Accused: The Hampstead Paedophile Hoax
9pm, Channel 4
Brace yourselves for this true parents-at-the-school-gates horror story with endlessly gobsmacking layers. It speaks to four mothers who, back in 2014, were victims of a conspiracy theory that suggested they were part of a baby-eating, satanic, paedophile cult. The allegations were made by two children but, as the interview recordings that are played here for the first time show, they were being forced to lie. The anger among the women is palpable throughout this brilliantly investigated 90-minute documentary, in which they recall what they did to get to the root of what really happened, and detail all the ways that this ruined their lives and their children’s. Hollie Richardson
Is University Really Worth It?
9pm, BBC Two
“Students, aye? They’re always kicking off about something.” With 69% of graduates saying a degree isn’t worth it, lecturers on strike and fees leaving students in tens of thousands of pounds of debt, comedian and former English teacher Geoff Norcott tries to find out whether higher education is something he wants his son to even consider. HR
Snow Going Back: Comic Relief vs the Arctic
9pm, BBC One
Red noses are inevitable in this frosty charity challenge, in which crafty Dragons’ Den queen Sara Davies, ex-footballer Alex Scott, Geordie Shore veteran Vicky Pattison and TV presenter Laura Whitmore head to the Arctic Circle. Can they endure 50km of hard trekking, cross-country skiing and piloting off-road bikes with big, fat tyres? Graeme Virtue
The Zaks Affair: Anatomy of a Fake Collection
9pm, BBC Four
Who doesn’t love a good art-forgery yarn? This documentary follows experts as they look into the “Zaks collection”, a repository of Russian and Ukrainian modern art that has been the source of numerous big-money sales in the past 20 years. Could it be that the story behind them is bunk and the paintings are all duds? Jack Seale
Curb Your Enthusiasm
9pm, Sky Comedy
It’s a Susie episode! Any instalment that centres that perpetual thorn in Larry’s side, Jeff’s irascible and boldly attired wife – played with fiery rage by Susie Essman – is a winner. While Susie’s new business venture has unexpected consequences, Larry tries to make his visits to the bathroom more efficient. JS
Our Flag Means Death
11.15pm, BBC Two
Season two of the now-cancelled pirate farce reaches its final double bill and certainly goes out with a bang. But despite much life-or-death swordplay and explosive cannon fire, the biggest question is whether the tender union between chalk-and-cheese buccaneers Stede (Rhys Darby) and Blackbeard (Taika Waititi) can survive. GV
Film choice
20 Days in Mariupol (Mstyslav Chernov, 2023), 10.30pm, Channel 4
“War is like an X-ray: all human insides become visible.” So says an embattled doctor in this Bafta-winning documentary, which brings home in devastating fashion the terror of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. TV journalist Mstyslav Chernov was in the south-eastern city when it was besieged by Putin’s troops, but stayed to document the increasingly desperate situation faced by its residents. The terrible human cost is shown in distressing hospital scenes and interviews with people in fear of their lives and those of their children. A difficult but necessary watch. Simon Wardell
