TV tonight: Samantha Morton’s rompy period drama about a slippery royal

1 week ago 14

The Serpent Queen

10.05pm, Channel 4

A very modern period drama in the rompy style of The Great and Mary & George. First aired on StarzPlay in 2022, the story is set in 16th-century France and follows Italian Catherine de Medici (Liv Hill plays the younger; Samantha Morton the older) who claws her way to the top and earns her scaly reputation. It begins with Catherine marrying Henry II aged only 14. Hollie Richardson

Strictly Come Dancing

6.35pm, BBC One

Sadly, wonderful La Voix has had an injury and will miss out on the Blackpool bonanza. The remaining six couples taking to the treasured dancefloor include Lewis and Katya with their charleston to an Arctic Monkeys banger, and George and Alexis with their salsa to a 90s club classic. Plus, Lewis Capaldi performs on Sunday’s results show. HR

Bettany Hughes’ Treasures of the World

7pm, Channel 4

The final armchair travel adventure with historian Bettany this series takes us to Estonia. She starts by introducing us to a 10,000-year-old piece of chewed tar that reveals the portrait of a prehistoric teen. Then, she finds a 16th-century shipwreck in the Baltic waters, before trying booze infused with viper. HR

Kim Wilde at the BBC

8.05pm, BBC Two

Three decades after her smash hit Kids in America, Kim Wilde – one of the 80s’ most-charted female solo artists – performed at last year’s Radio 2 in the Park. Now she presents a retrospective of her appearances with the broadcaster, with more hits including a rarely seen duet with Tony Ferrino, AKA Steve Coogan. HR

Wild Cherry

9.05pm, BBC One

Teenager Iris is still missing and the Richford Lake mums seem to be in denial about the potential involvement of their darling daughters. All except Lorna, who’s determined to hack the secret app on Grace’s phone. Meanwhile, the detectives find class privilege to be a formidable obstacle to their investigation. Ellen E Jones

Hitler’s DNA: Blueprint of a Dictator

9.05pm, Channel 4

It’s the concluding part of this somewhat speculative series about the genetic background of the German dictator. Unsurprisingly, it locates more evidence about Hitler’s unsuitability for high office and hypothesises significant signposts toward bipolarity and schizophrenia. It also posits low levels of testosterone and, possibly, a “micro-penis”. Phil Harrison

Film choices

After the Hunt, out now, Prime Video

Nothing to smile about … After the Hunt on Prime Video.

It’s a rare Julia Roberts film where we don’t witness her trademark 100-watt grin, but laughs are in short supply in Luca Guadagnino’s murky Yale-set drama. Roberts plays the largely unlikable Alma, a philosophy professor up for tenure alongside her colleague and close friend Hank (Andrew Garfield). That is until student Maggie (Ayo Edebiri) accuses him of sexual assault. Questions of privilege, feminism, restorative justice and generational ignorance swirl round Alma as she is asked to choose who to believe – while her own conduct also comes up for debate. Simon Wardell

One Shot With Ed Sheeran, out now, Netflix

Adolescence director Philip Barantini adapts his single-take expertise to the rather less zeitgeisty subject of the Suffolk-raised, world-conquering singer. It’s an uncut hour or so of the amiable Ed playing the wandering troubadour in New York – guitar-slinging and singing at a marriage proposal, birthday party, a pub session and on an open-top tourist bus and subway train. Mild crowd disturbances ensue, while nifty camerawork (at one point it switches from a handheld view to a skyscraping drone shot) enlivens the procession of singalong hits. SW

Nights of Cabiria, 9.05pm, Talking Pictures TV

Nights of Cabiria on Talking Pictures TV.

One of several classic films by Federico Fellini that encompass both the high life and the low life of his beloved Rome, this 1957 comedy-drama stars Giulietta Masina as sex worker Cabiria. A little bundle of anger and (possibly naive) optimism, she absorbs whatever life throws at her – whether that’s on the nighttime streets or in a film star’s bedroom, meeting a charitable stranger or a man who may make an honest woman of her. Masina’s Chaplin-esque stylings lend the piece an achingly tragicomic aura. SW