BLACK HAWK DOWN (2001)
Five, 10pm
Re-creating the disastrous military mission into Somalia in 1993 that left 18 Americans dead, Ridley Scott’s impressively staged thriller stars Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor and Sam Shepard. Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer concentrate on hands-on heroics, barely hinting at obvious parallels with more recent global upheavals. (144min)
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BORN ROMANTIC (2000)
BBC One, 10.50pm
David Kane’s genial ensemble comedy stars Adrian Lester, Jane Horrocks, Craig Ferguson, Olivia Williams, Jimi Mistry, Catherine McCormack and David Morrissey as lonely singletons looking for love. Kane relies too heavily on heart-tugging sentiment, but some of his mismatched couples have great screen chemistry. (95min)
SPIDER (2002)
BBC Two, 10.50pm
Ralph Fiennes gives a brooding, intense performance in David Cronenberg’s unnerving psychodrama as a former mental patient haunted by flashbacks to his troubled childhood. Piecing together his shattered memories in an East End rehabilitation house for former mental patients, Spider (Fiennes) tries to unravel truth from hallucination. Miranda Richardson also pops up in an inspired double role in this muted but intelligent thriller. (98min)
BABYMOTHER (1998)
Channel 4, 1.10am
Shooting an all-black British musical among the estates and reggae clubs of Harlesden is a commendably original idea that Julian Henriques pulls off with moderate success. Anjela Lauren Smith plays a young mother struggling to establish herself as a dancehall siren, eventually coming into conflict with the father of her children. There are too many clumsy touches, but the music shines through. (82min)
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MultiChannel
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WISH YOU WERE HERE (1987)
More4, 10.10pm
Emily Lloyd made her screen debut as a sexually precocious teenager in David Leland’s bittersweet saucy postcard of 1950s England. Leland previously scripted Personal Services, based on the life of Cynthia Payne, and Wish You Were Here was partly inspired by Payne’s childhood memories. (92min)
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ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (1976)
BBC Four, 10.15pm
Alan J. Pakula’s Oscar- winning docudrama re-creates the relentless investigation that exposed the Watergate scandal and toppled Richard Nixon from the White House. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford co-star in Pakula’s absorbing, intelligent, evergreen monument to political corruption and journalistic ethics. (138min)