Critics’ choice
Pick of the day
Talking Pictures: Debbie Reynolds (BBC2, 1pm)
It was Debbie Reynolds’s misfortune that her big break eclipsed the rest of her career. Singin’ in the Rain — which premiered the week before her 20th birthday — may be what she is best known for, but this affectionate profile puts any such shortsightedness to shame, with nods towards her performances in How the West Was Won, The Unsinkable Molly Brown and Tammy and the Bachelor, for which she also sang a chart-topping song.
If your instincts tell you to avoid light entertainment, the most intriguing offering tonight is PBS America’s How To Start A Revolution (9.20pm), in which the Nobel-nominated Gene Sharp explains how to impose non-violent change on dictatorships. His methods have had dramatic results, says the film, “from Serbia to Ukraine to Egypt to Syria” — hardly a ringing endorsement.
David Hutcheon
Radio pick of the day
Drama: Boswell At Large — A Corsican Adventure (R4, 2.30pm)
There was more to the Scottish writer James Boswell than his friendship with Doctor Johnson: in 1765 he visited Corsica and championed the guerrillas fighting to overthrow the island’s Genoese rulers and introduce home rule. An Account of Corsica, his book published in 1768, was the result. This adaptation, starring Lorn Macdonald as Boswell, is surprisingly gutsy and entertaining and will probably do the campaign for Scottish independence no harm.
Paul Donovan
Top 10 TV programmes
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BBC1
1 Sherlock 11.33
2 New Year’s Eve Fireworks 10.87
3 Mrs Brown’s Boys 8.78
4 EastEnders (Sun) 7.38
5 Witness For/Prosecution 6.97
6 Outnumbered 6.87
7 Jonathan Creek 6.73
8 BBC News (Wed, 6pm) 6.69
9 Great Christmas Bake Off 6.37
10 Robbie Rocks Big Ben 5.62
BBC2
1 Real Marigold: Japan 4.18
2 Real Marigold: California 3.84
3 Brooker’s 2016 Wipe 3.04
4 University Challenge 2.94
5 Dad’s Army 2.69
6 Jools’s Hootenanny 2.54
7 Dench/World’s Her Stage 2.48
8 Match Of The Day 2.46
9 Thailand/Tropical Paradise 2.37
10 Dragons’ Den 2.31
C4
1 Titanic: The New Evidence 2.64
2 Big Fat Quiz Of The Year 2.61
3 Lego’s Big Christmas 2.54
4 Location Location 1.89
5 Amazing Spaces Snow 1.87
6 24 Hours In A&E 1.74
7 Mission Impossible: Ghost 1.65
8 19 Kids And Counting 1.56
9 What Britain Bought 1.46
10 Friday Night Feast 1.38
C5
1 The Adele Story 2.24
2 World’s Strongest Man 2.00
3 Ken Dodd/His Own Words 1.61
4 Dirty Dancing 1.31
5 Biggest Dog In The World 1.11
6 Another Audience/Dodd 0.99
7 Kitten Rescuers 0.99
8 Legally Blonde 0.93
9 Shocking Celeb Moments 0.91
10 Britain’s Cleverest Dog 0.89
ITV
1 Coronation Street (Fri) 7.89
2 Emmerdale (Tue) 6.68
3 ITV News (Mon) 4.33
4 The Order Of The Phoenix 4.16
5 Captain Phillips 3.86
6 The Deathly Hallows Pt 1 3.73
7 The Goblet Of Fire 3.71
8 The Half-Blood Prince 3.61
9 The Prisoner Of Azkaban 3.26
10 The Deathly Hallows Pt 2 3.17
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AND THE REST
1 The Big Bang Theory 2.10
2 Deadpool 1.39
3 Liverpool v Stoke 1.37
4 Liverpool v Man City 1.17
5 Arsenal v Crystal Palace 1.09
6 Flying Scotsman/Footplate 1.02
7 Kung Fu Panda 3 1.02
8 Delicious 0.98
9 Hollyoaks (Thu) 0.97
10 Hawaii Five-0 0.94
Week ending Jan 1. For multiple editions or repeated programmes, ratings for the highest single showing only are included. Source: Barb
Channel numbers
BBC4 Sky 116 Freeview 9 Freesat 107 Virgin 107/163
ITV2 Sky 118 Freeview 6 Freesat 113 Virgin 115/176
ITV3 Sky 119 Freeview 10 Freesat 115 Virgin 117/178
ITV4 Sky 120 Freeview 24 Freesat 117 Virgin 118/178
E4 Sky 136 Freeview 28 Freesat 122 Virgin 144/145
More 4 Sky 138 Freeview 14 Freesat 124 Virgin 147/203
Drama Sky 158 Freeview 20 Freesat 158 Virgin 128
CBeebies Sky 614 Freeview 121 Freesat 608 Virgin 702
SCP Sky 301 Virgin 431
SCT Sky 309 Virgin 439
SCG Sky 304 Virgin 434
SCS Sky 312 Virgin 442
Film 4 Sky 315 Freeview 15 Freesat 300 Virgin 428/429
TCM Sky 317 Virgin 415/416
SS1 Sky 401 Virgin 501/511
SS2 Sky 402 Virgin 502/512
SS3 Sky 403 Virgin 503/513
Eurosport Sky 410 Virgin 521/523
BT Sport 1 Sky 413 Virgin 530/531
Gold Sky 110 Virgin 124
Universal Sky 113 Virgin 137
Sky Living Sky 107 Virgin 111/112
W Sky 109 Virgin 125
5 Star Sky 176 Freeview 30 Freesat 131 Virgin 151
5 USA Sky 174 Freeview 21 Freesat 129 Virgin 153
Dave Sky 111 Freeview 12 Virgin 127
Fox Sky 124 Virgin 157/158
Comedy Central Sky 112 Virgin 132
Yesterday Sky 537 Freeview 19 Freesat 159 Virgin 245
Nat Geo Sky 526 Virgin 266/268
Discovery Sky 520 Virgin 250/251
Sky Arts Sky 121 Virgin 122/206
PBS America Sky 534 Freesat 156 Virgin 276
Film choice
Looper (2012)
BBC2, 10.30pm
Using time travel to shake up a hitman story, Rian Johnson’s sci-fi movie calls on a killer (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to bump off an older version of himself (Bruce Willis). A gifted boy and his mother (Emily Blunt) hint at the plot’s future, which turns out to be a nifty remix of ideas we have seen in past films.
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I Know Where I’m Going! (1945)
BBC2, 8.30am
The go-getting heroine (Wendy Hiller) of this Powell and Pressburger classic loses her emotional bearings on a trip to rural Scotland, but the film itself has a sure sense of direction. Proceeding through a lovely story that blends humour, action, wisdom and romance, it never puts a foot wrong. (B/W)
Bundle Of Joy (1956)
BBC2, 1.30pm
Debbie Reynolds, acting with her first husband, Eddie Fisher, is typically jaunty in Norman Taurog’s musical comedy about a shop worker forced to pretend to be a mother. Ironically, she was pregnant during filming. To that extent, the movie was the first to involve its star couple’s daughter, Carrie Fisher.
Edward Porter
Live football
Premier League Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur (BT Sport 1, 5pm)