TV tonight: Nicola Walker’s juicy divorce drama The Split returns

2 days ago 5

The Split: Barcelona

9pm, BBC One

Divorce lawyers sure know how to up the romance at a family wedding – especially when there’s a hefty prenup on the table. Abi Morgan’s highly enjoyable first-world-love-problems drama returns for a juicy two-part special set a year after the finale, with Hannah (Nicola Walker) and the Defoe family in Catalonia for Liv’s big day. But with ex-husband Nathan (Stephen Mangan) in attendance – sporting a midlife-crisis earring – as well as a former flame, Hannah is in for one big headache. Hollie Richardson

Maria Callas: The Final Act

9pm, BBC Two
Ahead of Angelina Jolie’s biopic, here is an evocative Arena documentary about opera soprano sensation – and original diva – Maria Callas. At the centre is the question: what made her voice “wobble” and eventually fail? Rob Rinder and Simon Schama help tell the story of highs, tragedies and moments that only a true star would experience in life. HR

Archie

9pm, ITV1

How did poverty-stricken Bristolian teenager Archibald Leach become debonair Hollywood lead Cary Grant? “I made up the perfect man,” he says, “in order to survive.” This drama stars Jason Isaacs as Grant and it’s a thoughtful take on a lifelong performance that encompassed both scripted parts and real life. Phil Harrison

Taskmaster’s New Year Treat

9pm, Channel 4

The Taskmaster likes to hail the new year by tormenting some celebrities with a series of weird, one-off challenges. In for it this time are former England goalkeeper David James, mathematician Prof Hannah Fry, money-saving expert Martin Lewis, Melanie Blatt from 00s pop group All Saints and actor Sue Johnston. Ellen E Jones

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: The Truth About Food

9pm, BBC Four

Founded by Michael Faraday in 1825, the Christmas Lectures were created specifically for kids. Hence the gloopy nature of this seminar, From Taste Buds to Toilet, as Dr Chris van Tulleken subjects his twin brother to a live endoscopy, roams around the digestive tract and finds out which foods make a “perfect poo”. Ali Catterall

Blur: Live at Wembley Stadium

11.10pm, Sky Arts

Were you there, during that historic two-night run in 2023, it’s very likely some dust got in your eye. For both audience and band, having grown up alongside one another, older and scarred by experience, this reunion was an especially emotional affair, soundtracked by modern classics such as the deathless Universal and heartbreaking Tender. AC

Film choice

Blur: To the End, 9pm, Sky Arts

“The less we do, the bigger we get.” As Blur prepare for, surprisingly, their first ever gig at Wembley, drummer Dave Rowntree reflects on the Britpop band’s reunion in 2023 after 10 years apart. In this intimate documentary, cameras loiter in singer Damon Albarn’s rural Devon studio as the quartet congregate to finesse their most recent album, then follow the run-up to the big concert. They are in reflective mood, dissecting their relationships and past rock star behaviour – from Alex James’s worries about parenthood (and cheese) to the newly separated Albarn veering between workaholic intensity and sheer exhaustion. But on stage, it all comes gloriously together. Simon Wardell