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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Hollie Richardson, Graeme Virtue, Phil Harrison, Alexi Duggins and Simon Wardell

TV tonight: the M15 officer who risked his life to meet an IRA leader

The MI5 Spy and the IRA: Operation Chiffon on BBC Two.
The MI5 Spy and the IRA: Operation Chiffon on BBC Two. Photograph: BBC

The MI5 Spy and the IRA: Operation Chiffon

7pm, BBC Two

After more than 20 years of trying to track him down, journalist Peter Taylor conducts an interview with an MI5 officer called Robert, who put his life and career on the line by disobeying orders and meeting IRA leader Martin McGuinness to encourage the ceasefire that led to the Good Friday agreement. “I’d like what I did to be remembered,” he says. “I did think I’d brought peace to Northern Ireland.” Hollie Richardson

Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel

6.50pm, BBC One

The exuberant quiz that takes place on a gigantic lazy susan wraps up its current run with another trio of contestants hoping to win big cash. Among the six celebrities offering counsel between bouts of chair-dancing is a strapping dude who knows a thing or two about wheels: Sir Chris Hoy. Graeme Virtue
Big Night of Musicals 2023 By the National Lottery

Big Night of Musicals 2023 by the National Lottery

7.50pm, BBC One

A 12,000-strong crowd stomping and clapping along to We Will Rock You is the kind of thing you can expect from this variety performance from top musicals. Jason Manford hosts a bill featuring Hamilton and Matilda the Musical – but it never gets more raucous than the Queen number. Alexi Duggins

Fortress Britain With Alice Roberts

8.30pm, Channel 4

A sadly timely new series as Prof Roberts, along with Prof Danielle George and Dr Onyeka Nubia, explores the British preoccupation with the possibility of invasion. Suella Braverman is clearly not the first powerful Brit to obsess about border control – as the cannons and castles of Deal suggest, we’ve been fortifying the barricades for centuries. Phil Harrison

Challenge Anneka

8.30pm, Channel 5

Anneka Rice accosts a cyclist and a group of schoolchildren this week, asking for help in her search for Debbie and Jo in Stockton-on-Tees. The pair run a food hub charity but they need some help with relocating to a bigger centre. Rice quickly zips off in her buggy to get the job done. HR

The Jonathan Ross Show

9.40pm, ITV1

Logan Roy himself – Brian Cox – joins Ross this weekend. Also in the studio: Murder Mystery 2 stars Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, Taskmaster’s Greg Davies, Ruth Wilson (set to star in the Young Vic’s 24-hour show The Second Woman) and Mercury prize winner Arlo Parks. HR

Film choice

Jesus Christ Superstar, 2.30pm, BBC Two

Ted Neeley in Jesus Christ Superstar.
Ted Neeley in Jesus Christ Superstar.
Photograph: Allstar Picture Library Limited./Alamy

For your pre-Easter delectation, try Norman Jewison’s 1973 film of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s New Testament sung-through rock opera, which brings Jesus into the age of Aquarius. Ted Neeley is a bearded hippy version of the son of God, but most of the best songs go to Carl Anderson’s Judas (the rocking Heaven on Their Minds) and Yvonne Elliman’s Mary Magdalene (standout ballad I Don’t Know How to Love Him). The Israeli locations add a dusty veneer of authenticity, but biblical accuracy plays second fiddle to the funk. Simon Wardell

Luzzu, 9pm, BBC Four

The hard-scrabble existence of Maltese fishermen is portrayed with dignity and pathos in Alex Camilleri’s neo-realist drama. Non-actor Jesmark Scicluna plays a part close to his real life – the introverted owner of a small fishing boat, a luzzu, who is finding it difficult to make ends meet and support his wife and baby boy. Easy money is to be had from working for a fishery involved in illegal catches, or from EU incentives to give up his boat and his livelihood, but abandoning the traditional ways handed down from father to son breaks his heart. Touching and tragic. SW

Live sport

Super League Rugby: Leeds Rhinos v Catalans Dragons, 12.45pm, Channel 4 At Headingley Stadium.

Women’s Super League Football: Tottenham v Arsenal, 2pm,Sky Sports Main Event At Brisbane Road. Followed by Man United v West Ham at 5pm.

Premiership Rugby Union: Saracens v Harlequins, 2.30pm, ITV1/BT Sport 1 At Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. London Irish v Northampton Saints is at 5.15pm on BT Sport 1.

Women’s Six Nations Rugby Union: England v Scotland, 4.15pm, BBC Two Sarah Hunter plays her last match before retirement, leading the defending champions in the first game of the tournament. Wales v Ireland is on iPlayer at 2.15pm. Italy v France is Sunday, 3pm, also on iPlayer.

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