Dynamo is Dead
9pm, Sky Max
“It’s time to kill Dynamo.” The magician will be pulling his biggest stunt yet – burying himself alive and escaping during a live broadcast – in order to be “reborn”. Before that happens at the end of the show, we see him speak to celebrities including actor Cara Delevingne, skateboarder Tony Hawk and musician Chris Martin about mental health – and show them a trick or two. Hollie Richardson
Stacey Solomon’s Crafty Christmas
8pm, BBC One
Stacey Solomon continues her mission to solve everyone’s problems. After her recent run of Sort Your Life Out, she is back with some ingenious festive hacks. These are showcased via a party for volunteers – she enlists the help of everyone from her kids to her gran to create wreaths, decorations and gifts from everyday household items. Phil Harrison
The Secret Genius of Modern Life
8pm, BBC Two
In the last part of this engrossing series, mathematician Hannah Fry turns her attention to the lift. As someone who is afraid of heights, she isn’t sure about riding on the top of a test elevator with a gigantic drop below. But examining all the components – which she is told rarely fail – makes the mechanics seem a lot more palatable. Hannah Verdier
Fur Babies
8pm, Channel 4
Think of One Born Every Minute but for pets and you are on the right track for this series. Admitting that animals giving birth can be hard to watch, this week vets James Greenwood and Bolu Eso deliver the litters of cavapoochon dog Bindi and Kara the Maine Coon cat. HR
Disappeared: Mexico’s Missing 43
9pm, BBC Two
Only corruption on a mind-blowing scale could account for the 2014 disappearance of 43 student teachers. In the second episode of this engrossing two-part documentary, we learn about the depth of the cartel-aided cover-up, via exclusive interviews with prosecutor Omar Gómez Trejo and fugitive former police chief Tomás Zerón De Lucio. Ellen E Jones
Smothered
10pm, Sky Comedy
Canadian writer Monica Heisey’s fantastic romcom continues – Sammy and Tom’s relationship is on, but can it really work between a sensible single dad and a party girl? A big night out with their friends (including Self Esteem’s Rebecca Lucy Taylor as Sammy’s sardonic flatmate) could make or break them. HR
Film choice
Your Name (Makoto Shinkai, 2016), 11pm, Film4
The king of anime romance for young adults, Makoto Shinkai, has two films on Channel 4 this week. Up first is Your Name, a delightful, heart-tugging fantasy, which mixes teenage love with metaphysics. A small-town girl and a boy in Tokyo realise that dreams in which they inhabit each other’s bodies are, in fact, a real-life swap. Teenage embarrassment and curiosity follow as Mitsuha and Taki explore their alter egos and help or hinder each other’s daily lives. Then the connection is unexpectedly broken, leaving Taki with a frustrating mystery to solve. A second Shinkai film, Weathering With You, is on tomorrow night. Simon Wardell
Dance First (James Marsh, 2023), 6.55am, 6.05pm, Sky Cinema premiere
This biopic of the Nobel laureate Samuel Beckett is as fractured, forbidding and funny as its subject’s plays. Via a Godot-like dialogue with himself, Beckett (Gabriel Byrne) relives episodes from his life, hoping to pin down his feelings of guilt – and perhaps find redemption. His time in Paris working for his hero, James Joyce (Aidan Gillen), an involvement with Joyce’s mentally ill daughter, joining the French resistance, and the two major loves of his life provide tantalising glimpses into Beckett’s gimlet-eyed worldview. SW
