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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Ali Catterall, Mark Gibbings-Jones, Phil Harrison, Paul Howlett, Andrew Mueller, John Robinson, David Stubbs

Thursday’s best TV: Silicon Valley, Civilisations, Deep State

Silicon Valley
Office space … a move to new premises doesn’t quite go as planned in Mike Judge’s Silicon Valley. Photograph: HBO

Silicon Valley

10.10pm, Sky Atlantic

We have reached season five of Mike Judge and co’s sitcom about internet startups, which – given current concerns about data privacy – should have much intrigue to harvest in forthcoming episodes. For now, Richard has acquired ample funding for his decentralised internet PiperNet but his initial choice of office proves disastrous. He is also engaged in a war for coders with Gavin Belson, whose Buddhist interlude is over (“The ideal version of myself was the man I already was”), and is back as head of Hooli. David Stubbs

Not Going Out

9pm, BBC One

A dinner party invite from Anna and Toby threatens to ruin Lucy and Lee’s evening slumped in front of Norwegian noir on Netflix. Efforts to avoid an awkward evening culminate in a manufactured row but, unluckily for Lee and Lucy, their friends have shared experience as career quarrellers. Mark Gibbings-Jones

Civilisations

9pm, BBC Two

When Aztec god-emperor Moctezuma met conquistador Cortés, it was murder. But the Spanish conquest doesn’t tell the whole story, as David Olusoga reveals in this look at the 15th- and 16th-century exchange of artistic currency between different cultures, during the first era of globalisation. Ali Catterall

The Investigator: A British Crime Story

9pm, ITV

Return of the true-crime series fronted by former cop Mark Williams-Thomas. This three-parter examines several unsolved murder and missing-person cases, pursuing the theory that there may be a link to serial killers Peter Tobin or Angus Sinclair, both serving life for other murders. Andrew Mueller

Indian Summer School

9pm, Channel 4

Engaging culture-shock TV. Statistics show that poor white males perform badly in school, but better in an ethnically diverse environment. The solution? A spell at the Doon School, basically Eton in the foothills of the Himalayas. It’s week six and while Jack is doing better, gay Ethan is having a far harder time. John Robinson

Deep State

9pm, Fox

In a world gone crazier than fiction, it is debatable how many more shadowy, ambiguous espionage TV dramas we really need. But this thriller, in which Mark Strong’s retired MI6 agent Max Easton reluctantly finds himself back in Beirut for one last job, shows signs of being a superior, if generic example of the form. Phil Harrison

Click here to watch the trailer for 13 Assassins.

Film choice

13 Assassins 1.20am, Film4

Takashi Miike’s masterly samurai movie is set in 1840s Japan, where a band of warriors assembled by the charismatic Koji Yakusho are dispatched to kill a sadistic lord who is protected by 200 soldiers. The climactic, near hour-long running battle is a deliriously bloody chunk of action. Paul Howlett

Live sport

Commonwealth Games 6am, BBC Two. Continuing the opening day from Queensland, Australia.

Golf: The Masters 7pm, Sky Sports Main Event. The first day of the major from Augusta National in Georgia.

Europa League Football: Arsenal v CSKA Moscow 7.30pm, BT Sport 2. The first leg of the quarter-final from the Emirates.

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