What’s on TV tonight: The Mallorca Files, The Umbrella Academy and more

Thursday 8 August

The Mallorca Files
Amazon Prime Video
Dan Sefton’s (Doctors, Mr Selfridge) police procedural returns for a third series, having moved from BBC One to the streamer (series one and two are available on Amazon Freevee). It’s another odd-couple cop drama, in which by-the-book Welsh detective Miranda Blake (Elen Rhys) and her more laidback German partner Max Winter (Julian Looman) solve crime on the Spanish island. It’s an improbable set-up, but who cares? 

Think of it as Starsky & Hutch with sunscreen. Tonally it’s evocative of Midsomer Murders and Death in Paradise – serious crimes involving arson, murder and kidnapping are neatly solved within each episode, lightly juxtaposed with undemanding domestic tiffs and romance plots set against lovely scenery. The sexual tension between the lead characters, meanwhile, adds to the show’s charms. That last element is given an airing in the opener – an engaging caper involving high-end property, luxury cars and fast boats – in which Blake and Winter pose as a super-rich couple in order to ensnare international conman Ramon Silva (guest star Antonio de la Torre). VL

Slip
ITVX
There are shades of Outlander to this sharp new comedy with a metaphysical twist by Zoe Lister-Jones. She stars as New Yorker Mae, trapped in an unfulfilling marriage to Elijah (Whitmer Thomas), who travels through parallel universes to live out “what if” versions of her life with other lovers.

The Umbrella Academy
Netflix
Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally join the cast for the final season of the quirky superhero dramedy centred on the dysfunctional Hargreeves family. Having had their timeline reset, the siblings must grapple with life as “normies” without powers. Elliot Page stars.

Fresh vs Frozen: Which is Better?
Channel 5, 8pm
Another example of the kind of programming this channel does so well – a jaunty compare-and-contrast between the benefits of fresh and frozen food, with taste, price and nutritional value among the markers. 

Eyewitness to History: Norma Percy on Watergate
BBC Four, 8pm
Film-maker Norma Percy reflects on her 1994 docu-series about the political scandal that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974. The first episode of Watergate follows at 8.10pm; then at 9pm comes Alan J Pakula’s 1976 masterpiece All the President’s Men, starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the reporters who exposed the scandal. Finally, at 11.15pm, Amol Rajan talks to the pair in Watergate to Trump.

Classic Movies: The Story of Brief Encounter
Sky Arts, 8pm
Ian Nathan returns with a new series casting a critical eye over iconic films. Tonight it’s the turn of David Lean’s 1945 romance, starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. Followed at 9pm by a repeat of The Directors, a deep-dive into Lean’s career, from Doctor Zhivago to Lawrence of Arabia.

Interview With the Vampire
BBC Two, 9pm
The impressive reinvention of Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles continues; we’re still in post-Second World War Paris with Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Claudia (Delainey Hayles), who come to the attention of the local vampire coven Theatre des Vampires – which has a secret connection to Louis’s former lover, Lestat (Sam Reid). 

Film of the Week: All the President’s Men (1976) ★★★★★
BBC Four, 9pm
Fifty years ago this Thursday, Richard Nixon resigned as President of the United States. The reasons are well known: the Watergate scandal had exposed corruption and bribery deep within the Oval Office. The two men who brought the scandal to the world’s attention were young investigative journalists at The Washington Post: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Here, Alan J Pakula dramatised the sordid, sorry affair, resulting in one of the finest political thrillers – and films about journalism – ever made; All the President’s Men won four Oscars, including Best Supporting Actor for Jason Robards, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction and Best Sound. Bafflingly, the excellent leads – Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford – weren’t even nominated. (Best Actor that year went to Peter Finch for Network.) The film is based on Woodward and Bernstein’s book of the same name, centred on their work uncovering the Watergate break-in and consequent cover-up; it’s chock-full of tense meetings with the notorious, secretive whistleblower “Deepthroat” that will leave your heart racing. 

Lucky Number Slevin (2006) ★★★
Great! Movies, 9pm  
Paul McGuigan creates a crime story à la Usual Suspects – hip and clever, with a twisty plot that unravels if you think about it too much. Josh Hartnett takes on leading man duties, but it’s the supporting players who dominate: Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman’s warring mobsters; Bruce Willis’s lurking, mysterious hit man. Stanley Tucci, meanwhile, is the cop trying to figure out what the hell’s going on.

Alien Resurrection (1997) ★★
ITV4, 10.10pm  
Sigourney Weaver returns as heroine Ellen Ripley for this fourth instalment. Two hundred years have passed since the ending of Alien 3, and Ripley has now been cloned by scientists, which gives her greater strength – and conflicting loyalties. Despite the talent on board (Weaver, screenwriter Joss Whedon and director Jean-Pierre Jeunot), this is a poor effort. Hopefully, new film Alien: Romulus (released in cinemas on 16 August) will be better.

Mud (2012) ★★★★
BBC Two, 11.35pm  
Matthew McConaughey’s ascent from romcom heartthrob to serious actor was boosted by this fable (loosely inspired by Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) written and directed by Jeff Nichols. Two teenage boys (played by Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland) discover a drifter (McConaughey) sleeping rough on the banks of the Mississippi and decide to help him win back his true love. Heart-warming without being saccharine.

Friday 9 August

Olympics: Paris 2024
BBC One & Two & Eurosport, all day
The final lap approaches, which means we’re at the business end of plenty of events today. Headlining for Britain will be Katarina Johnson-Thompson, beginning the final day of the heptathlon with the long jump from 9.05am. Can she finally bag a medal at the fourth time of asking, or will Belgium’s Nafi Thiam complete an unprecedented treble? Britain may also be in with a chance of a medal in the men’s and women’s 4x100 m relay finals from 6.30pm, with the women in especially encouraging form. In the hurdles, the peerless Karsten Warholm should also be worth a look as he goes for a second gold and another world record in the 400 m at 8.45pm.

Away from the track, the men’s football final at 5pm could see Thierry Henry coaching Les Bleus to a home victory, Britain’s Hector Pardoe could pick up an early-morning medal in the marathon swimming at 6.30am, the women’s hockey concludes at 7pm and a succession of boxing finals begin at 8.30pm. At 3pm, however, comes the only new sport of the Paris Olympics: breaking, in which 16 B-Girls will square off in head-to-head battles of eye-(and body-)popping physicality, musicality and invention. GT

Andrew Tate: Icon or Toxic? A Faking It Special
Discovery+
An hour and a half devoted to the internet’s foremost misogynist may be hard to stomach for many, but this in-depth investigation pledges to examine the grim hold that Tate possesses over so many young men, as well as the charges he faces of tax evasion, rape and human trafficking.

Gardeners’ World
BBC Two, 8pm
Sloping gardens, homegrown vegetables, green roofing and test-bed planters are on the agenda for Adam Frost, Joe Swift and Arit Anderson tonight as the temperature continues to rise outside.

A Kanneh-Mason Playlist at the Proms
BBC Four, 8pm
Cellist Sheku and violinist Braimah Kanneh-Mason join forces with guitarist Plínio Fernandes and the Fantasia Orchestra for an ambitious Prom showcasing a huge variety of music, from Brahms’s Hungarian Dances to Stevie Wonder’s I Wish, by way of Bob Marley, Béla Bartók and Chic.

Miriam Margolyes: A New Australian Adventure
BBC Two, 9pm
Bohemian Byron Bay is the next stop of Miriam Margolyes’s trans-Australian trip. Taking no prisoners on her mobility scooter, she has her say on influencers, Botox and farmers markets (she is a fan of just one). She is also impressed by the community’s diversity and commitment to sustainable living, and scrutinises the increasing impact of flooding on a community living on the frontline of climate change. And then she takes a dip in the sea…

Champions: Full Gallop
ITV1, 9pm
Master and apprentice go head-to-head as trainers Paul Nicholls and Dan Skelton enter their various charges at the Cheltenham Festival, with everything on the line at the Gold Cup – but perhaps the biggest threat in the latter is posed by Willie Mullins and Galopin Des Champs, aiming to defend the title. 

The Claremont Murders
More4, 9pm
The superior true-crime miniseries comes to a shocking conclusion as the cold case is reopened. DNA technology provides a stunning breakthrough and brings to the police’s attention a man who, superficially at least, seems a most unlikely candidate for the serial killings. 

The Instigators (2024) ★★
Apple TV+  
Casey Affleck and Matt Damon team up for the sort of buddy action-comedy that would have rocked the box office back in the early Noughties; today, it’s straight to streaming, and seems woefully outdated. Produced by the pair, alongside Ben Affleck, it sees them play two chaotic thieves who go on the run with their therapist (The Whale’s Hong Chau) after an attempt to steal a corrupt politician’s earnings goes badly awry. Doug Liman (Mr & Mrs Smith, Edge of Tomorrow) directs.

Self Reliance (2023) ★★★
Paramount+
New Girl actor Jake Johnson turns director for this comedy thriller. He also plays the lead, Tommy, a down on his luck loser who is offered the chance to win $1 million by taking part in a reality show. The maxim “if it looks too good to be true…” is proven right, again, when it turns out the show involves 30 global assassins being sent to kill him. Think Squid Game crossed with the raucous humour of Game Night. Anna Kendrick co-stars.

Under the Boardwalk (2023) ★★★
Sky Cinema Premiere, 3pm  
DreamWorks veteran David Soren directs this fun, flitty animated musical comedy. It follows two crabs (voiced by Nope’s Keke Palmer and Superbad’s Michael Cera) as they try to get home after a storm sweeps them away. Keep an ear out for the tunes: Steven Van Zandt, of Springsteen’s E Street Band, is on the cast list. Looking for something more grown-up? Bryce McGuire’s horror Night Swim premieres at 8pm.

Heat (1995) ★★★★
Great! Movies, 9pm  
Thanks in large part to the irresistible pairing of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, Heat is a tautly plotted and superbly acted action thriller from The Last of the Mohicans director Michael Mann. Its premise is very simple: a dedicated cop (Pacino) is on the trail of a ruthlessly efficient thief (De Niro, on scintillating form), who lives by one callous motto: “Never have anything in your life that you can’t walk out on in 30 seconds flat.”

Television previewers

Stephen Kelly (SK), Veronica Lee (VL), Gerard O’Donovan (GO), Poppie Platt (PP) and Gabriel Tate (GT)