TV tonight: how Michael Sheen’s mega ‘debt heist’ helped hundreds of people

Michael Sheen’s Secret Million Pound Giveaway

Monday, 9pm, Channel 4

Michael Sheen is attempting a “debt heist” – using £100,000 of his own money to buy £1m worth of debt from people in south Wales, then write it off. How is this possible? In a documentary that follows his mission, Sheen explains the secondary debt market and how high-cost credit is ruining so many lives. But this is no millionaire’s vanity project; it exposes the evils of the current credit system in the UK (the banks made £44.3bn profit in 2023, he says). He speaks to the people trapped in debt, as well as an illegal loan shark, while also calling for a fairer system and having a conversation with Gordon Brown about how he can get the government to listen and bring about change. Hollie Richardson

Chess Masters: The Endgame

8pm, BBC Two

Slay queen! … Chess Masters: The Endgame on BBC Two. Photograph: Curve Media/BBC

From Netflix’s hit drama, The Queen’s Gambit, to the real-life scandal of Magnus Carlsen accusing his opponent of cheating with anal beads, chess has rebranded itself as the most exciting game over recent years. Sue Perkins hosts this new series, in which 12 charismatic players – including the Swashbuckler and Killer Queen – compete in games and tasks to become grandmaster, while experts analyse their techniques. HR

Virdee

9pm, BBC One

“I intend to surrender – with one non-negotiable condition.” In the penultimate episode of this superior crime thriller, DCI Harry Virdee is in hospital with anaphylactic shock after near-death by wasp sting, as the Saw-style serial killer contacts the police with an intriguing offer. Ali Catterall

Israel and the Palestinians: The Road to 7th October

9pm, BBC Two

The concluding part of Norma Percy’s hefty series about the decades leading up to the 7 October 2023 attacks. It picks up in 2017, with Donald Trump trying to make peace “his way” and Benjamin Netanyahu presenting his “new Middle East”. Trump’s former ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, is just one top-level political figure giving crucial insights. HR

The Au Pair

9pm, Channel 5

Hidden agenda? Ludmilla Makowski as Sandrine in The Au Pair. Photograph: Bernard Walsh/Vico Films

Chaos descends on seamstress Zoe Dalton’s idyllic (if bland) life when that antediluvian trope, the mysterious foreign nanny, joins the household. But what is the enigmatic Sandrine (Ludmilla Makowski) hiding? Sally Bretton and David Suchet star in a four-part psychological thriller you could set your grandfather clock by. Ali Catterall

The White Lotus

9pm, Sky Atlantic

The nagging feeling that Mike White’s satire about a group of unhappy one percenters is moving too slowly this year dissipates a little as half the cast go on a sexy, tense boat trip. Back on dry land, the infuriatingly childlike security guard Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) suffers another entirely self-inflicted catastrophe. Jack Seale