there’s that. The standard is high, with top turns from Frenchman Xavier Mortimer and escapology from Jonathan Goodwin. Ben Arnold
Storyville: Weiner – Sexts, Scandals and Politics
9pm, BBC4
After his first round of sexting-based indiscretions were made public in 2011, New York congressman Anthony Weiner resigned under a cloud. Then – just when it seemed that all that was behind him during his bid to become mayor of the city in 2013 – another scandal emerged. This Storyville doc is a captivating cautionary tale, following the effects of fresh humiliation not only on Weiner, but his family and Democratic allies. Hannah J Davies
John Berger: The Art Of Looking
10.30pm, BBC4
Celebration of the critic, painter, poet and novelist’s 90th birthday. The film is both a study of Berger’s rediscovery of the visual world after cataract surgery and a recollection of an extraordinarily influential career. Among those contributing are several of Berger’s collaborators – including director Michael Dibb and cartoonist Selçuk Demirel – and his two children, who have taken up branches of their father’s trades. Andrew Mueller
Y Gwyll
9pm, S4C Digital
You don’t have to leave the UK to find Scandi-style subtitled noir. Now on with shortened running time, and in the original Welsh, this brooding crime drama (also known as Hinterland) continues to exert a compelling hold for its third run. Tonight’s episode finds Mathias journeying out from the UK’s most windswept police station to investigate the murder of a wife-beating priest. Surly Trystyn is in the frame, but he suggests the answer lies a lot closer to home. John Robinson
Home Front Heroes With Ian Lavender
9pm, More4
What was life like for young people who served on the home front during the second world war? Presumably chosen for the task because he found fame as naive Private Frank Pike of the Home Guard in Dad’s Army, Ian Lavender meets some of those who toiled as land girls, forestry workers, nurses, Wafs, entertainers and coal-mining Bevin Boys. Plus – because it’s de rigueur for such a doc – he takes a trip in a Spitfire. Jonathan Wright
Film choice
Photograph: Touchstone/Allstar
Dead Poets Society (Peter Weir, 1989), 11.15pm, BBC2
Robin Williams is an English teacher whose lessons in seizing the day go down well with the students, but fail to impress the conservative parents of Welton Academy in New England, circa 1959. One of those occasions when Williams’s madcap talents are gainfully employed: he could’ve done with Weir’s poetically efficient brand of direction more often. Paul Howlett
Philadelphia (Jonathan Demme, 1993), 9pm, Film4
Hollywood’s restrained and honourable attempt to grasp the Aids nettle. The Oscar-winning Tom Hanks plays a gay lawyer who, sacked by his firm when boss Jason Robards discovers he has Aids, takes them to court, for the principle of the thing. His homophobic attorney, Denzel Washington, is likewise committed to a sense of fairness. It plays to the emotions, of course, and nowhere more obviously than in Springsteen’s heartfelt theme song Streets Of Philadelphia, but is committed to both the issues and human drama. PH
MASH (Robert Altman, 1970), 11pm, Gold
Altman’s account of US medics at work in the Korean war is a bloody-minded comedy about Vietnam (screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr won an Oscar for his adaptation of Richard Hooker’s novel). It’s packed with wacky characters who lived on in the long-running TV spin-off, but at the centre of gory operations is the anarchic double act of Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould as medical mavericks Trapper and Hawkeye. Fast, cynical, and – despite all the good surgical deeds – perhaps lacking in heart. PH
Today’s best live sport
Premier League Football: Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur, 11.15am, BT Sport 1
An early start for the typically testy clash of the north London rivals. Kickoff is at 12noon.
Cycling: The Track Cycling World Cup, 2.30pm, BBC2 Coverage from the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow.
Athletics: The New York Marathon, 2.30pm, Eurosport 1 The famous road race has its 47th outing.
