Strike: Career of Evil
9pm, BBC One
The crime series featuring JK “Robert Galbraith” Rowling’s detective Cormoran Strike returns, with the ex-military copper working a case that appears to have links to his past, perhaps even to the death of his groupie mother. It is also an investigation that offers a nasty surprise for sidekick Robin Ellacott when she is sent a severed human leg. Despite this moment of gore, this is a character-driven detective drama of old-fashioned virtues, built around the central relationship between Strike and Ellacott. Jonathan Wright
Call the Midwife
8pm, BBC One
Ever one to supply a supportive shoulder, Barbara provides comfort to a widowed, pregnant mother-of-two as further misfortune looms for the unfortunate family. Over at the youth club, Lucille teaches a health and relationships class, attracting attention from the aggrieved mother of an attendee. Mark Gibbings-Jones
Top Gear
8pm, BBC Two
No longer the liberal-baiting front line in the nation’s culture wars – now simply a programme about cars presented by Joey from Friends – a new series of Top Gear feels like a non-event in 2018. For what it’s worth, Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris and Rory Reid begin their latest run with a road trip across the wild west. Phil Harrison
Endeavour
8pm, ITV
A mini-Morse inspired by real-life history this week – it is 1964 and there’s tension as Oxford prepares for Malcolm X’s speech to the student union. When a protest at the hairdressers’ stirs up racial unrest, Morse faces some tricky negotiations to keep the peace. Meanwhile, there is a murder at an army base. Hannah Verdier
Hannibal’s Elephant Army
8pm, Channel 4
Hannibal’s near-mythical Alpine crossing is scrutinised by historians, scientists (and elephant experts) in this gripping look at how the Carthaginian general may have pulled off the near-impossible. Did an army of 40,000 men, 9,000 cavalry and 37 elephants really climb every mountain? Ali Catterall
Homeland
9pm, Channel 4
Better call Saul: with her White House tenure looking wobbly, President Keane brings the CIA’s grouchiest spook in from the cold to try to combat fugitive rightwing foghorn Brett O’Keefe. Might the return of her gruff mentor dissuade Carrie from her secret campaign to ferret out a conspiracy? Probably not. Graeme Virtue
Film choice
Clouds of Sils Maria, 9.30pm, BBC Four
Photograph: Allstar/Cg Cinema
Olivier Assayas’s seductive, elusive drama follows Juliette Binoche’s feted actor as she ponders appearing in a play in which she had her breakthrough role years earlier. Kristen Stewart plays her personal assistant, and it’s the relationship between the two that provides the film’s frisson and mystery. Simon Wardell
Live sport
Winter Olympics 2018 Day 16 including the ladies 30km mass start biathlon. 6am, BBC Two
Premiership Rugby Union: Saracens v Leicester Tigers Coverage from Allianz Park. 3.15pm, BT Sport 1
League Cup Final: Arsenal v Manchester City The first silverware of the season is up for grabs at Wembley. 4pm, Sky Sports Main Event
