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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Graeme Virtue, Ali Catterall, Henry Wong, Danielle De Wolfe and Simon Wardell

TV tonight: Alan Carr revives a classic quiz with celebrity players

Alan Carr's Epic Gameshow.
Alan Carr's Epic Gameshow. Photograph: Scott Kershaw/ITV

Alan Carr’s Epic Gameshow: Celebrity Special

7pm, ITV

The thrifty series that takes vintage quiz formats and upcycles them with 21st-century glitz returns. Strike It Lucky and Bullseye will feature in the current run, but it begins with four famous and notably competitive couples – including Mo and Tania Farah and Strictly pair Flavia and Jimi Mistry – tackling Play Your Cards Right to win up to £20,000 for charity. Graeme Virtue

Pointless Celebrities

7.50pm, BBC One

This cricket-themed edition sees Xander and Richard welcome players and fans to the Pointless studio including England captain Graham Gooch, notorious fast bowler Devon Malcolm and comic turned commentator Andy Zaltzman. Expect gags about famous duos being stumped. GV

Hampton Court Palace: Behind Closed Doors

8pm, Channel 5

It’s harvest time at Henry VIII’s palace, and a perk of tending the oldest and biggest grapevine in the world is that you can snack on a piece of history. (“Very sweet,” notes one gardener.) Elsewhere, chief curator Tracy Borman becomes aware of an antique that may have links to Anne Boleyn. GV

Stereophonics: Live in Cardiff

8.40pm, BBC Two

It was supposed to be “something we can celebrate,” said frontman Kelly Jones after a miserable year of lockdown – until Omicron delayed the gig for yet another year. Now, at last, it’s on, hot on the heels of their new album Oochya!. Expect the usual hits, plus perhaps Forever, inspired by Jones’s son’s cancer treatment. Ali Catterall

Heatwave: Summer of ‘76

9pm, Channel 5

Summer 1976, and the UK had never been hotter. Temperatures hit 36C: people fried eggs on the pavement, the Thames dried up. With memories from Vanessa Feltz, Neil Kinnock and Trevor McDonald, this documentary takes us back to a time when politics and the British public reached fever pitch. Henry Wong

Later – With Jools Holland

10.40pm, BBC Two

The undisputed king of the hootenanny closes the 60th series in style, with Florence + the Machine, Dance Fever and Jamie T, plus R’n’B heavyweight Kamal, Liverpool’s the Mysterines and multi-instrumentalist Deyaz all making their debuts. Danielle De Wolfe

Film choice

A Simple Favour, 10.20pm, BBC One

Henry Golding and Anna Kendrick in A Simple Favour.
Henry Golding and Anna Kendrick in A Simple Favour. Photograph: Peter Iovino/Feigco Entertainment/Allstar

Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) is a perky widowed mom who is dragged out of her suburban rut when she befriends high-flying fashion PR Emily (Blake Lively) – self-assured, sophisticated and married to the very eligible Sean (Henry Golding). Then Emily goes missing, and Stephanie decides to investigate … Comparisons to Gone Girl are inevitable, but Paul Feig’s blackly comic mystery is good fun on its own merits – from the 60s French pop soundtrack to Kendrick and Lively’s gleeful dismantling of a slew of female stereotypes. Simon Wardell

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, 12.05pm, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere

In his TV dramas Flowers and Landscapers, writer-director Will Sharpe has given a sympathetic ear to loners and eccentrics. His stylish, and at times trippy, new film adds another to the canon: the Edwardian illustrator known for his pictures of big-eyed, anthropomorphised cats. Benedict Cumberbatch is sad and endearing as Louis, who keeps his mental health troubles – and extreme championing of felines – just about within the realms of social acceptability, while supporting his mother, five sisters and wife Emily (Claire Foy). SW

Live sport

Tennis: Queen’s, 1pm, BBC One The singles semi-finals in the men’s grass-court tournament.

Racing: Royal Ascot, 1.25pm, ITV The final day, including the 4.20 Platinum Jubilee Stakes.

Premiership Rugby Union: Leicester Tigers v Saracens, 2pm, BT Sport 1 George Ford (pictured above) plays his last game for Leicester in the final at Twickenham Stadium.

US Open Golf, 4pm, Sky Sports Golf The third day of the major at the Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.


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