A House Through Time
9pm, BBC Two
In a series that rests on an elegantly simple idea, David Olusoga looks at how Britain has changed by focusing on one house in Liverpool, and telling the stories of its various residents down the years. The first of four episodes charts life in the 1840s and 1850s, and we meet a profligate customs clerk, a couple of social climbers who started out as servants and, in a tale where slavery is central to the narrative, a cotton broker. Jonathan Wright
Death in Paradise
9pm, BBC One
The pacifyingly straightforward detective drama ambles back into its normal New Year cheer-me-up slot. A hotel magnate (Denis Lawson) has three awful grownup children, all of whom hated his fiancee (Elizabeth Berrington) – but she has died by falling from the balcony of a locked room. Ardal O’Hanlon enjoys the undemanding lead role, as a lovable doofus who is suddenly knife-sharp exactly once an episode. It’s oh so flimsy, but nobody’s pretending otherwise. Jack Seale
Hunted
9pm, Channel 4
This returning gameshow manages to be both viscerally thrilling and deeply unsettling, given that it demonstrates, in starkly practical terms, the extent of surveillance, monitoring and general state control in the UK. There’s a share of £100,000 up for grabs but, first, nine citizens have to evade former Scotland Yard officers’ terrifying array of drones, personally invasive dirty tricks, tracking tech, CCTV cameras and brainbox operatives for 25 days. Good luck with that. Phil Harrison
Derry Girls
10pm, Channel 4
Boy trouble, parent trouble and the actual Troubles are all fodder for this promising new sitcom set in early 1990s Northern Ireland and based on the schooldays of creator Lisa McGee. Saoirse Monica Jackson stars as 16-year-old Erin, frustrated at every turn by the no-nonsense nuns, her schoolmates and family (Game of Thrones’ Ian McElhinney as Granda is terrifying). The punchlines are rather sparsely spread, but the characters soon feel like old friends. Ellen E Jones
Great Art
10.45pm, ITV
The days when Sister Wendy attracted unprecedented audience shares by wafting through galleries at prime time seem long gone. So three cheers to ITV for proffering up a bit of culture in the shape of a new five-parter looking at the life and work of the world’s greatest artists, from Michelangelo to Rembrandt and Monet. This opener explores the Venetian painter and printmaker Canaletto, and reveals how the bewitching Italian city shaped his art. Ali Catterall
Wartime Crime
8pm, Yesterday
Debut of a new series reminding us that the civilian response to the second world war was not exclusively stoic and heroic. As a few ne’er-do-wells recognised, the disorder and destruction of conflict presents the criminal with extraordinary opportunities. This first episode reflects on the regrettable career of Billy Hill, who became properly infamous in the late 1940s and 50s – not least as a mentor to the Krays – but who learned his trade amid the rubble of the Blitz. Andrew Mueller
Banged Up Abroad
9pm, National Geographic
Pieter Tritton’s demeanour may be more Gareth Southgate than Tony Montana, but that didn’t stop him pursuing life as a drug kingpin. A spell in prison gave Tritton links to far larger riches, and he was soon regularly transporting cocaine from Ecuador to Edinburgh, until a raid sent him into hiding. A final, frantic flit to Ecuador landed Tritton in one of South America’s most notorious jails – a life quite unlike his cosy Gloucestershire upbringing. Mark Gibbings-Jones
Film choice
Lucky Jim (John Boulting, 1957) 12.10pm, BBC Two
A Boulting brothers comedy based on Kingsley Amis’s bestselling satirical novel. Little satire here, though: the casting of Ian Carmichael as the eponymous hero, with Terry-Thomas in attendance, points to a more broadly farcical intent. The angry young university lecturer Jim Dixon is invited to the house of pompous professor Hugh Griffith for the weekend, where he is acutely accident-prone.
Live sport
Ski jumping: The Four Hills Coverage from Austria, featuring the HS130 event. 12.45pm, Eurosport 1
Premier League football: Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United A London derby from Wembley Stadium. 7.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event
Ashes cricket: Australia v England The second day’s play of the final Ashes Test in Sydney. 11pm, BT Sport 1
