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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Hollie Richardson, Phil Harrison, Ellen E Jones, Jack Seale and Simon Wardell

TV tonight: a special night of rare music that you haven’t heard before

Rare treats… Aretha Franklin on 40 Hidden Music Treasures at the BBC on BBC Two.
Rare treats… Aretha Franklin on 40 Hidden Music Treasures at the BBC on BBC Two. Photograph: Dave Edwards/BBC

40 Hidden Music Treasures at the BBC

8.20pm, BBC Two

Expect the unexpected in this musical odyssey, which takes viewers through a “Top of the Pops-free zone” to witness some of the rarer great performances at the BBC. What you can expect over two smile-raising hours is a lineup including Jimi Hendrix, MC Hammer, Dusty Springfield, Tammy Wynette, the Beach Boys and Pet Shop Boys. Hollie Richardson

Strictly Come Dancing

6.20pm, BBC One

Toyah Willcox was the latest poor unfortunate soul booted out of the competition, after playing The Little Mermaid villain Ursula for movie week. Tasha Ghouri is at the top of the leaderboard with partner Aljaž Škorjanec – but with no theme this weekend, which could give the dancers more freedom to do their thing, it could all change. HR

Angela Rippon at the BBC

7pm, BBC Four

In 1977, Angela Rippon was the first presenter of a gentle BBC motoring magazine called Top Gear. This evening dedicated to her sprawling and fascinating career explores this diversion alongside many others, also revisiting a documentary she made about tap dancing in New York and a 1980 film about soap operas. Phil Harrison

Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel

8.20pm, BBC One

That mesmerically spinning wheel of celebrities is back, with Jonathan Ross and Judi Love among the famous folk offering their dubious expertise on subjects ranging from sitcoms to etiquette. Sitting symbolically beneath them are the normies who actually play the game, while presenter Michael McIntyre gets dizzier with every turn. Ellen E Jones

Apples Never Fall

9.20pm, BBC One

In a febrile drama based on Liane Moriarty’s novel, the secret slipping out this week is infidelity: we learn about Brooke (Essie Randles) and her reckless affair with Delaney family interloper Savannah (Georgia Flood). Typically for this show, Brooke goes on a tumultuous journey of self-discovery. Jack Seale

Password

10.20pm, ITV1

It’s the last episode of this fun, slightly raucous word-guessing gameshow, hosted by Stephen Mangan. Daisy May Cooper and Alan Carr are the team captains taking things very seriously, and they’ll be helping Prav from east London and Bethan from Swansea to win some cash. HR

Film choice

Shane, 6.30am, 4.40am, Sky Cinema Greats

George Stevens’s warm-hearted 1953 western toys with several of the dualities central to the genre: good/evil, naturally, but also family/loner and settler/pioneer. Alan Ladd (white hat) plays the sharp-shooting title character, who passes by the cabin of homesteader Van Heflin, wife Jean Arthur and their impressionable son (Brandon de Wilde) to find the family under threat from land-grabbing ranchers – with Jack Palance (black hat) their hired gun. It’s largely predictable, but given purpose by its belief in the power of community. Simon Wardell

Edge of Tomorrow, 9.20pm, Sky Showcase

Its alternative title – Live Die Repeat – gives a taste of the high-concept nature of Doug Liman’s satisfying sci-fi actioner. With Tom Cruise on board as lead – and a script co-written by his Mission: Impossible mucker Christopher McQuarrie – there is little time for nuance, as his war-shy army PR officer finds himself in an armoured suit fighting tentacular alien invaders on the north coast of France. However, every time he is killed he wakes up the day before – and Emily Blunt’s all-action soldier is the only one who knows why. Thrilling. SW

Live sports

Women’s Super League Football: Arsenal v Chelsea, 1.15pm, BBC One A derby at Emirates Stadium.

Premiership Rugby Union: Gloucester v Bath, 2.30pm, TNT Sports 1 Followed by Leicester Tigers v Northampton Saints at 5.15pm.

Super League Rugby: Wigan Warriors v Hull KR, 5pm, Sky Sports Main Event Elliot Minchella will lead the Yorkshire side in their first grand final at Old Trafford.

Women’s International Rugby Union: Canada v England, 2.50am, BBC iPlayer The final WXV 1 tie in Vancouver.

• This article was amended on 12 October 2024 to correct a picture caption: it is Jack Palance who is seen in the image from the film Shane, not Alan Ladd as an earlier version said.

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