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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Hollie Richardson, Hannah Verdier, Graeme Virtue, Ellen E Jones and Simon Wardell

TV tonight: Wolf Hall approaches its endgame

Mark Rylance and Ellie De Lange in Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light.
Mark Rylance and Ellie De Lange in Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light. Photograph: Nick Briggs/BBC/Playground Entertainment

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light

9pm, BBC One

An outstanding episode of the Tudor drama begins with Jane finally giving birth to a male heir – at the cost of her own life. It’s now up to Cromwell to stay in position by finding Henry a new queen. But Cromwell is haunted by his bitter conversation with Cardinal Wolsey’s daughter: “It has undone me, her accusation [of betrayal], I have lost my way.” Hollie Richardson

Asia

6.20pm, BBC One

The sweeping nature documentary is particularly powerful this week, showing how animals and humans coexist in crowded spaces, with deer joining commuters every day. An urban tiger mother hunts for food against the backdrop of city lights, but the highlight is a brazen elephant who has learned to stop the traffic to hustle drivers for bananas. Hannah Verdier

Perfect Pub Walks With Bill Bailey

7pm, Channel 4

Singer Shaun Ryder is Bill Bailey’s final walking companion in the uplifting series, and the pair take a stroll in Somerset across the Avalon Marshes, Chew Valley and Ham Hill. Shaun reflects on his hedonistic younger years, what happened when he received an ADHD diagnosis at age 50 and the different sorts of highs he now gets from life. HR

All Aboard! Scotland’s Poshest Train

8pm, Channel 4

“What a magnificent organ!” A summer of luxury living on the Royal Scotsman has clearly not dulled Alan Cumming’s wicked wit, as he demonstrates during a visit to historic Scone Palace near Perth. His final railway itinerary also includes a side voyage to the island of Iona and an encounter with his own portrait at V&A Dundee. Graeme Virtue

Inside Barlinnie

10pm, BBC Two

First shown on BBC Scotland, this is an insightful look at the notorious Barlinnie prison, which at one point is described as being “almost like Glasgow’s Guantánamo Bay”. But as it prepares to close after 142 years, with a super-prison taking its place, inmates and staff examine the justice system and ask if there is the potential to change lives. HR

Sorry, I Didn’t Know

10.50pm, ITV1

We’re used to seeing Chizzy Akudolu on the panel, but she sits in Jimmy Akingbola’s hosting hot seat this week, to offer up educational titbits ranging from the anti-colonial legacy of Patrice Lumumba to why Black don’t crack – “unless you smoke it”. Plus guests Richard Blackwood and Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh. Ellen E Jones

Film choice

The American Society of Magical Negroes, 8.35am, 5.10pm, Sky Cinema Premiere

A magical negro here is a “Black supporting character who exists solely to serve a white protagonist’s storyline”. In this satirical romcom, failed artist Aren (Justice Smith) is recruited to the titular secret group (with nods to Harry Potter) and assigned to boost the self-worth of Drew Tarver’s tech startup worker Jason, which includes hooking him up – Cyrano-style – with co-worker Lizzie (An-Li Bogan). If he doesn’t, levels of “white discomfort” could lead to the loss of the society’s magic powers – and racial violence. Simon Wardell

The Quiet Girl, 9pm, Film4
A delicate performance from the young Catherine Clinch anchors Colm Bairéad’s beautiful, achingly tender Irish-language film. She plays Cáit, one of five neglected children of a pregnant mother and feckless father, who is sent for the summer to a childless cousin Eibhlín (Carrie Crowley) and her farmer husband Seán (Andrew Bennett). They are attentive and kind but nurse a sadness Cáit can’t fathom in a drama as absorbed in the child’s view of the world as the woes of the grownups. SW

Live sport

FA Cup Football: Kettering v Doncaster, 11.45am, BBC Two A second-round tie at Latimer Park. Solihull Moors v Bromley is at 2.25pm on ITV1.

Premier League Football: Chelsea v Aston Villa, 1pm, Sky Sports Main Event At Stamford Bridge. Followed by Liverpool v Man City at 3.30pm.

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