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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Mark Gibbings-Jones, Hannah J Davies, Jonathan Wright, Jack Seale, Hannah Verdier, Andrew Mueller, Graeme Virtue and Paul Howlett

Thursday’s best TV: Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It; Line of Duty finale

Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer in Channel 4’s Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It
Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer in Channel 4’s Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It. Photograph: Fiona Murray/Channel 4 Picture Publicity

Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It
8pm, Channel 4

The property show equivalent of El Clásico returns, with Kirstie Allsopp encouraging homeowners to make over their dull domiciles, while Phil Spencer implores them to sell up sharpish and move instead. Tonight’s series opener considers a distended dwelling in Wiltshire, a home that has stubbornly refused to grow at the same rate as its owners’ brood. With half of the family keen to move and the rest determined not to depart, it’s time for Kirstie and Phil to dust off their best sales pitches. Mark Gibbings-Jones

The Pledge
8pm, Sky News

Week two of Sky’s latest topical outing, billed as a “new breed of debate show”, but probably more accurately described as Question Time for people who think Katie Hopkins isn’t all that bad. Each week, five C-listers debate the biggest issues of the moment, without a host to keep things in Ofcom-friendly territory. Participants include LBC presenter Nick Ferrari, journalist Rachel Johnson and – inexplicably – The Apprentice 2006 winner Michelle Dewberry. Hannah J Davies

Secret Britain
9pm, BBC1

Ellie Harrison, Chris Hollins and Denise Lewis head to Northern Ireland to offer more reports from places where it is still possible to get away from the crowds. Well, mostly, considering that Lewis’s attempt at road bowls – competitively chucking a big ball bearing up a highway (trickier than it looks) – certainly draws an audience. Also featuring: red squirrels in a mock combat zone, a misty morning photography mishap, a flying boat base and the joys of “a squeeze” in a cave. Jonathan Wright

Line of Duty
9pm, BBC2

Remember season two, episode five of Jed Mercurio’s police procedural? The uninterrupted 17-minute interrogation of detective chief constable Dryden? This year’s finale produces an even longer scene in the interview room that tops it. And then there’s another one! Making your feature-length parting shot almost entirely based around an office table is a brave move for any drama, but it powerfully strips the show to its essence: liars, and how to break them. It’s so tense, it will leave your internal organs in a twist. Jack Seale

What Would Be Your Miracle?
9pm, ITV

If you can’t get through the opening credits of Long Lost Family without crying, this show about families hoping for a medical miracle will break you. Emma Willis meets nine-year-old Garin, who has cerebral palsy and dreams of playing football, and his mum Adele, who has multiple sclerosis. Can a pioneering treatment help them? And Andrea, whose sight and hearing is fading, finds that a cochlear implant isn’t an instant cure. There aren’t enough tissues. Hannah Verdier

The Extraordinary Case of Alex Lewis
9pm, Channel 4

In November 2013, Alex Lewis, a young father, fell ill with what he and his girlfriend initially assumed was an especially nasty bout of flu. Instead, it turned out to be a rare and mercilessly savage streptococcal infection that took Lewis’s arms, legs and much of his face. This documentary follows his recovery, and his attempts to rebuild his life. This is – inevitably – affecting viewing, all the more so for the candour and the unfussy courage of all involved. Andrew Mueller

Angie Tribeca
9.30pm, E4

Slotting in nicely after Brooklyn Nine-Nine, here is an even broader cop comedy, clearly indebted to deadpan 1982 classic Police Squad! Parks and Recreation’s Rashida Jones stars as the Los Angeles Police Department overachiever of the title, a prickly veteran of the RHCU (Really Heinous Crimes Unit). The straight-faced spoofery won’t be to everyone’s taste, but Jones is fully committed. Plus, the rat-a-tat gag rate encompasses lots of visual silliness and up-for-it guest stars, including, in this pilot episode, former Friend Lisa Kudrow. Graeme Virtue

Film choice

Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese, 2002), 10.05pm, ITV4

Scorsese’s epic may not be the classic he intended, but it is a visceral powerhouse. It is set among rival gangs in the decrepit tenements of 1860s Manhattan, where something like medieval warfare is enacted on Dante Ferretti’s fantastic, monolithic sets. Young chancer Leonardo DiCaprio’s romance with pickpocket Cameron Diaz is puny, but Daniel Day-Lewis’s leering gang chief, Bill the Butcher, is a full-on cinematic monster. Paul Howlett

The Duke of Burgundy (Peter Strickland, 2014), 11.15pm, Film4

This curious tale of moths and sadomasochism opens with housemaid Evelyn (Chiara D’Anna) cycling to a mansion to be bossed and punished by the haughty lepidopterist Cynthia (Borgen’s Sidse Babett Knudsen). Soon we learn that they are lovers, and it is Evelyn who controls their S&M scenes with handwritten scripts. Shot with a loving eye for lingerie and an arthouse appreciation of butterflies, it is tender, erotic and sweetly funny. PH

Live sport

Premier League Darts Birmingham hosts round 13, with Gary Anderson and Michael van Gerwen among those in action. 7pm, Sky Sports 1

Europa League Football: Villarreal v Liverpool Liverpool look to go all the way in the semi-final first leg. (Shakhtar Donetsk v Sevilla airs on BT Sport 2 at 8pm.) 7pm, BT Sport Europe

Rugby League: Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors Super League clash. 7.30pm, Sky Sports 2

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