The Handmaid’s Tale
9pm, Channel 4
“Better never means better for everyone, it always means worse for some.” So learns Offred as the Margaret Atwood adaptation continues. Most obviously, it’s an idea that finds bleak expression in the denial of freedom visited upon women in theocratic Gilead, but it’s subtly underscored by the backstory of how Offred met her husband. Elsewhere, Fred reveals a penchant for “the old things”, and Serena Joy makes a surprising proposition. Superb. Jonathan Wright
Great Canal Journeys: India
8pm, Channel 4
After their various pootles around the waterways of Britain, Timothy West and Prunella Scales have pushed the boat out. They’re in India, tonight travelling up the Brahmaputra River as the series concludes. The actual travel content is generic (monasteries, elephants), but what gives the show its heft is the gentle devotion the couple evidently share, particularly given their openness about their increasing physical and mental fragility. Phil Harrison
Poldark
9pm, BBC1
Some Rossheads reckon Aidan Turner would make a good Bond, and he gets to do a bit of secret agenting tonight, trying to learn the fate of poor Dr Dwight by gathering intel in a dodgy Brittany pub. But outside in the streets of Roscoff, tops are coming off, and not in a sexy way (Madame Guillotine is hungry). Meanwhile on the Cornish coast, oleaginous George ascends to justice of the peace and targets Sam’s Methodist outreach. Graeme Virtue
The Loch
9pm, ITV
It’s pretty clear that they’ve been watching a lot of them there Scandi dramas at ITV towers. For all the excellence brought to this drama, it feels formulaic in its marriage of murder most foul and serenely scenic backdrops. Still, once bitten, you gotta watch. This week, criminal psychologist Albrighton vexes John Sessions’s Smilie still further when he makes public his serial-killer theory. Meanwhile, an unexpected discovery is made outside the village hall. David Stubbs
OMG! My Barbie Body
10.05pm, Channel 5
“If Barbie saw me now, she’d be jealous of me.” And so begins an open-mouthed gawper of a show about “Britain’s human Barbies”. When a woman admits she’s had surgery on her mouth to try to get a permanent smile, you know there’s a backstory or two coming. Of course, each Barbie is transforming herself to forget the past, so there’s sadness behind the surgery. Occasionally, there’s also a “Ken” working hard to help pay for these transformations. Hannah Verdier
Genius
9pm, National Geographic
Concluding the portrayal of the scientific icon (played by Geoffrey Rush). The man behind the theory of relativity is feeling his own reality bite. His health is failing, his family is departing and his energy is depleted by attention from the House Un-American Activities Committee. Even his beloved pipe eludes his grasp. All seems sour until he renews his academic interest during his last days. Even now, Einstein confounds conventional logic; a second series has been commissioned. Mark Gibbings-Jones
Shots Fired
9pm, Fox
Lots of US TV shows have toyed with Black Lives Matter-themed episodes, but only Shots Fired has made the movement the basis for an entirely new twist on the police procedural genre. Sheriff Platt gives upstart investigator Preston an unwelcome lesson in police work, Governor Eamons launches her new education initiative, and Richard Dreyfuss is coming into his own as a Mr Burns-type, malignant millionaire. It’s the cliches that make it so clever. Ellen E Jones
Film choice
Her, (Spike Jonze, 2013), 11.05pm, Film4
Photograph: Warner Bros/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar
In a near-future LA, Joaquin Phoenix is lonely Theodore Twombly, who, while painfully breaking up with his wife (Rooney Mara), falls for his new, Scarlett Johansson-voiced computer/mobile operating system, the warmly seductive Samantha. The cyber-affair takes a weird turn when Samantha sets Theodore up with a real woman willing to consummate their relationship. It’s a wry, thought-provoking satire on the absurd possibilities of human-IT interaction – and relationships in general. Paul Howlett
The Last Days on Mars, (Ruairi Robinson, 2013), 11.15pm, Channel 4
With space movies and zombie films thriving, how could we not expect a zombies-in-space cinema venture? Robinson’s well-crafted sci-fi adventure has an intriguingly international crew – Liev Schreiber, Romola Garai, Olivia Williams and all – on the last day of a six-month mission to the red planet, when things start to go horribly wrong. Paul Howlett
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
(Andrew Dominik, 2007), 11.20pm, ITV4
It may be a dying genre, but the western can still inspire works of real grandeur and authority. Brad Pitt gives the performance of his career as the outlaw Jesse James, an unstable blend of charisma and killer, with Casey Affleck twitchily affecting as Ford, the hero-worshipper turned assassin. It’s a dark and complex account of an American antihero, the nature of legend, and the downside of fame. Paul Howlett
Live sport
Formula 1 Motor Racing: The Azerbaijan Grand Prix Coverage of the eighth round of the season, held at the Baku City circuit. 1.35pm, Channel 4
Tennis: Queen’s The Wimbledon warm-up tournament concludes with the men’s final. 2pm, BBC1
T20 Cricket: England v South Africa The final game of the series from the Swalec stadium, Cardiff. 2pm, Sky Sports 2
