Finding Me a Family
9pm, Channel 4
Once a fortnight, an unusual children’s party takes place. The usual squashed paper cups are present, but the partygoers are children seeking adoption and potential adoptive parents. Such scenarios sound controversial – talent shows with parents as prizes – but the bonds formed at these gatherings can’t be generated by paperwork alone. This series follows such adoption activity days, and explores the lives of those taking part. Mark Gibbings-Jones
Rick Stein’s Road to Mexico
9pm, BBC Two
Rick arrives in Guadalajara, a city he last visited aged 21 when he was bowled over by its heady romance. He goes to town on a tripe soup that’s said to be a hangover cure, handy for the second leg of his journey, which takes him out on the tequila trail. Back in Padstow, he makes a proper carne con chilli – never to be called chilli con carne, he’s at pains to explain – made with chuck steak and heavy with toasted, dried peppers. Ben Arnold
Invasion! With Sam Willis
9pm, BBC Four
First of a three-parter by historian Sam Willis, demonstrating that Britain’s idea of itself as an impregnable island fortress requires a willingness to disregard history: Britain has been invaded many, many times. Willis begins more or less at the beginning, getting to grips with the technology that conquered and/or cultivated these islands the first few times, including flint axes, a replica iron age chariot and a Viking longship. Andrew Mueller
Motherland
10pm, BBC Two
Get ready for the funniest episode of Motherland, or indeed any other comedy on TV this year. Mousey also-ran of the school gates Anne becomes centre of attention as the mums clamour for a place in her car pool. Kevin, meanwhile, thinks his luck is in as he’s finally granted an audience with domestic goddess Amanda. And there’s a glimpse of what’s going on behind Liz’s deadpan face as she realises Julia only sees her as a mum friend, not a going-out one. Hannah Verdier
Extraordinary Teens: My Gay Life
10pm, Channel 4
Filming over several years allows this documentary, based around a video diary by a boy called Billy growing up in West Sussex, to tell its upsetting story in full. Billy was seven when he came out and is 11 when he starts talking to camera. From there we see him cope with school, social media and other teen dramas. But the chief antagonist is Billy’s father, a man straitjacketed by his own fear and ignorance, who emerges as a deeply tragic figure. Jack Seale
David Jason’s Secret Service
9pm, More4
You’ll see a boyish gleam in the eyes of 77-year-old Sir David, as he indulges his fascination with espionage in this history of the British secret service. The first episode introduces us to the unsung (for obvious reasons) heroes of the first world war, including Belgian refugee-turned-spy Gabrielle Petit and the eccentric Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming. The motors are flashier than Del Boy’s Reliant, but there’s just as much horsing around. Ellen E Jones
The Long Road Home
9pm, National Geographic
The drama charting the American combat experience in Iraq continues with the story of Tomas Young, paralysed after being shot in a combat zone. Noel Fisher is terrific as Young, who went on to become an antiwar campaigner. While we see him in combat, this is essentially a domestic story that contrasts Young’s 9/11-fuelled patriotism with his subsequent disillusionment and anger (“I’m fucking invisible!”) over the treatment of veterans. Jonathan Wright
Film choice
Captain America: The First Avenger (Joe Johnston, 2011) 9pm, Film4
Here’s the origin story of Avengers team leader Captain America (Chris Evans). He starts out as Steve Rogers, too weedy to join the US war effort in 1941 until refugee scientist Stanley Tucci’s secret serum turns him into a one-man army. Which is pretty useful, since his foe is Hugo Weaving’s Red Skull and his Teutonic hordes. There’s a nice retro feel to the story that earns the Cap his niche among the myriad superhero sagas.
Contraband (Baltasar Kormákur, 2012) 11.25pm, Film4
The Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur remakes his homemade thriller Reykjavik-Rotterdam for an American audience, with Mark Wahlberg as retired smuggler Chris. His cosy, legit life with wife Kate Beckinsale and kids is wrecked when he has to come to the rescue of her troublesome brother by taking on one last job.
Live sport
Snooker: UK Championship Coverage of the seventh day of the tournament at the Barbican Centre in York. 1pm, BBC Two
Champions League football: Manchester United v CSKA Moscow Group A fixture, taking place at Old Trafford. 7pm, BT Sport 2
Ashes cricket: Australia v England The fifth day of the second Test from Adelaide Oval. 3am, BT Sport 1
