I Am Ruth
Thursday, 9pm, Channel 4
For anyone who’s ever been a teenage girl, this feature-length drama is agonising to watch – it so brutally captures how horrible everything can feel. Kate Winslet, who co-authored the episode with Dominic Savage, gives a flooring performance as single mum Ruth, who is sick with worry over her reclusive, social media-obsessed 17-year-old daughter, Freya (played by Winslet’s real-life child Mia Threapleton). While it’s no news that the digital age is a terrifying world to grow up in, this story shows how its toxicity seeps into young people’s lives. Sure, the nepotism hasn’t gone unnoticed – but Threapleton’s talents are undeniably impressive. Hollie Richardson
Planet Sex With Cara Delevingne
10pm, BBC Three
“Can you read my mind through my vagina?” It’s just one of many “Pardon me?!” moments in Cara Delevingne’s journey into modern sex. Tonight, she explores her own queerness – something she doesn’t feel she’s always had the freedom to do. First up: a “big lesbian day out” in Palm Springs, where she judges a twerking contest. HR
The Secret Genius of Modern Life
8pm, BBC Two
Prof Hannah Fry’s jaunty yet fascinating series about the casual brilliance of modernity continues with a focus on the fitness tracker. They are, reckons Fry, “a miracle of miniaturisation”. But how were they developed? It’s an odd story involving 1970s car crashes and the airborne dog fights of the second world war. Phil Harrison
Christmas at Blenheim Palace
8pm, Channel 4
Will the stately home’s staff manage to erect a mile-long trail of lights before their festive spectacular opens? Can they pull off afternoon tea for 12,000 people? And is this level of jeopardy enough intrigue to sustain a three-part fly-on-the-wall series? This episode should reveal all. Alexi Duggins
The English
9pm, BBC Two
No one wants a run-in with wheeler dealer Black-Eyed Mog (a terrifying Nichola McAuliffe), but Lady Cornelia has no alternative in the penultimate episode of Emily Blunt’s majestic western. She’s not the only one under pressure: Trafford’s herd are in danger and Eli is desperate to clear his conscience. Hannah Verdier
Live at the Moth Club
10pm, Dave
This week’s edition of the standup show mockumentary sees headliner Tom Davis pull out after a mishap with his hair plugs. Luckily, in the audience is City Boy, who looks an awful lot like Jamie Demetriou and fills in with a routine that’s every bit as painful as Stath’s worst moments. AD
Film choices
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Guillermo del Toro, 2022), Netflix
This stop-motion animated version of the fable is co-directed by Mark Gustafson, known for Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox, so attention to detail is guaranteed, with Del Toro providing the fantasy and wonder. Gregory Mann plays the wooden boy on a perilous quest to be human, while David Bradley (Geppetto), Ewan McGregor (Cricket) and Cate Blanchett (Spazzatura) are just a few of the famous names lending their voices. The recent (mostly) live-action version starring Tom Hanks was typical schmaltzy Disney fare; Del Toro’s vision is far darker. Simon Wardell
Long Weekend (Colin Eggleston, 1978) 11.30pm, Talking Pictures TV
Colin Eggleston’s largely forgotten but enjoyably nervy eco-horror, part of the Australian new wave of the 70s, is more in the Ozploitation vein than the hazy, ambiguous Peter Weir dramas that epitomised the movement. John Hargreaves and Briony Behets play a couple on a trip to a remote beach hoping to repair their strained marriage, but their blase despoliation of their environment – from running over a kangaroo to spraying insecticide – comes back to bite them. Think The Birds with added dugongs. SW
Live sport
Golf: Alfred Dunhill Championship, 10am, Sky Sports Main Event Day one of the tournament from Leopard Creek Country Club in South Africa.
