Mussolini: Son of the Century
9pm, Sky Atlantic
Joe Wright (Atonement, Darkest Hour) directs this intriguing fourth-wall-breaking drama about the early years of Benito Mussolini, based on Antonio Scurati’s bestselling book. “Follow me, you’ll love me too – you’ll become fascists too,” Mussolini (Luca Marinelli) says to camera, opening the eight-part story of a country surrendering to dictatorship – starting with the birth of fascism in Italy and the former socialist politician, journalist and newspaper founder’s rise to power. Hollie Richardson
The Fear Clinic: Face Your Phobia
8pm, Channel 4
He’s back! Devereaux, that is, the guy from last week who was afraid of sausage dogs. As this brutal reality experiment has another go at curing Devereaux’s terror of sentient draught excluders, new patients want to get rid of their aversions to moths and sheep. Jack Seale
David Mitchell’s Outsiders
9pm, BBC Two
The return of the comedian’s fun camping-trip challenge show, with a new intake of happy campers: Maisie Adam, Fatiha El-Ghorri, Darren Harriott, Jessica Hynes, Phil Wang and Joe Wilkinson. Their first tasks include bug racing and holistic treatments. HR
Top Guns: Inside the RAF
9pm, Channel 4
As series two of the high-altitude, high-stakes documentary series opens, an RAF pilot is tasked with escorting a top-secret British spy plane on an intelligence-gathering mission over the Black Sea. That means there’s a tense wait for “Vladdie the Baddie’s” next move. Plus, squint and you might just mistake the pilot for a young Tom Cruise. Ellen E Jones
From
9pm, Sky Max
What is up with Fatima’s pregnancy? Her cravings are as monstrous as you’d expect from this puzzle box of a town, while the ultrasound poses more questions than it answers, leaving Ellis (Corteon Moore) unsure whether to protect her or run. Meanwhile, Victor (Scott McCord) has become grimly obsessed with a stubbornly mute ventriloquist’s dummy. EEJ
Life and Death Row
9pm, BBC Three
“This is my last interview actually … Just before I came out here I had to sign paperwork on who gets my body.” In 2006, Ramiro Gonzales received the death penalty for kidnapping, raping and murdering his classmate, 18-year-old Bridget Townsend. This is the final part of a series following the run-up to his execution, which his legal team have been appealing against. HR
Film choice
Storyville: Black Box Diaries (Shiori Itō, 2024), 10pm, BBC Four
In 2015, journalist Shiori Itō awoke to find herself being raped by an older peer. But after the attack, she realised exactly how powerless she was. Her rapist was famous and well connected. Japan’s rape laws were a century old, and no longer workable. The media refused to touch her story, so Itō started to document her struggle to be heard. Black Box Diaries is that document; a brave and gruelling account of one woman’s effort to change an entire culture. The fact she chose to do it at all is admirable; the fact that it worked is incredible. Don’t be surprised if this wins an Oscar next month. Stuart Heritage
