Inside the London Fire Brigade
9pm, ITV
By grim coincidence, it so happened that the makers of this documentary series had been following London’s firefighters for a year prior to the Grenfell Tower disaster. We hear first-hand accounts from emergency workers who tried to combat the Grenfell blaze and rescue those trapped. Other call-outs are highlighted, too, including an explosion at a block of flats in east London and a coach in flames on Westminster Bridge. David Stubbs
10 Puppies and Us
8pm, BBC2
Adorable, affectionate and an absolute nightmare to look after: there’s nothing quite like a new dog in the household. This documentary follows puppies from all over as they put their owners through those all-important first six months of training. Lesson one: the dog is in charge. In an east London nail salon, chihuahua Chloe competes for top-dog status, while in the Scottish Highlands, border collie Jura is preparing for a more active lifestyle. Ellen E Jones
Who Do You Think You Are?
9pm, BBC1
No matter who the subject is, Who Do You Think You Are? always delivers. Tonight it’s the turn of Citizen Khan star Adil Ray to check out his ancestors. He starts with his mum, who tells him about his grandfather who worked on the railways, so he travels to Kenya to find out more. The thrill of discovering one of his ancestors might have been a chief is mixed with the raw emotion of the journey, but he remains optimistic throughout. Hannah Verdier
Top of the Lake: China Girl
9pm, BBC2
With The Handmaid’s Tale approaching its end, fans of Elisabeth Moss looking pained will welcome the return of Jane Campion’s bleak but luminous cop drama. Robin Griffin is back in Sydney but no less troubled; the fallout of her previous case is haunting her, as are various ghosts from her past. She’s still surrounded by appalling men – both inside and outside the police force – so it’s almost a relief when a body washes up on Bondi beach. Phil Harrison
Prejudice and Pride: The People’s History of LGBTQ Britain
9pm, BBC4
In the first of a two-parter, Stephen K Amos and Susan Calman assemble a social history of gay life since decriminalisation via mementoes and artefacts, with stories ranging from the heartbreaking (“I wonder if it was something in your childhood I did to make you feel that way,” reads a mother’s letter to her lesbian daughter) to the joyous: a Heaven membership gold card – “the most coveted item in gay clubland”. Ali Catterall
Ballers
10pm, Sky Atlantic
Dwayne Johnson returns for a third season of lightweight sports-agent shenanigans. His character wants to expand his football-based roster of clients into “hoops” by representing Steph Curry – cue a fluent cameo from the man himself – but is corralled into schmoozing a complacent casino owner (Steve Guttenberg) instead. It’s Entourage with balls, mainly in the sense that the intensely male cast are constantly protesting too much about how big their own pairs are. Jack Seale
Isis and the Taliban: The Journey
9pm, PBS America
Scaling down western military operations in Afghanistan risks encouraging the kind of people who were the reason for intervening in the first place. Jamie Doran’s film is a bracing demonstration of what Afghanistan remains up against. It follows Zubair Massoud – an adviser to Afghanistan’s National Security Council – into the Badakhshan region, where the Taliban is being succeeded by Islamic State. Andrew Mueller
Film choice
Flash Gordon (Mike Hodges, 1980) 11am, Film4
In the age of Marvel, this hilariously camp recreation of the vintage spaceman comic strip is hugely refreshing. Highlights include the exquisite retro style – the future as envisioned in the 40s – and a blasting, over-the-top soundtrack by Queen. Sam J Jones is Flash (adopting the vacant gaze of the original Buster Crabbe) and he has 14 hours to save the world from Max von Sydow’s malevolent Ming the Merciless. But the scene-stealing star of the show is Brian Blessed as hearty winged warrior Prince Vultan: har-har-har!
The Gift (Joel Edgerton, 2015) 9pm, Film4
Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall are well-off LA couple Simon and Robyn, whose move to a swish new house prompts unwanted attention. Simon’s down-at-heel one-time school chum Gordo (played by Edgerton) comes bearing thoughtful or peculiar housewarming gifts, which slowly start to test the foundations of the couple’s relationship.
Live sport
Test cricket: England v South Africa After their Trent Bridge humbling, can Joe Root’s team recover at the Oval? 10am, Sky Sports Cricket
Swimming: World Championships Day five in Budapest featuring five finals. 4.30pm, Eurosport 1
Uefa Women’s Euro 2017: Portugal v England The concluding group match for both teams. 7.30pm, Channel 4
