Monday’s TV: The Diamond Jubilee Concert

Gok Cooks Chinese
Channel 4, 8.30pm

Tonight, Gok Wan is cooking traditional dishes from recipes passed down the generations of his family — dishes that have stood the test of time, “because they are just so tasty.” And they look it. He starts by steaming a lemon sole, head, tail and all, as the Chinese believe that serving it in its entirety brings prosperity. Perhaps Gok has hit upon a delicious and simple way of ending the recession. He then gets out his “Chinese love basket of taste and flavour”, which sounds a bit saucy and is — it’s a collection of sauces and oils used to enhance the dishes, such as Poppa Wan’s Peking duck with pancakes, the most popular Chinese dish in the UK. Get your wok on.

Secret Millionaire
Channel 4, 9pm

Carol Hayes is Gok Wan’s agent and she also runs a leading London agency for hair, makeup, fashion and styling. But like many of the millionaires featured in this series, she left school with hardly any qualifications and has built her empire through shrewdness and trusting her instincts. These qualities come in handy again when she to travels to the Glasgow’s desolate Easterhouse Estate, one of the most deprived areas in the UK. At first she struggles to find a charity to engage with, but eventually comes across an organisation helping people with dementia, a community centre and a kid’s charity. All help her to engage with her softer side and out comes the cheque book and the hankies.

The Battle of Britain
BBC Two, 9pm

If you don’t fancy devoting your evening to the musical celebration of the Diamond Jubilee, here’s another chance to see the documentary in which the actor and flying enthusiast Ewan McGregor paid tribute to the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain back in September 2010, joined by his brother Colin, a former RAF pilot. The siblings embark on a journey to find out what it was like to live and fight through the most significant air battle in British history. Along the way they meet some of the heroes who fought in the battle and McGregor the actor takes to the skies in a Spitfire to experience the excitement and strains of air combat.

Surviving Progress
BBC Four, 10pm

Martin Scorsese is the executive producer for this documentary in which the historian Ronald Wright expands on the themes explored in his book A Short History of Progress, which tells the double-edged story of the grave risks we pose to our own survival in the name of progress. With rich imagery and contributions from the likes of Stephen Hawking and the economic historian Michael Hudson, the film connects financial collapse, growing inequality and global oligarchy with the sustainability of mankind itself. It shows how we are frequently destroyed by “progress traps” — alluring technologies which serve immediate need but rob us of our long term future.

Digital choice, Joe Clay

Game of Thrones
Sky Atlantic, 9pm

The second season of the epic fantasy drama has been notable for the subtle and brilliantly-played two-handers. Amid all the bloody battles (last week’s was a thrilling, small-scale version of those Peter Jackson put together for his Lord of the Rings trilogy) and despicable acts of cruelty, relationships have blossomed in unlikely places. Between Jon Snow and the wildling girl; Robb Stark and Jeyne Westerling; Tyrion and Shae. But the friendship between Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) was touching and twisted at the same time; she lacking a father figure and he missing his children. Of course, the fact that their families were sworn enemies added danger to every encounter. Tywin’s dramatic arrival at King’s Landing at the end of the penultimate episode has left it all up in the air as season 2 concludes tonight — who will end up sitting on the Iron Throne?

Revenge
E4, 9pm

The glamorous and soapy drama continues, as Emily (Emily VanCamp) sets her sights on her next target, Bill Harmon, a wealthy hedge fund manager and trusted family friend who testified in the trial that wrongfully convicted her father. It chugs along at a decent pace and Madeleine Stowe oozes class and a touch of the Lady Macbeths as Victoria Grayson, the reigning Queen of the Hamptons social scene. Tip-top trash.

2012 MTV Movies Awards
MTV, 9pm

This year’s host Russell Brand loves to court controversy with his outrageous quips, but the real wildcard is Charlie “Tiger Blood” Sheen, who will be presenting an award. The Hunger Games and Bridesmaids dominate nominations. For the first time, movie fans can vote using Twitter hashtags, though the live social voting only works in the new “Best Hero” category. Black Keys perform.

Bear Grylls: Born Survivor
Discovery, 9pm

Jake Gyllenhaal is known as one of the fittest men in Hollywood. He underwent a Marine-style bootcamp to prepare for his role in Jarhead, but confesses to having done nothing to ready himself for a trip to Iceland with Bear Grylls.The treacherous conditions make every step perilous and Gyllenhaal is afraid of heights — not great when you’re scaling a glacier. But the cold does not diminish Gyllenhaal’s sense of humour. “That takes balls,” says Grylls, after they wade through a freezing river. “Well, mine are right up in my throat,” replies the actor.

Film choice, Wendy Ide

Quantum of Solace (2008)
ITV1, 9pm

It’s not easy being Bond these days. The job description got a lot more demanding since Daniel Craig stepped into the tuxedo. Bond bleeds. He’s bruised, burned and looks decidedly crumpled by the end of the movie. He grimaces in irritation as shrapnel fragments pepper his face. Craig delivers his performance with a cold, cruel panache. The many action sequences are despatched with ruthless efficiency and an exponential body count — Judi Dench’s M looks on with distaste as yet another suspect dies along with their secrets at Bond’s hands. Dialogue is stripped down to a minimum — this instalment is lean, mean and all about the action. (106min)

The Terminator (1984)
BBC Two, 10.30pm

This is the film that launched the career of James Cameron and provided Arnold Schwarzenegger with his endlessly parodied catch phrase, “I’ll be back.” Arnie is magnificently muscle-bound as a virtually indestructible cyborg from the future who is sent back to 1984 to assassinate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the woman whose unborn son will grow up to be the man who leads the human resistance against the machines. Michael Biehn is the fighter who is sent back to try and save her. There’s precious little wrong with this heart-stopping action flick. (108min)

Scarface (1983)
ITV4, 10.30pm

Brian De Palma directs an Oliver Stone screenplay, which gives you some idea of the macho muscle which is flexed in this violent, gripping story of Cuban exile Tony Montana’s journey through the criminal underworld. The storytelling is as garish as the blood which is spilled on an all too regular basis. Al Pacino’s performance is electrifyingly evil, a tour de force of fatally flawed humanity. His Tony Montana is a magnificent monster who carries the same pop-cultural resonance and notoriety as Travis Bickle. (170min)

The Page Turner (2006)
Channel 4, 1.55am

We first meet Mélanie as a precocious ten-year-old. Her audition for the Conservatoire is going well until she’s distracted by the inconsiderate behaviour of one of the judges, the concert pianist Ariane Fouchécourt (Catherine Frot). Mélanie fails the audition and gives up the piano. We next meet her as a poised — and poisonous — 20-year-old (Déborah François) who inveigles her way into the household of her nemesis and makes herself invaluable. François injects a subtle menace into the most mundane of activities, so the scenes of her chopping a rabbit for supper are terrifying. (85min)