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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Julia Raeside, Rachel Aroesti, Mark Jones, Hannah J Davies, Andrew Mueller, David Stubbs and Jack Seale

Thursday’s best TV

Banks job… Sharon Small and Peter Mullan star in Stonemouth.
Banks job… Sharon Small and Peter Mullan star in Stonemouth. Photograph: Graeme Hunter/BBC/Slate Films/Graeme Hunter

Domino’s Pizza: A Slice Of Life
8pm, Channel 4

More than just pizza, Domino’s is a philosophy. Since arriving in the UK in 1985, the brand has opened 800 stores and built a robust employee culture. “Dominoids”, as the most committed are called, are those like Matt in Llanelli who live it (he has put on some weight since joining the company), love it (he married area manager Emma), and hope to join the family (by buying a franchise). The “fastest pizza” contest will have your head spinning – and so will the sight of so many people so motivated about work. Julia Raeside

Stonemouth
9pm, BBC2

When Stewart Gilmour hears about his best friend Callum’s apparent suicide, he decides to return to his hometown for the funeral – a place his ex-fiance’s drug lord father ran him out of two years ago, and whose odd behaviour casts doubts over what really happened to Callum. The first TV adaptation of Iain Banks’s work since his death is heavy on voiceover and flashbacks but less so on atmosphere, with the pacy, erudite dialogue sitting awkwardly over the tea-time soap aesthetics. Rachel Aroesti

Britain’s Busiest Airport – Heathrow
9pm, ITV

Episode two of the series exploring the inner workings of the UK’s biggest airport. With an ever-increasing number of passengers arriving at Heathrow, giganto-planes such as the Airbus A380 have helped satisfy demand. But bigger planes need emptying, refuelling and repopulating to a punishingly precise schedule. Meanwhile inside Terminal Two, a situation arises with a group of pro-peace protestors who clearly have a sense of irony, considering the volume at which they operate. Mark Jones

The Tribe
9pm, Channel 4

No, not the cult kids’ show about a post-apocalyptic future full of cybergoths, but something even stranger: the first in a four-part documentary series peering into the lives of a Hamar family in rural Ethiopia. Although their son Arrada has a mobile phone, elders Ayke Muko and Kerri Budo live in a traditional world of second wives, arranged marriages and goat dowries. An interesting watch but there is something voyeuristic about co-opting this culture for a One Born Every Minute-style obs doc. Hannah J Davies

Chris Packham’s Natural Selection
9pm, BBC4

Chris Packham, usually seen fronting Springwatch and associated paeans to the natural world, takes a turn as chatshow host. His guests are the conceptual artist Jeremy Deller and activist George Monbiot – who, as Packham sees it, share his own “anger, and a desire to use anger creatively”. The discussion is illustrated with highlights of his guests’ documentary work: the conversation focuses on the best means of protecting the nature their work often celebrates. Andrew Mueller

The Marriage of Reason and Squalor
9pm, Sky Arts

A promising and unlikely venture, this – an avant-garde take on the romcom devised by visual artist Jake Chapman. Sophie Kennedy Clark plays Lydia, whose handsome and successful fiance has given her a desert island as a wedding present. She travels there to await him but is met by a reclusive, swollen-headed author (Rhys Ifans), who begins to exert a strange spell. Might this become an arthouse phenomenon? A buddy-buddy cop sitcom by Tracy Emin next, perhaps? David Stubbs

The Man With No Penis
10pm, TLC

An uncomfortable film about Andrew Wardle, a 40-year-old Mancunian born with a genital abnormality. He claims to have had 100 lovers without revealing his lack of a penis. The apparent impracticality of this, and the psychology of so riskily seeking such validation, are never satisfactorily explained. Now he’s with Fedra, a Hungarian who learned his secret – after she’d moved to the UK for him – when he showed her an interview he’d given to the Sun. Fedra remains hopeful as Andrew prepares for a big op. Jack Seale

Today’s best live sport

Cycling: The Critérium Du Dauphiné The fifth stage from Digne-les-Bains to Pra Loup. 12.15pm, ITV4 and British Eurosport

Motorsport: Le Mans 24 Hours The second qualifying session. 6pm, British Eurosport

T20 Blast Cricket: Northamptonshire Steelbacks v Derbyshire Falcons

Action from the County Ground, Northampton. 6pm, Sky Sports 2

International Under-21 Football: England v Belarus A friendly from Oakwell, Barnsley. 7.30pm, BT Sport 1

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