CRITIC’S CHOICE
Pick of the day
Looking For Margot (BBC1, 10.45pm; BBC1 Scotland, 11.45pm)
Darcey Bussell heads back to her roots to tell the story of “the dancer who embodies all that is beautiful about the ballet”. Mixing archive footage and interviews, this affectionate portrait shows how Peggy Hookham from Reigate turned into Dame Margot Fonteyn, examining both the technical aspects of her art — including her “perfect proportions” — as well as the wilder reaches of her personal life.
Bussell travels to Panama to uncover the truth about her involvement in an attempt to overthrow that country’s government, and investigates her late-blossoming partnership with Rudolf Nureyev and her penniless death on a cattle ranch. Each morning, as they file into their class, young dancers at the Royal Ballet touch the finger of a statute of Dame Margot for luck. The bronze is rubbing away, but as this film shows, 25 years after her death, the ballerina’s reputation is undimmed.
Victoria Segal
Just deserts
Masterchef — The Professionals (BBC2, 8pm)
As the final four remaining contestants prepare for the splendidly pompous “chef’s table” challenge — cooking for 30 culinary luminaries, each one capable of detecting a burnt tuile at 50 paces — the judges become positively indulgent towards their semi-finalists, with even a “hun” and a “darling” escaping from Monica Galetti’s otherwise pursed lips. It turns out that “beef cheeks” is not a term of endearment, however.
Wave her goodbye
Hilda Ogden’s Last Ta-Ra — A Tribute To Jean Alexander (ITV, 8pm)
This year has seen so many celebrity losses that the obituary programming that often takes place just prior to the new year begins early with an hour devoted to the memory of Jean Alexander. She played cleaning lady Hilda Ogden for 23 years during the glory days (1964-87) of Coronation Street, charming viewers with her character’s singing voice, rollered hair, flying ducks, her sitting-room “muriel” and perpetual good cheer. Former colleagues including William Roache, Michael Le Vell and Sally Dynevor here reminisce about what it was like to watch Alexander at work.
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Christmas spirit
Inside The Christmas Factory (BBC2, 9pm)
This state-TV-style show about efficient production lines reveals the genesis of Christmas goods. Gregg Wallace visits the world’s biggest mince-pie factory; Cherry Healey discovers how festive jumpers saved a knitwear company; and Ruth Goodman investigates the history of the Christmas card — for Victorians, nothing said season’s greetings like a dancing lobster. The presenters are human exclamation marks at the best of times, but add yule logs and tinsel and it is amazing they don’t short-circuit like faulty fairy lights.
Happy ever after
Paul O’Grady’s Favourite Fairy Tales (ITV, 9pm)
With O’Grady’s name above the door the viewer knows to expect a mix of high camp and grumpy old man, and fans will not be disappointed as he travels around Germany looking for the background to his favourite fairy tales. He begins with Cinderella (“You lot love a story that tells young girls to be good and you’ll bag a fella”), relishing the role of wicked stepmother, and revises the myth of true love’s kiss. Early sleeping princesses were brought back to life rather more violently.
Victoria Segal and Helen Stewart
Radio pick of the day
Victor Lewis-Smith (R4 Extra, 11pm)
Not heard since its original broadcast 24 years ago, this is a roundup of the more controversial items from the Radio 1 series in which the outrageous but brilliant entertainer trashed the BBC guidelines by making prank calls to Cambridge colleges, the CIA and many other hapless bodies. It also includes some brilliant parodies. Less subversive is The NSPCC Christmas Carol Concert (Classic FM, 8pm), recorded at St Paul’s Cathedral last week and marking the 30th anniversary of Childline.
Paul Donovan
FILM CHOICE
Back To The Future (1985)
(Sky Cinema Greats, 6am/6pm)
All today’s films on Sky Cinema Greats are time-travel tales, but the one that has best defied the passing of the years — and the one most rewarding for viewers who want to return and re-experience things they have already seen — is this sci-fi comedy about a teenager (Michael J Fox) visiting 1955. Dir: Robert Zemeckis
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Rock The Kasbah (2015)
(Sky Cinema Premiere, 12.25pm/10pm)
Trying to satirise America’s clodhopping presence in Afghanistan, Barry Levinson’s comedy about an over-the-hill music promoter (Bill Murray) who heads east is itself a foreign-policy blunder on Hollywood’s part. Its increasingly mawkish plot, which revolves around a television talent show, is a series of undiplomatic incidents, but at least the star’s bleary performance is a goodwill gesture.
Rise Of The Guardians (2012)
(BBC1, 1.45pm)
Turning childhood mythology into action fantasy, Peter Ramsey’s cartoon imagines Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and similar figures as warriors in a cosmic battle against evil. This war is a serious matter and the film deals mainly in spectacle, but there are good jokes, too.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
(ITV, 10.40pm)
Nicholas Stoller’s tale of a guy (Jason Segel) hurt by a break-up puts a blokeish slant on a typical romcom. This screenwriting calculation may be naked — like the star himself in one notable scene — but the movie is amiable and funny.
Edward Porter