Television

Harry Hill’s World of TV

Expert telly-watcher Harry Hill cobbles together a new comedy clips show. Each week he will tackle a different TV genre, from soaps to cookery programmes, offering a typically sideways look at their history and what it takes to make them successful.
Sunday 23 August, 8.30pm, BBC Two

The Unbelievable Story of Carl Beech

Film-maker Vanessa Engle traces the astonishing case of Carl Beech, who in 2014 accused 12 men, including former politicians, of sexual abuse. It triggered a £2m police investigation, Operation Midland, but no arrests were made. Instead, Beech soon became a suspect and was later charged.
Monday 24 August, 9pm, BBC Two

Famalam

The riotous, Bafta-nominated sketch show returns for a third series, casting its inquisitive eye over the black British experience. Having previously crafted a blaxploitation reworking of Midsomer Murders, this first episode asks; just what is a drill-o-gram?
Sunday 23 August, BBC Three

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing

The conversation ebbs and flows like a babbling fishing stream in the new series of this sedate yet strangely entertaining show from comics Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse. The amateur anglers head to Scotland in the opener, taking in the vistas and hoping to finally snare a salmon for Bob.
Sunday 23 August, 8pm, BBC Two

Trinkets

The US teen drama, based on Kirsten Smith’s YA novel, returns for a second and final season. It follows Elodie, Moe and Tabitha, three high school friends who bond over their respective family issues and a passion for stealing. Expect big crimes and even bigger heartache.
From Tuesday 25 August, Netflix

Location, Location, Location: 20 Years and Counting

Kirstie and Phil host this series celebrating the 20th anniversary of their property behemoth. Each episode explores a specific theme, from first-time buyers to million-pound homes.
Thursday 27 August, 8pm, Channel 4

Peter: The Human Cyborg

In 2017 scientist Peter Scott-Morgan was told he had motor neurone disease. It was the starting point for a radical cybernetic transformation into what he’s dubbed Peter 2.0, a cyborg that will look and sound just like him. This doc follows his extraordinary journey.
Wednesday 26 August, 9pm, Channel 4

BBC Proms 2020

Kicking off a fortnight of live performances from the Royal Albert Hall – without an audience – is Sakari Oramo conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Singers in Beethoven’s radical Eroica symphony and a new work by British composer Hannah Kendall, Tuxedo: Vasco “de” Gama, plus Copland and Whitacre.
Friday 28 August, 8pm, BBC Two

I Hate Suzie

Billie Piper reunites with Secret Diary of a Call Girl writer Lucy Prebble in this bold and bracing eight-part drama. Piper is Suzie Pickles, a successful actor who has to deal with the fallout, both publicly and privately, after her phone is hacked and “compromising” photos are leaked online. Can her career and her marriage survive?
Thursday 27 August, 9pm, Sky Atlantic

Is This the End of Clubbing?

With nightlife the last industry to resume in the wake of the pandemic, DJ Jamz Supernova asks whether we’ll ever be going out again. She interviews fellow DJs Plastician and Sherelle, as well as visiting clubs Lakota and Tola.
Wednesday 26 August, BBC Three

Podcast

The Cut

Following the end of the acclaimed podcast The Cut on Tuesdays in 2019, host Avery Trufelman now resurrects the conversational show for a new run, with episodes dropping every Wednesday. Trufelman and her guests will be covering the big topics, from the intersections of race and nature to sex and politics, opening on the theme of optimism.
Weekly, widely available

How Did This Get Made?

Actors Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas take us on an often hilarious journey each week, discussing how movies that are so bad they end up being good actually got made. Recent cult classics include John Travolta’s hacking thriller Swordfish and Kelsey Grammer’s absurdist actioner Money Plane.
Weekly, widely available

Full Story

Guardian Australia’s flagship news podcast provides a deep dive into the vital current affairs topics we might not be as familiar with in the UK. Recent stories include the fascinating case of Lebanese Australians reckoning with the aftermath of the Beirut explosion, as well as exploring life under a second lockdown in Melbourne, featuring readers’ stories.
Daily, the Guardian

Fiasco

The first two seasons of Leon Neyfakh’s US political podcast tackled topics that were global news events: the contested Bush/Gore election and Iran-Contra affair. This one covers a story less known, but no less engrossing and important for that: Boston’s move to desegregate its schools in the 1970s. Neyfakh’s telling is both forensic and full of drama.
Luminary

The Jump With Shirley Manson

Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson returns with another season of her acclaimed podcast, in which she chats to fellow musical icons about their defining songs. Highlights include a sweary conflab with Peaches about her hedonistic anthem, Fuck the Pain Away, and a dissection of Chocolate City with George Clinton.
All episodes widely available

Film

Ava (No cert)

(Sadaf Foroughi) 103 mins
Iranian-Canadian director Foroughi’s fine drama makes its points subtly but insidiously. Mahour Jabbari’s Tehran teenager finds her life unravelling after a socially unacceptable, secret rendezvous with a boy; situations that would be of little import in other cultures are seen here as life-rending.
Curzon Home Cinema

Perfumes (No cert)

(Grégory Magne) 100 mins
This multifaceted French drama has Grégory Montel’s chauffeur Guillaume sent to work for “the nose”, former top perfumer Anne (a suitably snooty Emmanuelle Devos). Like the scents she creates, their relationship develops in depth and complexity.
Curzon Home Cinema

Chemical Hearts (No cert)

(Richard Tanne) 93 mins
One for the young adult crowd, this low-key romance sees sensitive teen Henry (Austin Abrams) falling for new girl Grace (Lili Reinhart from Riverdale), who has a limp and an air of mystery about her. The two of them fumble towards love and understanding in self-consciously poetic style.
Amazon Prime Video

Random Acts of Violence (No cert)

(Jay Baruchel) 80 mins
The writer of a gory comic book about a real-life serial killer heads off on a road trip in search of inspiration – but it’s the murderer who’s inspired to kill again. The inventive visuals and fiction v reality theme add a spark to Baruchel’s horror film.
Shudder

Sheep Without a Shepherd (15)

(Sam Quah) 112 mins
Joan Chen is a familiar face in this Chinese thriller in which the accidental killing by a teenage girl of a police chief’s son is covered up by her father. A Thailand-set remake of an Indian film by a Malaysian director, it was a big hit in China.
In cinemas

Three Days of the Condor (15)

(Sydney Pollack) 117 mins
Edgy, convoluted and clever, this superb 1975 post-Watergate conspiracy thriller is by far the best of the Sydney Pollack-Robert Redford collaborations. Redford plays a researcher who narrowly misses the assassination of his colleagues; hunted by hitman Max von Sydow, he struggles to uncover the CIA faction responsible.
Thursday 27 August, 11.05am, Sky Cinema Greats