6 hours ago
9
Saturday Night Live UK
10pm, Sky One
These aren’t easy times for TV satire. Which is a shame because the world has rarely felt in greater need of some brutal irreverence. Whether this attempt to create a British version of the US comedy staple is successful remains to be seen but its lineup suggests an admirable commitment to newish faces. Among its regular team are Ayoade Bamgboye, Larry Dean, Celeste Dring and Annabel Marlow. There will be guest presenters each week and some musical interludes, too, starting with Tina Fey and Wet Leg. Phil Harrison
The Roman Empire By Train With Alice Roberts
8pm, Channel 4
Time to say “Ciao!” to the choo-choo as Prof Roberts wraps up her 1,300-mile odyssey through Italy, France and now Spain. Her final two stops take her to the Catalonian city of Tarragona – notable as the second capital of the Roman empire – then south to Cartagena, where a trove of archaeological treasures retrieved from the harbour awaits. Graeme Virtue
8.45pm, BBC Two
With the greatest respect to Hale and Pace’s silly 1991 stomper The Stonk, Comic Relief charity singles are a mixed bag. But this riffle though the 38 years of Red Nose Day archives turns up notable telethon performances by megastars such as Adele and One Direction while also celebrating Alan Partridge’s jaw-dropping Kate Bush medley from 1999. Graeme Virtue
Bill Bailey’s Vietnam
9pm, Channel 4
Bailey’s quirky travelogue marking 50 years since the end of the Vietnam war reaches the capital city of Hanoi, where a laughing yoga session gets things off to a joyful start. He also hears about local traditions that honour the dead and samples authentic Vietnamese coffee. The verdict? “Like a cross between cappuccino and tiramisu.” GV
The Forgotten Prince: The Mystery of the Duke of Kent
9pm, Channel 5
Putting aside Harry, Meghan and Camilla for a rare second, Channel 5 probes an older royal controversy in this one-off. The death of Queen Elizabeth II’s uncle Prince George, Duke of Kent, in 1942 has inspired outlandish conspiracies – cue a former Met police officer who believes he knows what actually happened. Hannah J Davies
The Walsh Sisters
9.15pm, BBC One
Mammy Walsh (Carrie Crowley) continues to be the star of the show with her whiplash putdowns. Elsewhere in the Irish family drama based on Marian Keyes’s novels: Anna plans Aidan’s memorial but still refuses to read Rachel’s letter, and amid all the gloom Maggie gets some good news. Hollie Richardson
Film choice
On Swift Horses, 8.20am, 9.45pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
When discharged Korean war soldier Julius (Jacob Elordi) visits his brother Lee (Will Poulter) in Kansas, he and Lee’s fiancee Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) seem to have an instant connection. However, in Daniel Minahan’s plaintive, episodic 50s-set drama, it’s not in the way you might expect. In an era when sexual fluidity was taboo/illegal, the two’s seemingly different experiences – one stuck in the domestic routine in San Diego; the other a card sharp in Vegas – are linked by their stymied desire to be their true selves. Simon Wardell
La Chimera, 9.20pm, BBC Four
Alice Rohrwacher’s wonderful 2023 drama digs itself into your heart, just as the ragtag bunch of Italian grave-robbers she introduces unearth the ancient past and plunder it. Josh O’Connor, at his most engagingly diffident, plays Arthur, an English archaeologist with an innate ability to root out Etruscan tombs. He has just been freed from prison but falls straight back into the activity that got him banged up, while pining for his missing, possibly dead lover. Carol Duarte is a real find as Italia, a maid who is very much alive and may be his route out of a dissolute life. SW
Live sport
Athletics: World Indoor Championships, 9am, BBC Two Day two, including the men’s and women’s 800m semi-finals.
Premier League Football: Brighton v Liverpool, 11am, TNT Sports 1 Followed by Everton v Chelsea at 5pm and Leeds v Brentford at 7.45pm on Sky Sports Main Event.
Championship Football: Ipswich v Millwall, noon, ITV1 At Portman Road.
Super League Rugby: Warrington v Castleford, 2.45pm, BBC Two At Halliwell Jones Stadium.
