Russia with Simon Reeve
9pm, BBC2
This week, Simon Reeve heads from Siberia to the Caucasus mountains. There is a lot of geography between these two locales, including Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest lake, and the vast Eurasian Steppe. There’s much that’s disquieting, too, including an encounter with a mystic whose followers think he’s a reincarnation of Christ; alcoholism in Tuva, “one of the most obscure places on the planet”; and Cossack militarism. Jonathan Wright
Housing Enforcers: Fire Safety Special
8pm, BBC1
It is a shocking and scandalous indictment of Britain’s housing crisis that there exists what presenter Matt Allwright describes as “a disparate shanty town” in Oxford; houses and flats (some made out of doors) that almost “defy categorisation”. And they are at extreme risk from fire. In this report, he investigates these and other potential deathtraps where rubbish, dodgy electrics and filthy stoves could turn rooms into infernos. Ali Catterall
The Big Family Cooking Showdown
8pm, BBC2
It might seem cosy but the BBC’s backup Bake Off does feature a reliably frosty round in which judges Rosemary Shrager and Giorgio Locatelli rock up at a family home, nibble at a fancy meal prepared under pressure and then jointly itemise its culinary defects before the jus is even cold. Tonight, the Rignalls from Bucks and the Boyes family from Liverpool submit to this trial of hospitality while jockeying for the last semi-final slot. Graeme Virtue
Ambulance
9pm, BBC1
Another ride-along with the West Midlands ambulance service, as the department’s stretched resources continue to serve 5,000 sq miles. Within less densely populated rural areas, each ambulance crew is expected to cover a wider area, with increased travel times demanding swift action on arrival. As seen here, the team’s duty of care to each patient demands a delicate and potentially dangerous balancing act for hardy ambulance crews. Mark Gibbings-Jones
Educating Greater Manchester
9pm, Channel 4
The Educating series offers only a partial picture of modern schooling; bitterness at the educational system as it currently stands is a no-no. Meanwhile, stories of troubled pupils always end tentatively, formulaically happily. Still, this is warming and, indeed, educational about modern practice. Tonight, 11-year-old Caprice refuses to come to school following social media bullying, and a Snapchat revolution must be put down. David Stubbs
Life Without Parole
9pm, PBS America
Absorbing film exploring the ramifications of the 2012 decision by the US Supreme Court that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional. This potentially offered a reprieve to more than 2,000 prisoners who had been told, as teenagers, that they’d spend their entire lives behind bars. Ken Dornstein’s doc follows two prisoners to be freed, Anthony Rolon and Joe Donovan, both convicted of murder. Andrew Mueller
The Handmaid’s Tale
10.15pm, More4
Rarely does a TV show catch a moment like The Handmaid’s Tale did this summer. A combination of the Margaret Atwood adaptation’s unnerving current resonance and the sheer luminosity of the production has made it one of the year’s key cultural touchstones. More4 has recognised this fact and made the shrewd decision to show it again. Starting tonight, immerse yourself once more in Gilead’s unfolding horror show. Phil Harrison
Film choice
The Outlaw Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood, 1976) 10.10pm, ITV4
Eastwood directs and stars as Josey Wales, a man scarred by the brutal killing of wife and child in the civil war, and looking for revenge. Along the way, he attracts a surrogate family of stragglers – notably Chief Dan George as a not-so-wise old Cheyenne – that gradually and comically undercut the icy Man With No Name persona. Eastwood the director is equally adept with violent action and stunning landscape in a classic western. Paul Howlett
Live sport
Snooker: European Masters 12noon, Eurosport 1. Coverage of last-16 matches in the tournament from Belgium.
Golf: Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 1pm, Sky Sports Golf. The opening day of a tournament that is held at three courses.
World Cup Football: England v Slovenia 7.30pm, ITV. Can Gareth Southgate’s underwhelming England clinch their spot in Russia? Probably.
