TV tonight: a snoop around Switzerland’s most Christmassy hotel

1 month ago 9

Alpine Hotel at Christmas

9pm, Channel 4

This gentle festive stroll around the ultra-exclusive Gstaad Palace hotel in Switzerland could be viewed as either gloriously escapist or an irritatingly uncritical wallow in extreme wealth. Certainly, the hotel looks beautiful in the snow – and with suites costing up to £18,000 a night, it really should – but the whole thing feels somewhat frictionless. Everyone works hard and as a result, everyone has a lovely time but it’s hard to see what’s in it for viewers. Phil Harrison

An Evening With Dua Lipa

8pm, ITV1

A variety show of sorts as Dua Lipa takes over the Royal Albert Hall to perform a selection of her songs in different settings; with a band, with a choir, with an orchestra and inevitably, with her duet partner Elton John. Interspersed with the performances are interviews in which Dua reflects on her career to date. PH

Jamie Cooks at Christmas

8pm, Channel 4

As festively ubiquitous as Love, Actually, the man without a surname is back for this handy two-parter, serving up Christmas cheesy filo parcels with cranberry dip, a scrumptious cauliflower lasagne, chicken and sausage kebabs, and a sticky toffee coffee pudding with Medjool dates and festive spices. Yum, actually. Ali Catterall

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light

9pm, BBC One

This gripping adaptation of the third book in Hilary Mantel’s trilogy approaches its endgame. Its brilliance has been in recasting a familiar story as an exercise in brutal and modern realpolitik. In this episode, Cromwell ponders the creation of a Protestant superpower and brings Princess Anne of Cleves to the court of Henry VIII. PH

I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!

9pm, ITV1

It feels as if its cultural impact fades by the year but, behind likely winner Danny Jones, a few of the latest batch of camp-mates have made names for themselves, albeit not always positively. So the season finale’s crowning of Jones, or a surprise late runner, is still a big enough TV event. Jack Seale

Matlock

10pm, Sky Witness

No spoilers if you’re yet to enjoy episode one, but we now know exactly what show we’re watching, so we’re primed for more of Kathy Bates as Matty, a superficially doddery lawyer who has come out of retirement and should not be underestimated. Now she defends a developmentally-delayed teen on a murder charge. JS

Film choice

The Cruel Sea, 1pm, BBC Two

“No one escapes the death and destruction of battle” … The Cruel Sea on BBC Two.

This tense 1953 Ealing Studios drama steers a steady course round any propaganda in its story of a Royal Navy ship assigned to protect convoys in the North Atlantic during the second world war. It’s largely about the officers, with Jack Hawkins convincingly troubled and traumatised as the captain of a corvette struggling to locate the U-boats torpedoing his supply vessels. Donald Sinden has more of a stiff upper lip as a journalist turned reliable first lieutenant – but no one escapes the death and destruction of battle, with real footage adding to the effect. Simon Wardell