Confessions of a Junior Doctor
9pm, Channel 4
The opening episode of this important new series portraying the NHS under duress overflows with lucid despair and defiant pride. There’s no need for overt politicking; the consequences of staff shortages and underfunding are glaringly obvious. But still, the work of these undervalued and under-resourced carers is routinely heroic. If we stand idly by and watch as politicians sneer at their anguish, we should all be ashamed. Phil Harrison
MasterChef
8pm, BBC1
Those hoping to see John Torode and Gregg Wallace set about each other with skillets following the revelation that they’re not actually best mates will be disappointed. Again, the drama comes from watching eight amateur cooks battle for a place in the quarter-final, via the two-step selection process. The humble oxtail and beef mince are part of tonight’s challenge, but success might well rest on delivering a killer dessert for Wallace. Ready, steady – gateau. Sharon O’Connell
How to Live Mortgage Free With Sarah Beeny
8pm, Channel 4
Unless you have a giant wodge of cash or an actual magic wand, you will probably have thought carefully about how to own your own pad without bankrupting yourself. In this new series, Sarah Beeny meets homeowners who have figured out how to do away with a mortgage completely. Tonight, she talks to Annie and Kimberley, who have, respectively, transformed an industrial site into a house and given a makeover to a crumbling Dutch barge. Sophie Harris
Second Chance Summer: Tuscany
9pm, BBC2
A Tuscan farmhouse. A collection of Brits with various issues, and no experience of running a restaurant. What could possibly go wrong? The series continues, as the group work together to make a go of the farm, while slowly revealing backstories. Tonight, Altaf and Rob discuss relationships while they discover what they can expect from their olive harvest. Gill, meanwhile, is finding a role for herself after a recent bereavement. John Robinson
Rhod Gilbert’s Work Experience
10pm, BBC2
Having recently tried his hand at being an estate agent, the wiry Welsh standup dons hi-vis and hard hat to see if he has what it takes to construct an actual house. After a crash course under the tutelage of a twinkly eyed master builder whose precise facial hair hints at his exacting standards, Gilbert is apprenticed at a humungous housing project where, rather stressfully, every misplaced brick means less cash for his co-workers. Graeme Virtue
Sin City Motors
8pm, Dave
A new series of hi-octane hi-jinks with Steve Darnell’s team of rat rodders. A client arrives at the yard with a request for a build seemingly more suited to the Ant Hill Mob from Wacky Races. The search for the correct vintage bodywork proves to be one of many testing challenges as the crew struggle to acquire the ludicrously elusive parts, all for a 600-horsepower beast that’s as comfortable scaling mountain roads as it is soaring along smooth asphalt. Mark Gibbings-Jones
Stoned
10pm, Viceland
Over in what can resemble the sixth-form common room of the TV schedules, Vice’s TV outpost is currently doing a Weed Week in the run up to 20 April, or 4/20 – a nod to the American slang term for cannabis. As part of it, this one-off film explores various facts and fictions surrounding the drug. But lest this sound a little newsy, it has been filmed in a hotbox studio in Amsterdam. More than pot luck for stoners, but likely a little inessential for everyone else. Hannah J Davies
Film choice
Lincoln (Steven Spielberg, 2012), 9pm, More4
Spielberg’s monumental portrait of Abraham Lincoln focuses on a few crucial weeks in early 1865 and the struggle to abolish slavery – a noble cause he was prepared to use any amount of political skulduggery to achieve. Anchoring this weighty but compelling drama is the Mount Rushmore-sized performance of Daniel Day-Lewis, who embodies the great man.
Byzantium (Neil Jordan, 2012), 1.35am, Channel 4
In a bleak English seaside town, Gemma Arterton’s sex worker Clara supports her 16-year-old daughter Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) in a rundown guesthouse called Byzantium. Their past seems to be a closed book, until we find out that the pair are actually 200-year-old vampires, with an angsty mum-daughter thing going on – Clara embracing her bloody nature, Eleanor rebelling against it – in Jordan’s intelligent and gripping drama.
Live sport
Snooker: The World Championship 10am, BBC2
The tournament at the Crucible in Sheffield continues.
IPL Cricket: Sunrisers Hyderabad v Delhi Daredevils 3pm, Sky Sports 2, Action from the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium.
Champions League Football: Barcelona v Juventus 7pm,
BT Sport 2, The second leg of the quarter-final from the Nou Camp.
• The headline of this article was amended on 20 April 2017 to correct the day from Tuesday, to Wednesday.
