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The Guardian
TV tonight: a moreish new gameshow to have fun with on Saturday nights
By Jack Seale and Simon WardellPhil Harrison,
8 hours ago
Password
9.40pm, ITV1
Password on ITV1. Photograph: Tom Dymond/ITV
An amiable new gameshow for Saturday night, with Stephen Mangan on hosting duties and Daisy May Cooper and Alan Carr as regular captains. It’s not a million miles from Catchphrase, with one-word verbal clues replacing visual ones. Password’s gameplay is never unduly taxing – so it’s possible to relax and enjoy the endless double entendres. Adisa and Jo are the first contestants, with £10,000 on the table for the winner. Phil Harrison
The Voice UK
8pm, ITV1
The singing contest returns and this year Tom Jones and will.i.am are joined on the coaching panel by LeAnn Rimes and McFly lads Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones. In the first week, mentors prepare to push their buttons as the hopefuls embark upon the blind audition stage. Emma Willis hosts. PH
Sambre: Anatomy of a Crime
9pm, BBC Four
This gripping French drama, based on a true story, begins in 1988 after a rape. The victim, Christine, has gone to the police to report the crime but the environment she finds is horribly unsympathetic. The series unfolds over decades, tracking the police’s failure to catch the serial rapist responsible for this and many other crimes. PH
The Highwaymen Live: American Outlaws
9pm, Sky Arts
Four of the most magnificently crusty country music voices perform in front of a furiously appreciative crowd at the Nassau Coliseum in New York. Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson were already veterans by the time of this 1990 show – but now it feels like an important historical document. PH
John Kearns: The Varnishing Days
9pm, Sky Comedy
With his signature tonsure toupee and set of false teeth, John Kearns hits the Royal Court theatre with his highly acclaimed standup. His costume choices may confound new audiences, but the offbeat Taskmaster alumnus delivers a compelling hour of zingers with musings ranging from the worries of fatherhood to plot specifics of The Snowman. Nicole Vassell
The Last Leg in Paris
9.30pm, Channel 4
Every four years we’re reminded that this veteran news-comedy show started as a mere adjunct to the Paralympics. Now it has once again returned to its roots, with a slot right after each day’s action in Paris concludes. Joel Dommett, Helen Skelton and Ade Adepitan are the first of this week’s studio guests. Jack Seale
Film choice
Kinds of Kindness, out now, Disney+
Hot on the heels of his Oscar-winning Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos’s anthology film has a similarly surreal feel, but is – initially at least – more grounded in the real world. The three tales star the same actors (Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe and others) as wildly different characters. Part one features Plemons as a man whose entire life is micromanaged by his boss (Dafoe). The middle chapter focuses on a cop (Plemons) whose missing wife (Stone) returns – but is it really her? The final story concerns a sex cult searching for a person who can reanimate the dead. A delightfully off-kilter comedy of murky morality, played deadpan by a cast with the fetters off. Simon Wardell
Flash Gordon, 11.35am, ITV4
“Flash, I love you, but we only have 14 hours to save the Earth!” The spirit of Barbarella hovers over this riotously camp take on the sci-fi comic strip and Buster Crabbe-starring Saturday matinee serials. Sam J Jones is the American football player who finds himself taking on an alien emperor, Ming the Merciless (played, bizarrely, by arthouse stalwart Max von Sydow). Throw in Brian Blessed with wings and a soundtrack by Queen at their most bombastic and it’s difficult to fathom that it was directed by Mike Hodges, the man behind cold-hearted classic Get Carter. SW
Passport to Pimlico, 1.15pm, BBC Two
One of those crowd-pleasing Ealing comedies in which the little people take a stand against the Man – and it doesn’t necessarily work out well for them. A bomb that goes off in postwar London reveals a 15th-century royal charter ceding a small area of land to the Duchy of Burgundy. The inhabitants promptly declare independence from rationing-hit UK, but with no law or government, chaos ensues. Stanley Holloway plays the ironmonger navigating a path between bureaucracy and self-determination in a paean to plucky British community spirit. SW
The Swordsman, 1.15am, Film4
In Choi Jae-hoon’s compelling 2020 South Korean period adventure, Jang Hyuk stars as Tae-yul, a melancholic former bodyguard to the king living in rural isolation with his daughter. However, in time-honoured fashion, he is drawn back into the fight between empires after his child is put in danger, his failing sight making the success of his endeavour even more time-sensitive. Despite some confusing (to a non-Korean) political machinations, the vibrant bladework makes its mark, and Jang Hyuk broods impressively while slicing up all-comers. SW
Live sport
Paralympics Paris 2024, 8am, Channel 4 Day three features swimming, cycling and athletics. On Sunday, Lauren Steadman defends her triathlon title.
Test Cricket: England v Sri Lanka, 10.15am, Sky Sports Main Event The third day of the second Test in the three-match series at Lord’s. The third Test starts at 10am on Friday at the Oval.
Premier League Football: Arsenal v Brighton, 11am, TNT Sport 1 Followed by West Ham v Man City at 5pm on Sky Sports Main Event.
Racing: Sandown, 1pm, ITV1 The Solario Stakes, plus racing from Chester and Beverley.
Tennis: US Open, 3.30pm, Sky Sports Tennis Day six from Flushing Meadows.
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