The BBC Children In Need Sewing Bee
8pm, BBC2
Charming and gentle yet fiercely competitive: the Sewing Bee is a perfect tie-in for a Children in Need challenge. Jenny Eclair hosts the first of three special shows in which 12 brave celebrities get their needles out. Up first are Dawn “Embarrassing Bodies” Harper, DJ Edith Bowman and Corrie’s Wendi Peters. Token comedy bloke is Dave Myers, one half of the Hairy Bikers. But with an A-line skirt to make, it’s going to be tough. Continues on Thursday and Friday. Hannah Verdier
You Can’t Get The Staff
9pm, Channel 4
There may yet be a revolution, but till then the rich and landed gentry need the plebs to clean their stately homes and wait on them. This new series is a look behind the scenes of how they recruit and utilise their domestic staff. There’s 77-year-old Sir Humphry (no “e”) at Chillingham castle in Northumberland, looking for someone to polish his armour collection, a Russian princess requires a junior gardener in Kent, and socialite Lady Colin Campbell is throwing a dinner party at her London home and needs a butler. Bim Adewunmi
Britain’s Worst Crimes: Kidnapped – The Stephanie Slater Story
8pm, Channel 5
In 1992, 25-year-old Birmingham estate agent Stephanie Slater was abducted at knifepoint by Michael Sams, an extortionist who the previous year had abducted and murdered 18-year-old Julie Dart after demanding a ransom from her boyfriend. He demanded £175,000 from Slater’s employers, and kept her gagged and bound in a makeshift coffin. He also raped her. It’s a horrific story that deserves more than these cheap and lurid reconstructions. Ben Arnold
Human Universe
9pm, BBC2
With billions of inhabitable Earth-like worlds dotted around the galaxy, can we really be the only intelligent creatures bumbling around the universe? Professor Brian Cox explores that very topic, meeting individuals from around the world dedicated to locating extraterrestrial life. While he’s at it, Cox offers his own musings on what makes an inhabitable planet, and why any potential intergalactic neighbours seem so reluctant to communicate with us. Maybe they’ve all heard about Dapper Laughs. Mark Jones
Secrets & Lies
11.55pm, Channel 5
As the Australian drama reaches its penultimate episode, we’re drip-fed conflicting information and troubling ambiguity. When Ben chances upon a blood-stained jacket in an abandoned house, and a man flees in his underpants, he’s surely not alone in thinking this may be Thom’s killer. That would be to ignore the subtleties of the backstory. Ben’s past infidelity is another detail that casts further light on his dimwitted blokiness. Perhaps it wouldn’t be completely stupid to think this might prove important later. John Robinson
American Horror Story: Freak Show
10pm, FOX
Another entry in Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story anthology, this time set in the world of the “freak show”. It is 1952, and we are in Jupiter, Florida, where the death of an elderly woman reveals a secret she’s been hiding for decades. It’s not long before German-accented Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) slinks into view, offering the opportunity of a lifetime: a chance to be the headline act in her show. Meanwhile, a balding, wide-grinned clown stalks Jupiter. Terrifying, moreish television. BAA
Bad Education
10pm, BBC3
Although creator and star Jack Whitehall hasn’t confirmed whether school’s out forever at Abbey Grove, tonight’s series three finale ties things up nicely just in case. With their GCSEs over, Form K have some important decisions to make about their futures, as does their tutor Alfie (Whitehall), who has decided that he can’t carry on at the school without them. With headteacher Fraser (Mathew Horne) in bits at his resignation, can Gulliver and Form K get Alfie to the prom and perhaps back to the classroom? Hannah J Davies
Baseball: World Series – Game 1
12.30am, BT Sport 1
Live coverage of game one of this season’s seven-game climax. At the time of writing, the league championship matches were not concluded: this will be a contest between the winner of Kansas City v Baltimore, and the winner of St Louis v San Francisco. Victors in the former will bat at home, thanks to the American League’s victory in this season’s all-star game. St Louis will hope to do better than last year’s World Series loss to the Red Sox, now trying to forget a wretched 2014. Andrew Mueller
