Down the Mighty River with Steve Backshall
9pm, BBC2
The river in question is the Baliem, which stretches 500km through New Guinean jungle. Nobody has previously negotiated its entire length: this two-part series chronicles the attempt of the naturalist Steve Backshall to become the first. Backshall’s breathless reminders of the difficulties are arguably overly frequent, but the danger is real enough: the country and the river, though beautiful, are wild and barely mapped. AM
Call the Midwife
8pm, BBC1
The series comes to an end with Shelagh in labour and Violet feeling the effects of the “change of life”. There’s much squealing at Nonnatus House when Barbara announces she’s bringing her wedding forward so her dad can conduct the marriage before he’s posted abroad. But there are hard-hitting consequences when a mother of three who’s keen to go back to work takes a trip to the nuns’ contraceptive clinic. Between tough and touching in the usual Midwife style. HV
The Jump Live Final
8.30pm, Channel 4
Unless something very surprising happens, the winner of whatever trinket denotes success in this eccentric winter sports challenge show will be Louis Smith. As a current sportsman whose discipline revolves around balance, the gymnast has been at an obvious advantage throughout. But the winning is almost besides the point; the appeal of The Jump lies in its mixture of camaraderie, danger and self-mocking humour. PH
SS-GB
9pm, BBC1
This has been a flawed series: it lacks counterfactual detail and its depiction of the Nazis as merely harshly authoritarian is morally galling. Sam Riley’s Archer is occasionally inaudible, though given the discretion required of him he can hardly go about bellowing like Brian Blessed. Things are starting to happen, though: this week, in the aftermath of the Highgate bombing, the Americans take notice of the Nazi threat, while Doug faces a vital mission. DS
War Child
10.30pm, Channel 4
At the close of this shattering film, a statistic: of the 100,000 unaccompanied child refugees travelling to Europe in the past two years, more than 10,000 are missing. And for Emran and Rawan, the two Middle Eastern children tracked here, through camps, forests and violent border points, the journey is also “far from over”. Jamie Roberts’s exemplary documentary gets under your skin, and brings you face to face with the innocents at the mercy of a broken world. AC
Wild Things
8pm, Sky1
A third series for the very silly but broadly entertaining family gameshow, in which one member of each team dons a large, vision-obscuring animal suit, while their partner guides them around an obstacle course. Think Total Wipeout or Takeshi’s Castle, but with the added disconnect of seeing a chicken try to assault a beaver, as happens in tonight’s episode. Plus, prepare for some “celeb” cameos from TV presenter couple Joe Swash and Stacey Solomon, among others. HJD
Woman
9pm, Viceland
Another double bill of this fine series in which Gloria Steinem tells unheard female stories from around the world. In the first episode, Steinem follows a 14-year-old Zambian girl through a pre-wedding ritual as she prepares to marry a 48-year-old man. Afterwards, she visits the Democratic Republic of the Congo to explore the use of rape as a weapon of war. It’s as harrowing as it sounds but, as the forces of regression threaten to get the upper hand around the world, essential viewing. PH
Film choices
The Lunchbox, (Ritesh Batra, 2013) Sunday, 9pm, BBC4
What a tender, funny, foodie romance this is. Life of Pi’s Irrfan Khan is Saajan, a widowed Mumbai insurance clerk whose tiffin lunch arrives at his desk each day, until a delivery mix-up replaces his dull restaurant food with that prepared by lonely housewife Ila (Nimrat Kaur) for her uninterested husband. This lunch, home-made with love, becomes the highlight of Saajan’s day and soon a shy correspondence begins between the two: an exchange of letters full of restrained yearning that hints at a possible happier future. PH
The Face of an Angel, (Michael Winterbottom, 2014), 10pm, BBC2
Photograph: Allstar/BBC FILMS
Winterbottom’s intriguing but ultimately unconvincing drama is inspired by and dedicated to Meredith Kercher, the British student murdered in Italy in 2007. It’s done as a film within a film, with Daniel Brühl’s German director Thomas Lang dallying with journo Kate Beckinsale and student Cara Delevingne while working on a fictional murder movie in Siena, but being intellectually hijacked by personal angst and the spirit of Dante. It’s an awkward and at times bizarre juxtaposition. PH
Sleepy Hollow, (Tim Burton, 1999), 10pm, E4
Washington Irving’s classic horror story is beautifully realised in Sleepy Hollow, starring Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, a constable in 18th-century New York. His newfangled scientific methods land him with an investigation into a headless horseman who is decapitating the not-so-good burghers of the small Dutch community of Sleepy Hollow. Droll and dark, with only Christina Ricci’s pallid features offering struggling Ichabod a little light. PH
The Constant Gardener, (Fernando Meirelles, 2005), 11.05pm, ITV3
Meirelles screens John le Carré’s thriller-cum-retrospective love story with impressive skill. It’s about how the Big Pharma drug companies exploit and corrupt people and governments, with Ralph Fiennes as a diplomat delving into murky British business in Kenya after his idealistic wife (an Oscar-winning Rachel Weisz)
is murdered. We’re used to Le Carré’s intrigue and betrayals, but this has real passion, too. PH
Live sport
Scottish Premiership Football: Celtic v Rangers 11.30am, Sky Sports 1 An inevitably lively Old Firm clash from Celtic Park.
FA Cup Football: Tottenham Hotspur v Millwall 1.30pm, BBC1 Leicester’s conquerors visit Spurs for a London derby.
Cycling: Paris-Nice 3pm, Eurosport 1 The final stage of the road race, featuring a 115.5km route starting and finishing in Nice.
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