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The Guardian
TV tonight: an unlikely but charming job swap between Judi Dench and Jay Blades
By Hollie Richardson Nicole Vassell and Simon Wardell Jack Seale,
10 hours ago
Dame Judi and Jay: The Odd Couple
Dame Judi and Jay at Ridley Road Market. Photograph: Hungry Bear
9pm, Channel 4
“I don’t think we’ve got anything in common, to tell you the truth,” says The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades about Oscar winner Judi Dench. And yet, when they met on Blades’s show last year, their differences sparked a new friendship. In this charming documentary, the pair show each other their lives: Dench is put to work on a bustling market stall, while dyslexic Blades reads Shakespeare on stage. Incredibly touching, smile-raising stuff. Hollie Richardson
Faye
7pm, Sky Documentaries
Faye Dunaway’s formidable character is on fine form in this captivating portrait of the actor. Starting with that Oscars-morning-after shot, Dunaway and the people who know her best rewind to her childhood, before examining the performances that made – and at times nearly destroyed – her legacy as one of Hollywood’s greatest. HR
Britten’s War Requiem
8pm, BBC Four
A first Prom for the London Symphony Orchestra under its new conductor, Antonio Pappano. It’s a challenge: commissioned for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral in 1962, Britten’s complex masterpiece is both technically proficient and shamelessly emotional, a balance not all previous performers have managed to pull off. Jack Seale
Orlando Bloom: To the Edge
8pm, U&Dave
If you’ve been craving another adventure show featuring a famous white man’s midlife crisis, you’re in luck. This documentary series follows Orlando Bloom attempting life-threatening daredevil activities, just because. He starts with wingsuit jumping – a modified skydive that makes participants look like flying squirrels. Nicole Vassell
Team GB Homecoming By the National Lottery
8.30pm, BBC One
They’re coming home – with 65 medals including 14 golds. The BBC has decided the biggest thank you they can give is a night of performances from, err, Jess Glynne, Clean Bandit (they’ve had four No 1 hits, apparently) and Pete Tong. Better than nothing, I guess. Emma Willis and Vernon Kay will also chat to Team GB heroes. HR
The Other Mrs Jordan
10.15pm, ITV1
Mary Turner Thomson is the star witness in this documentary series, recalling her sham marriage to William Allen Jordan – a bigamist, fraudster and much else besides. Her timeline is full of what seem like obvious red flags, but Thomson’s intelligence and articulacy make it hard to judge her, and the other victims, too harshly. JS
Film choice
Strangers on a Train, 12.20pm, BBC Two
This 1951 thriller by Alfred Hitchcock, adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s first novel, is a fine example of the director’s strengths. There’s the suspense that never lets up, as Farley Granger’s tennis pro Guy meets the conspiratorial Bruno (a gleefully louche Robert Walker) and finds himself trapped in a “perfect murder” plot – Bruno will kill Guy’s estranged wife, and Guy is meant to shoot the other’s father in return. Then there are the recurring motifs (spectacles, lighters), an academic-baiting subtext (homoeroticism) and cameos from not just one but two Hitchcocks. Simon Wardell
The Mask, 4.30pm, BBC One Jim Carrey built on the success of Ace Ventura with another vehicle for his trickster screen persona. There’s even an explicit nod to Loki in Chuck Russell’s 1994 comedy, as Carrey’s dependable but dull bank clerk Stanley dons a mysterious old mask he finds in the river and is transformed into a green-faced, superhuman pleasure-seeker. There’s a big Looney Tunes influence in Stanley’s Jekyll and Hyde pursuit of Cameron Diaz’s mob girlfriend, with cartoonish pratfalls and a high gag rate. SW
Live sport
Premier League Football: Brentford v Crystal Palace 1pm, Sky Sports Main Event. Chelsea v Man City is at 4pm.
Women’s Cricket: The Hundred 2pm, BBC Two. The final at Lord’s. Followed by the men’s final at 5.30pm.
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