Robot Wars
8pm, BBC2
The rebooted Wars roars on to BBC2 as Sir Killalot and co prowl the fibreglass-walled arena once more. Other than new host Dara O Briain, little has changed. Technical tubthumping is often followed by a team accidentally driving their expensively kitted bot into a hole, while wry smiles result from the grizzled robo-voiceover growling things like “Hemel Hempstead”. Indeed, little has been done to remove the show from the rut that saw the original series cancelled. Mark Gibbings-Jones
Saddam Goes to Hollywood
8pm, Channel 4
In 1980, Saddam Hussein commissioned a mega-budget movie about the birth of Iraq. Wonky writing and direction, and the larger problem of shooting during a war with Iran, produced a turkey. The British cast and crew who rather naively took the money, then spent several chaotic months marooned in Iraq, reminisce here. It’s a potentially incredible story but many main players are absent or, in the case of leading man Oliver Reed, dead. Jack Seale
The Secret Agent
9pm, BBC1
No more clandestine theorising above the shop: in the second episode of this excellent three-part drama, theory is put into practice. The clock is ticking on Vladimir’s deadline for the Greenwich explosion, so Verloc (Toby Jones) leaves the pornography and ivory penises of his establishment to get things moving. Spheres of influence conspire to keep him from arrest, but one suspects he will not escape other consequences of his actions. John Robinson
Fixing Dad
10pm, BBC2
“Dad” is Geoff Whitington, father of film-maker brothers Anthony and Ian. In his mid-60s, Geoff has let himself go: he works too hard, his diet is poor, his habits unhealthy, his type 2 diabetes a growing threat. Fixing Dad chronicles the brothers’ efforts to turn their father’s life around before it is lost. It’s not easy; Whitington Sr is stubborn and self-sacrificing but his sons have to make those qualities work for him, rather than against him. Andrew Mueller
Arena: 1966 – 50 Years Ago Today
10pm, BBC4
The summer of love may have grabbed all the headlines, but the previous year, 1966, was way more interesting, as Paul Tickell and Jon Savage’s brilliantly compelling film, based on the latter’s recent book, makes clear. Bookended by scenes from Jonathan Miller’s Alice In Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat’s leering statement “We’re all mad here” proves an appropriate backdrop for The War Game, LSD and Cathy Come Home. Ali Catterall
Strangest Bird Alive
8pm, Nat Geo Wild
The ostrich is the biggest bird on Earth, and the fastest moving on land. It is also, by this evidence, easily the weirdest. A prehistoric quirk of evolution, it struggles to survive in the baking heat of the Namib desert, and following the male’s bizarre dance of courtship, a pair of ostrich must then time their breeding to perfection in order to coincide with the rains. If the conditions are not just right, their brood will stand no chance of survival. Ben Arnold
Beauty and the Beast
8pm, W
The final series of the fantasy drama kicks off with super-sexy couple Cat and Vincent on honeymoon in Paris. All that beastly business is behind them and they can finally enjoy married life. Except, of course, it’s not long before “the B-word” rears its ugly head when a blogger threatens to expose the identities of other beasts. After a murder, it’s clear that Vincent could help, but if he did it would mean sacrificing any hope he’d have of a normal life. Hannah Verdier
Film choice
The Others (Alejandro Amenábar, 2001), 11.40pm, Film4
With barely a hint of special effects, Amenábar fashioned a distinctly chilly horror story for his first Hollywood movie. Much of the credit goes to Nicole Kidman for her controlled performance as Grace, living a prison-like existence in a postwar Jersey mansion with her two children as they await the return of their father (Christopher Eccleston) from war. They are allergic to sunlight, so all curtains are drawn, all doors locked: it’s a candlelit world in which things can go bump in both night and day… Paul Howlett
Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954), 1.30pm, BBC2
Vintage Hitchcock, with James Stewart starring as a news photographer, laid up with a broken leg and apparently witnessing a murder when snooping on the neighbours opposite. Although the action is restricted to his apartment, it grips tight as suspicions against menacing Raymond Burr grow. A masterly thriller, with Grace Kelly the girlfriend drawn into the investigation and a disturbing subtext about the hero as voyeur. PH
I Am Legend (Francis Lawrence, 2007) 10.15pm, ITV
Adapted from a 1950s sci-fi novel, via the 1971 Charlton Heston movie The Omega Man, this is the gripping tale of the last healthy man on Earth (and his dog), trying to evade the creatures of the night after a great plague has swept the planet. It runs into traditional horror hijinks at the end, but Will Smith as the sole guy struggling against monsters and lonesomeness carries the film impressively. PH
