CRITICS’ CHOICE
Pick of the day
Danielle De Niese — The Birth Of An Opera (BBC4, 7pm)
As an introduction to Glyndebourne’s staging of The Barber of Seville, its star, Danielle de Niese, takes us through all the elements of playing Rosina, with occasional digressions from Rossini’s 200-year-old opera (notably a trip to Rome that includes the venue of the premiere).
Though an engaging personality, De Niese treats TV presenting as another performance, overenunciating and overdoing facial expressions as if addressing a theatre’s back row, not chatting to us via a camera lens. If you can overlook her misguided compulsion to sell rather than just tell, though, her detailing of the process of building a role is fascinating, involving make-up, wigs and costume as well as vocal technique, body language and interaction with singers and the creative team. Directed by Annabel Arden and conducted by Enrique Mazzola, the opera follows at 8pm.
John Dugdale
It’s all about winning
Sports Personality Of The Year (BBC1, 6.40pm)
Andy Murray is 7-1 on to retain the main award, but will again be unavailable to collect it in person. Among the gongs up for grabs are those for best coach, lifetime achievement and best team; the latter is likely to be a particularly hot contest with Leicester City, the GB women’s hockey Olympic gold medallists and Eddie Jones’s England rugby invincibles all contenders. It is hosted by Clare Balding, Gary Lineker and Gabby Logan.
Let’s do it
Victoria Wood Night (BBC2, from 7.40pm)
Wood, who died in April, is celebrated with a compilation that includes a selection from the 1980s sketch series As Seen on TV (7.40pm), a Best Of British documentary profile (8.20pm), the festive one-off Midlife Christmas from 2009, which featured the Midlife Olympics sketch and the return of Barry and Freda (9pm), and the new At It Again (10pm), a stand-up gig from her 2001 tour of the same name.
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Out of the past
Midsomer Murders (ITV, 8pm)
Nick Hendrix steps into the role of DS Jamie Winter, the latest sidekick to DCI John Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon). He and Dr Kam (Manjinder Virk) have an easy friendship, which puts his new boss’s nose out of joint as the team investigates a series of unexplained deaths in a village that had been home to a wartime military base. There is great comfort in the familiarity, and much fun to be had with guest stars Sally Phillips and Hugh Dennis.
You’re tired?
The Apprentice (BBC1, 9pm)
Courtney, the online tat merchant, and Alana the baker go head to head, pitching their businesses to Lord Sugar with the help of the very people they have trampled over for the past 12 weeks. It’s a fraught affair and old personality clashes rear their heads — underlining the fact that the final two are rather forgettable — while Karren Brady gets to deliver the most sarcastic “really?” ever uttered and Lord Sugar confesses to a cross-dressing alter ego.
John Dugdale and Helen Stewart
Radio pick of the day
Christmas Around Europe (R3, 1pm)
Andrew MacGregor hosts seven hours of seasonal music, from Finland to the Czech Republic. Choral Evensong (R3, 3pm), recorded in Cape Town in 2005, is a warm African filling in this dense Euro sandwich, but is up against
A Winchester Christmas (Classic FM, 3pm), a serene carol service recorded in the school chapel. Bruce Springsteen, the Democrat- campaigning singer probably now in meltdown after Donald Trump’s victory, gets away from it all on Desert Island Discs (R4, 11.15am).
Paul Donovan
FILM CHOICE
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Before I Go To Sleep (2014)
(C4, 12.55am)
Perhaps hoping its viewers will have no memory of 2000’s Memento, Rowan Joffe’s suspense thriller offers the story of an amnesiac (Nicole Kidman) who wakes every morning unable to remember the past few years. Asked to trust her apparent husband (Colin Firth) and a seemingly helpful doctor (Mark Strong), she is sent through a watchably daft tale that won’t linger long in your mind.
Hercules (2014)
(C5, 9pm)
Its decision to reimagine the labouring demigod of Greek legend as a Conan-like warrior fighting earthly battles may be counterproductive, but Brett Ratner’s sword-and-sandals action movie still has a fairly superhuman star, the ridiculously muscled Dwayne Johnson, and what it lacks in mythic grandeur it makes up for in cheesy entertainment.
About A Boy 2002)
(C4, 11.05pm)
Playing a loafer who befriends a lonely schoolkid in this pensive comic drama (from a Nick Hornby novel), Hugh Grant swapped the floppy-haired poshness of previous roles for a slightly more roguish and tufty-headed persona, one he has continued to cultivate in the years since. During the same period, his young co-star here, Nicholas Hoult, has successfully established himself as an adult actor. Co-dirs: Chris and Paul Weitz
Edward Porter
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Premier League Manchester City v Arsenal (Sky Sports 1, 3.30pm)