Workers Or Shirkers? Ian Hislop’s Victorian Benefits
8pm, BBC2
As Hislop’s potted history of state benefits demonstrates, not only are the arguments about welfare as old as welfare itself, but the terms of the dispute have barely altered – socially responsible hand up or counterproductive handout? Hislop considers the legacies of Victorian social reformers such as Edwin Chadwick and brings the discussion into the here and now with Deirdre Kelly of Benefits Street, Tristram Hunt and a pre-resignation Iain Duncan Smith. Andrew Mueller
How to Stay Young
9pm, BBC1
Angela Rippon and Chris van Tulleken present this investigation into how we age in body and mind. Tonight it’s body, which brings some interesting stuff, including a comparison of two identical twins. Chris and his brother Xander are 36, but as tests prove, their lifestyles mean that, medically speaking, they’re both five years older. Angela, meanwhile, has a full-body MRI and tries out the “sit and rise” test, which you will definitely be trying – though hopefully not with the same comically poor results as mine. John Robinson
British Army Girls
9pm, Channel 4
“If you can’t do a man’s job, go home.” Hard on the clicking heels of Channel 4’s Royal Navy School, this new series follows the GI Janes of the British army as they undertake their demanding 14-week training. Some will make it and some won’t. (“Screaming at sandbags – it’s not for me.”) Lisa Strain, 32, is certainly an interesting prospect: “Why did you decide to join the army?” “Career, pension, travel,” she rattles out. “Hobbies and interests?” “Tarot cards and mediumship.” Ali Catterall
Storyville: Being Evel Knievel
9pm, BBC4
With entire channels now devoted to dangerous sports, it seems unthinkable that the most celebrated stuntsmith of all began daredevilry as a gimmick for a motorcycle dealer. After Bob Knievel spent his formative years as a safecracker, conman and insurance salesman, his reckless showmanship ultimately led to his fortune. He found fame at a time when America needed distracting from itself, and the tale of Knievel’s transformation from scoundrel to petrol-powered Elvis is as compelling as his stunts. Mark Gibbings-Jones
Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle
10pm, BBC2
Stewart Lee winds up the fourth series of his Comedy Vehicle. Recent weeks have taken in thorny subjects such as patriotism, wealth, Islamophobia and death with – and it’s acknowledged with a heavy heart – varying degrees of success, when stood up against his previous, near-perfect series. Bringing things to a close this week in front of his audience of Guardian readers at the Mildmay Club in Stoke Newington, he delves into his own childhood for quarry, with Chris Morris berating him throughout. Ben Arnold
Colony
9pm, Sky1
This new drama is set in one of those dystopian near-futures familiar to our screens. What initially appears to be a pleasant Los Angeles has actually been colonised by extraterrestrials who have set up an enormous wall, behind which they govern a brutal police state. The drama focuses on one family whose 12-year-old son was lost during the alien arrival, caught in the dilemma of whether to collaborate or rebel. There’s a political undercurrent – Americans forced to endure what many in this world suffer for real. David Stubbs
You’re The Worst
10pm, 5Star
Unlike the majority of Brit actors who’ve decamped to the US in recent years, former Waterloo Road star Chris Geere turns up in this romcom with his accent intact. Thankfully he’s not playing some bumbling, 90s Hugh Grant type; rather, Jimmy is a misanthropic writer who hooks up with Gretchen, a friend of his ex’s sister at said ex’s wedding. Naturally, by the second episode of tonight’s opening double bill they’ve embarked on an inadvisable fling. A leftfield love story with aptly stunted, cynical leads. Hannah J Davies
Today’s best live sport
• Cycling: Basque Tour
Coverage of stage four, featuring a journey from Lesaka to Orio. 2.30pm, Eurosport 1
• Europa League Football: Borussia Dortmund v Liverpool
Jürgen Klopp visits his old team. 7pm, BT Sport Europe
• Golf: The Masters
Coverage of the first day from the Augusta National in Georgia. 7pm, Sky Sports 4
• Rugby League: Hull Kingston Rovers v Catalans Dragons
From the KC Lightstream Stadium. 7.30pm, Sky Sports 3
Film
The Purge
(James DeMonaco, 2013) 9pm, Film4
In a future, ruined US, crime rates have plummeted, thanks, apparently, to the annual “purge” – a night when all crimes go unpunished. Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey and their kids are fine, locked in their maximum-security mansion, so long as their daughter doesn’t press that big open-sesame button. Time for a bloody fight for survival, with the last vestiges of civilisation splattered up the walls.
Senna
(Asif Kapadia, 2010) 11pm, ITV4
As the Formula One season gets under way, here’s Kapadia’s thrillingly visceral documentary recounting the life and tragically early death of the Brazilian racer Ayrton Senna. Combining narrative voiceovers with news and race footage, and his family’s home movies, it follows the driver, the best of his generation, from junior go-karter to his fatal crash, at the age of 34, at the 1994 San Marino grand prix. A vivid portrait of an extraordinary man.
