The Cook Who Changed Our Lives
6.30pm, BBC2
Throughout the 1970s and 80s, food writer Anna Del Conte brought proper Italian dishes to British dining tables; as superfan Nigella Lawson says, it’s “essentially a crime” that her cookbooks aren’t found in more households. In this mouthwatering treat, the sprightly 91-year-old talks a spellbound Lawson through a classic ragu (“The water you cook pasta in must be as salty as the Mediterranean”) and more. Ali Catterall
Who Do You Think You Are?
8pm, BBC1
Now likely to be for ever overshadowed by Danny Dyer’s sublime journey into his unfathomably regal provenance, avuncular “My arse!” enthusiast Ricky Tomlinson takes a tumble down his own rabbit hole of genealogy. What it lacks in rug-pulling revelations, it more than makes up for in genuinely moving tales of poverty, religious divisions and generations of grafters making their way in Liverpool’s docks. Superb. Luke Holland
The Secret Life of the Zoo at Christmas
8pm, Channel 4
As everyone knows, a lack of human traits doesn’t mean Santa will desert you. Stockings stuffed with goodies have been hung out for Chester zoo’s Sumatran orangutan family, but little Indah decides to open the lot. A loophole in the naughty list system, there. Sun bear couple Toni and Millie go full Den and Angie, their relationship hitting snowy rocks; might a trial separation make each bear’s heart ache for their bae? Mark Gibbings-Jones
Close to the Enemy
9pm, BBC2
Conclusion of Stephen Poliakoff’s seven-part drama set amid the febrile political turbulence of post-second world war London. This is – obviously – a promising milieu for a screenwriter: a world to be remade, rules to be rewritten and so forth. It has been generally well-acted by a top-drawer cast, but there remains a strange blankness to it, personified by Jim Sturgess as diffident spook Callum Ferguson, neither hero nor antihero – which may, of course, be the point. Andrew Mueller
Extraordinary Weddings
9pm, ITV
This series’s charm is in how misleading the title is. David from Gloucestershire found new love with Nicky after being paralysed from the chest down; Ellen from Leicestershire decided finally to marry her long-term partner, Ian, when she received a diagnosis of terminal bone cancer. Neither predicament is, sadly, all that unusual. What matters is how much the ritual of publicly declaring love means to the participants. Jack Seale
Troy: The Highwire
9pm, E4
Very much in the recent tradition of David Blaine and Dynamo – right down to the “Oh my God, how did he do that?!” responses you never used to get with Ali Bongo and David Nixon – Troy Von Scheibner is the latest young street magician to repackage ancient tricks with a hip, tattooed sheen. In this one-off, he sets himself the challenge of learning how to walk the tightrope in just two months, in order to perform an illusion while in mid-air. Reckon he will manage it? David Stubbs
Celebrity Juice: Xmas Gogglyboxers
10pm, ITV2
Taking the pith: here’s a second helping of highlights from Keith Lemon’s chaotic panel show, presented via an appropriately strained framing device. Along with team captains Holly Willoughby and Fearne Cotton (plus regular panellist Gino D’Acampo), Lemon impersonates the couch critics of Channel 4’s Gogglebox, adding a layer of panto meta-commentary to what is essentially a clips compilation with a makeup budget. Graeme Virtue
Film choice
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (Declan Lowney, 2013) 11.05pm, BBC2
Steve Coogan returns as Norfolk’s self-deluded radio host, blagging on to the big screen via this funny siege thriller. Partridge’s marriage and career are unsurprisingly 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. Paul Howlett
Today’s sport
Serie A football: Fiorentina v Napoli Coverage of the Italian top-flight match from Stadio Artemio Franchi (kick-off 7.45pm). 7.30pm, BT Sport 1
Rugby Union: Grenoble v Toulouse Coverage of the French top-flight encounter at Stade Lesdiguieres. 7.40pm, Sky Sports 2
NFL: Philadelphia Eagles v New York Giants Action from the NFC East clash in New Jersey, where week 16 gets under way. 1.30am, Sky Sports 1
