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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Phil Harrison, Sophie Harris, Mark Gibbings-Jones, Jack Seale, Graeme Virtue, John Robinson, Paul Howlett

Wednesday’s best TV: Miriam’s Big Adventure; Fresh off the Boat

Miriam Margolyes with cowboy Dan Eoff in Miriam’s Big American Adventure, BBC One.
Miriam Margolyes with cowboy Dan Eoff in Miriam’s Big American Adventure, BBC One. Photograph: BBC/Wild Pictures

Miriam’s Big American Adventure
9pm, BBC One

Miriam Margolyes heads deep into Trumpistan as this series concludes. She is reluctantly charmed by friendly cowboys saying grim things (“poverty is a choice”, apparently). And she is revulsed by a rightwing pastor who will only be interviewed via an intermediary because of her ethnicity. The refreshing thing about this series has been that Margolyes hasn’t always kept her head in the name of “balance”; these are emotional times and this has been an emotional journey. Phil Harrison

Fresh Off the Boat
8pm, 5Star

Based on the memoirs of Viceland TV chef Eddie Huang, this US sitcom is smart, gently funny and as much a lens for exploring the weirdness of American ’burb culture in the 90s as it is the Asian-American experience. Tonight, adolescent hip-hop fan Eddie imagines himself in an Ol’ Dirty Bastard music video. Sophie Harris

Stealing Van Gogh
9pm, BBC Two

Just four minutes in 2002 saw two thieves break into Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum and abscond with two priceless artefacts. Andrew Graham-Dixon traces the circuitous route subsequently taken by the pilfered paintings and reveals some details rarely revealed about such illegally appropriated artworks. Mark Gibbings-Jones

Girlfriends
9pm, ITV

Kay Mellor’s demented domestic palaver unleashes another tornado: by the end of the hour, everyone has given birth, been fired or almost died at least once. At the centre is Phyllis Logan as the infuriatingly inadequate Linda, who trembles and drinks wine as her loved ones explain another fresh cacophony of setbacks. Jack Seale

Kiri
9pm, Channel 4

With a reporter scrum outside, cracks are showing in the Warners’ formerly picture-perfect foster family facade. Tensions rise with the looming re-enactment of Kiri’s final hours. While unsettling, Jack Thorne’s examination of emotional frailty, human failings and trial-by-media is a bracing and blackly comic watch. Graeme Virtue

Hate Thy Neighbour
9pm, Viceland

Jamali Maddix returns for another series of head-to-heads with American extremists. Tonight, it’s Ruben Israel from the Bible Believers, against seemingly all civilising tolerance or freedom of behaviour. Maddix joins them protesting the Decadence parade in New Orleans, where a lively confrontation ensues. John Robinson

Film choice

Alicia Vikander & Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl
Alicia Vikander & Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl. Photograph: Allstar/Universal Pictures

The Danish Girl (Tom Hooper, 2016) 10.45pm, ITV

Hooper’s elegant drama tells the story of Lili Elbe, a Danish artist who was born male and in 1930 became one of the first people to undergo sex reassignment surgery. It is lightweight, but Eddie Redmayne handles the transition charmingly, with the aid of Alicia Vikander as his wife and fellow painter, Gerda. Paul Howlett

Live sport

Tennis: The Australian Open 8am, Eurosport 1. More quarter-finals from Melbourne Park.

Figure skating: The Four Continents Championship 8.45am, Eurosport 2. Featuring the women’s short programme from Tapei Arena.

League Cup football: Arsenal v Chelsea 7.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event. Second leg of the semi-final.

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