The Secret Genius of Modern Life
8pm, BBC Two
How did the hunt for a 19th-century serial killer, car crashes in the 1900s and first world war spy tactics bring us the modern passport? The author and broadcaster Prof Hannah Fry investigates the birth and development of the essential travel document in the return of this inquisitive series. She examines the latest biometric technology before gaining access to a top‑secret site where passports are made. She also discovers why airport e-gates are so annoying to get through. Hollie Richardson
Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius
9pm, BBC Two
Marking 400 years since the publication of William Shakespeare’s First Folio, this docudrama asks what we really know about the bard. Brian Cox, Helen Mirren and Judi Dench are just some of the fans who tell his story, which begins with the hopeful young writer’s arrival in Elizabethan London a decade after the opening of the Rose theatre. HR
Payback
9pm, ITV1
It’s a Succession-like finale, as intimidating Scottish patriarch Cal Morris (Peter Mullan) leads his clan on a last-minute helicopter trip to check up on remotely stashed “investments”. Once on the windswept Isle of Eris, Lexie (Morven Christie) uncovers shocking information that leaves her with the ultimate decision to make: justice or freedom? Ellen E Jones
Dark Winds
9pm, Alibi
The atmospheric murder mystery continues. Lieutenant Leaphorn gets closer to untangling the web of crimes when he discovers that someone on the reservation is part of the anti-capitalist Buffalo Society – and the mastermind of the heist that left Raymond dead. Meanwhile, Wanda emerges from a coma, while Chee’s ambitions cause tension. A showdown looms. Ali Catterall
David Mitchell’s Outsiders
10pm, Dave
It’s the penultimate day of the apocalypse and all six celebrities are still alive. Their challenges today require Judi Love to smash up a car with a sledgehammer while thinking of her ex (“He didn’t call me back!”) and Alan Davies and Roisin Conaty to attend couples therapy. HR
BBC New Comedy Awards 2023
10pm, BBC Three
Kiri Pritchard-McLean is the host for the final heat of the comedy competition at Bangor’s Pontio theatre. From Joe Kent-Walters’s surreal social club MC Frankie Monroe to cheeky songsmith Ben Pollard, there’s lots to love. Joining head judge Josh Pugh are former finalist-done-good Sikisa and Barry Island’s very own Mike Bubbins. Hannah Verdier
Film choice
Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose (Adam Sigal, 2023), Prime Video
This off-the-wall real-life case gets a surprisingly sober treatment in Adam Sigal’s 1930s-set comedy-drama. Parapsychologist Dr Fodor (a permanently frustrated Simon Pegg) and his assistant Anne (Minnie Driver) visit the Isle of Man to investigate a farming family who claim to have an intelligent mongoose, named Gef, who talks. Fodor suspects the daughter – a self-confessed ventriloquist – while Gef (voiced, weirdly, by Neil Gaiman) proves tantalisingly elusive. A pleasurable tale of mild British eccentricity. Simon Wardell
