TV Tonight: astonishing story of film-maker who tracked tigers for decades

My Tiger Family

9pm, BBC Two
Tigers, it seems, get their claws into you. This documentary is a very personal reminiscence from film-maker Valmik Thapar who, decades ago, left Delhi behind and headed for India’s northern tiger reserve of Ranthambore. He never left. Instead, he filmed generations of tigers as they were born, had families, were menaced by poachers and eventually thrived. It’s a fascinating and moving record of a life well lived. Phil Harrison

University Challenge

8.30pm, BBC Two
Another year, another cohort of hopeful undergraduates in the enduring, high-end quiz. Amol Rajan is still occupying the host’s chair and the opening match of this run sees students of Queen’s University Belfast take on a quartet from the University of Liverpool. PH

Long Lost Family

9pm, ITV1
The stories of two women and the search for their siblings, including Tracey Boyle, who sought out her brother after she learned of his existence when her mother finally confided in her after a stay in hospital. Meanwhile, Liz Allward, adopted as a baby, had an uncanny feeling she had a sister and longs to meet her after discovering her intuition was correct. Ali Catterall

Emergency

9pm, Channel 4
If we’re lucky, the majority of us will never know the inner workings of London’s major trauma system, which attends to the most critical emergency injuries across the capital. The return of this nightly, intricate documentary series shows the crucial decisions that go into vital patient care – starting with someone whose leg has been crushed by a bus. Nicole Vassell

Forensics: Murder Scene

9pm, Channel 5
Even more insights into the inner workings of the emergency services: this time, a forensics team working in conjunction with West Yorkshire police. In this opener, they respond to the brutal stabbing of a woman in Leeds. Can the unit’s meticulous work provide detectives with the leads they need? PH

Spent

10pm, BBC Two
Months after fleeing the glamorous NYC life that left her bankrupt, ex-model Mia (Michelle de Swarte) faces a crossroads. Though selfless acts, family time and romantic breakthroughs hint at a turned leaf, can Mia resist a chance to run away from her issues when it’s offered? An irresistible end to one of the best comedies this year. NV

Film choice

The Sense of an Ending ( Ritesh Batra, 2017 ), 11.05pm, BBC Two
With his trademark air of gentle befuddlement, Jim Broadbent is the perfect embodiment of the deluded main character in Ritesh Batra’s adaptation of Julian Barnes’s novel . Tony, a semi-retired divorced father, has settled into a dotage of blithe indifference to life. But then he is left a mystery diary in the will of his ex-lover’s mother. Memories of teenage friendship and romance re-emerge – but they’re not quite the ones he had thought they were. A contemplative rather than dramatic tale of self-realisation, with fine support from Harriet Walter and Charlotte Rampling. Simon Wardell