TV tonight: Jodie Whittaker stars in a glossy Aussie drama with a dark twist

The Guardian

3 days ago

9.30pm, ITV1
Wealthy women glugging wine? Check. A dark secret from the past exposed? Check! This Liane Moriarty-coded Aussie drama (which streamed on ITVX in 2023) tells the story of Simone (Nicole da Silva) who is about to publish her first novel, One Night, which is based on a devastating event that happened 20 years earlier. But when her two estranged friends Tess (Jodie Whittaker) and Hat (Yael Stone) re-enter her life, it becomes clear that they were a bigger part of the story than she was. HR
8.10pm, Channel 4
Why was Japan so reluctant to surrender at the end of the second world war? This documentary explores the second half of 1945 – the European war was over, nuclear bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki but Japan fought on. Factors included military 'honour' and Emperor Hirohito's status as an apparently infallible living god. Phil Harrison
9pm, BBC Four
The Beck team, weakened by their staff being suspended from work or traumatised by it, look into the case of a sexist podcaster whose throat has been cut. The denouement, with the instability of Vilhelm (Valter Skarsgård) ready to cause further calamity, is super-tense. Jack Seale
9pm, U&Drama
The epic tale of revenge continues with Dantès (Sam Claflin) finally escaping prison. He befriends a fellow fugitive who helps him find the hidden treasure that Abbé Faria (Jeremy Irons) told him about. Before that, the most precious item Dantès could discover is a razor to get rid of that ridiculous beard. HR
9.10pm, BBC One
Letting Nicola Walker address the camera as Scotland-based detective Annika Stranhed still makes this crime drama feel fresh and alive. Her musings here on Jekyll and Hyde lead us into the case of a slain millionaire, but the real drama is in Annika's odd work/family unit: the interplay between Walker and Jamie Sives as DS Michael McAndrews is beautifully brittle. JS
9.10pm, Channel 4
Griff Rhys Jones continues his rollicking journey and this week ends up in Birmingham, Alabama – considered the 'true' deep south and which, according to Jones, is the state that Americans least want to visit. But a rise in hi-tech organisations means that more people are moving there. HR
Night Always Comes, out now, Netflix
Musician/author Willy Vlautin's modern noir novel is brought to the screen in gritty style by two alumni of The Crown – director Benjamin Caron and lead Vanessa Kirby – though the subject matter couldn't be more different. Set over a taut 24 hours, it follows Kirby's Lynette as she races around the city to find the $25,000 needed to buy her home before she, her brother and feckless mother are evicted. A drip-feed of revelations about her traumatic past life accompany the desperate quest, with Kirby superb as a woman torn between what she wants and what she needs. Simon Wardell
Ill Met By Moonlight, 3pm, U&Yesterday
The great British partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger was nearing its end in 1957 when they produced this fact-based second world war drama. It isn't up there with their many classics (Powell himself was particularly scathing about it) but there's a surprising jollity to its story of a mission to kidnap a German general (Marius Goring) in 1944 Crete and spirit him off the island. Dirk Bogarde is the nonchalant leader of the operation, Maj 'Paddy' Leigh Fermor, while the local resistance are a fun-loving bunch despite the occupation. SW
Hounds, 10.30pm, BBC Four
In a Casablanca far from the tourist traps, petty criminal Hassan (Abdellatif Masstouri) and his as-yet untainted son Isaam (Ayoub Elaid) are hired by Hassan's boss to abduct a man. Unfortunately, the victim suffocates in their van, so they set off across the city in an error-strewn attempt to dispose of the body before daylight. Kamal Lazraq's neorealist Cannes winner offers a raw but sometimes comic closeup on the underbelly of Moroccan society, while the shifts in the father-son relationship give the film dramatic heft, despite the leads being nonprofessional. SW
Premier League Football: Aston Villa v Newcastle, 11am, TNT Sport 1 Followed by Wolves v Man City at 5pm on Sky Sports Main Event.
Championship Football: Wrexham v West Brom, noon, ITV1 From StōK Racecourse.
Athletics: Diamond League Silesia, 3pm, BBC Two The 12th meeting, from Silesian Stadium in Chorzów, Poland.