The Sixth Commandment
9pm, BBC One
Timothy Spall stars in this dark drama by Sarah Phelps based on the horrifying real-life case of Peter Farquhar, an elderly, deeply closeted gay academic who was seduced, exploited and eventually murdered by too-good-to-be-true student Ben Field (Éanna Hardwicke). Spall is superb as the melancholy Farquhar, too willing to take Field’s initial admiration at face value and too slow to notice the turning tide in their relationship. Phil Harrison
Extraordinary Portraits With Bill Bailey
8.30pm, BBC One
Bailey hosts a third series of this show in which artists create portraits of deserving subjects: this time, it’s NHS-themed. Martin is a trauma surgeon specialising in injuries caused by knife and gun crime. Sculptor Nick Elphick is keen to capture his selfless essence; the reaction to the unveiling is very moving. PH
University Challenge
8.30pm, BBC Two
The pressure is on Amol Rajan as he takes the reins from Jeremy Paxman for the beloved quiz show’s 52nd series (“I have spent years rearranging Monday nights around the need to be in front of my TV at 8.30,” he says). Battling it out in the opening round: Trinity College, Cambridge and the University of Manchester. Hollie Richardson
Earth
9pm, BBC Two
Chris Packham takes great pleasure in twisting our collective melon as he plunges, often mind-bogglingly, into the farthest reaches of geological time. Explored across a series, via five crucial moments of crisis, transformation and rebirth, he says “everything that exists now is here because something else has died”. Far out. PH
Long Lost Family
9pm, ITV1
Long Lost Family remains that rare thing: a tearjerker show that somehow never feels emotionally manipulative. Nicky Campbell helps a woman reconnect with the son she gave up for adoption four decades ago, while Davina McCall meets Paul, who is trying to shed light on his late mother’s first marriage. Katie Rosseinsky
Catching My Rapist
10.45pm, ITV1
The stomach-turning story at the centre of this one-off is unfortunately not hard to believe: a young woman exploited by the man promising her work. Using reconstructions and testimonials from the woman herself, it is a harrowing, unsensationalised look at her five-year fight for justice. Hannah J Davies
