Attenborough and the Empire of the Ants
9.30pm, BBC Two
In the Jura mountains of France, there are colonies of wood ants with a powerful New Year message for humans. These ants thrive through collaboration: vast colonies hunt, feed and arrange their environment together. David Attenborough gets intimate with these tiny critters and, from a war involving chemical weapons to a thrilling spider hunt, comes back with footage every bit as extraordinary as anything he has retrieved from the bottom of the ocean. Phil Harrison
Still Open All Hours
7.30pm, BBC One
It’s Christmas at Arkwright’s, and many of the shop’s most important customers are planning trips out of town. Mr Newbold is among them, leaving Granville exposed to the amorous intentions of Mrs Featherstone, and Madge is planning to take Mavis away, too. Plans must be hatched to prevent the exodus. Meanwhile, Leroy has his head turned by a vegetarian outside the shop, and Granville has to shift a load of duff crackers. Ben Arnold
The Secret Life of 5 Year Olds on Holiday
8.30pm, Channel 4
Lately we’ve seen kids bring a twinkle of joy into the Christmas lives of the very old. This brings warmth of a slightly different kind as we travel with them on holiday to Cyprus (fear not, mum and dad go too). As ever, interaction is where the magic lies, and this time it takes place on the beach rather than in the sunlit playgroup. Professor Paul Howard-Jones and Dr Alison Pike go along, as ever stifling their mirth as well as explaining the behavioural science. John Robinson
What Britain Bought in 2017
9pm, Channel 4
Roomy knickers, fidget spinners and the frankly baffling unicorn trend: if shopping is retail therapy, can analysing what the UK bought in 2017 provide some sort of psychological snapshot of the nation, particularly in such a tumultuous year? Mary Portas seems to think so, grilling retail experts and “celebrity endorsers” about our collective shopping basket – worth £7.5bn a week – for this special consumerist one-off. Graeme Virtue
Romesh Ranganathan: Irrational Live
10.30pm, BBC Two
When standup comics promote themselves via panel shows, chatshows and travelogues, it’s easy to lose track of what they’re actually like when they’re on stage. In Romesh Ranganathan’s case you can correct that with this full-length show from 2016. There’s nothing revolutionary in rants about his disapproving mum, errant children and disintegrating middle-aged physique, but his dry cynicism is very funny and the routines are skilfully polished. Jack Seale
Clint Eastwood: A Life In Film
9pm, Sky Arts
Despite flak for his empty-chair debacle at the Republican National Convention in 2012, Clint Eastwood’s film career, spanning seven decades, remains ripe for celebration. Here, he discusses his time on both sides of the camera and the cinematic moments that defined him. From B-movie bit parts to Oscars and starring alongside everyone from Lee Marvin to Clyde the orangutan, there’s plenty to make any punk feel lucky. Mark Gibbings-Jones
The Tunnel
9pm, Sky Atlantic
The third series of this Anglo-French adaptation of The Bridge continues. The case facing Brit detective Karl Roebuck (Stephen Dillane) and his French counterpart Elise Wassermann (Cleménce Poésy) began with a burning boat in the Channel, and by episode three is tuning the show’s signature noirish weirdness to a high pitch, without parting company with plausibility. The relationship between the two principals is, as previously, especially well-judged. Andrew Mueller
Film choice
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson, 2001) 6.15pm, TCM
The first chunk of Jackson’s £220m screening of Tolkien’s epic fantasy opens with Elijah Wood’s hairy-footed hobbit Frodo Baggins and his band of elf, human, dwarf and wizard friends setting off to destroy the one ring – a WMD with bells on. Something nasty – ringwraiths, cave trolls and ’orrible orcs – lurks around every corner. This is film-making full of magic and menace on a heroic scale.
Flight (Robert Zemeckis, 2012) 9pm, Channel 5
The edge-of-the-seat opening has fearless pilot “Whip” Whitaker (Denzel Washington) pulling off an incredible flying feat to save 96 lives when his plane is hit by turbulence. The problem is, in the aftermath he is found to have booze and drugs in his system, so is Whip a hero or a dysfunctional menace? Washington puts in a megastar performance in this engrossing drama.
About a Boy (Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz, 2002) 11.05pm, Channel 4
North London slacker Will (Hugh Grant) is determined to live in splendid, self-centred isolation (“I am an island!”), but his defences are eroded by unhappy teenager (Nicholas Hoult), his depressed mother (Toni Collette) and the single mum he fancies (Rachel Weisz). American Pie directors the Weitz brothers make a genuinely funny, moving job of this Nick Hornby adaptation.
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (Declan Lowney, 2013) 11.30pm, BBC Two
Steve Coogan returns as Norfolk’s most deluded radio talkshow host. Partridge’s marriage and career are down the drain, but when a shotgun-toting, newly sacked colleague (Colm Meaney) takes the staff of North Norfolk Digital hostage, Partridge sees the chance to make his name as a negotiator. It’s his finest, most hypocritical hour, in East Anglia’s Ace in the Hole.
Live sport
Darts: World Championship 12.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event Day 12 of the PDC event from Alexandra Palace.
Premier League Football: Crystal Palace v Arsenal 7.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event A London derby between struggling Palace and improving Arsenal from Selhurst Park.
Ashes Cricket: Australia v England 11pm, BT Sport 1 The fourth day’s play from the MCG in Melbourne.
