Loaded: Lads, Mags and Mayhem
9pm, BBC Two
For all the problems that came with lad culture, there’s is no denying that the story of Loaded magazine is a compelling ride through naughty 90s nostalgia – a time when “magazines were your internet!”. Former editor James Brown, journalist Miranda Sawyer, “ladette” Gail Porter and one-time cover star David Baddiel relive those hedonistic years, revealing what was happening behind the scenes, from fancy awards nights to a misjudged tour. But they also, rightly, re-examine the much darker parts. Hollie Richardson
Unreported World
7.30pm, Channel 4
In the agricultural powerhouse that is Brazil, whoever owns the land – just 1% of the population – gets to swish the merciless stick of power. However, some modern-day Robin Hood types (the Landless Workers’ Movement) are busily handing unoccupied farmland back to the poor. Reporter Symeon Brown tracks them down. Ali Catterall
Return to Paradise
8pm, BBC One
“Body in the water!” It’s a new Death in Paradise spin-off, set in Australia and with a female lead detective. When Met police detective Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson) returns to Dolphin Cove after being accused of tampering with evidence, she gets to work on solving a murder – but the locals aren’t her biggest fans. HR
Junior Taskmaster
8pm, Channel 4
“Kids these days, eh?” sighs Rose Matafeo as Ebrima, Finley, George, Liana and Shenaya – aged nine to 11 – compete in the latest heat. It’s Matafeo’s assistant Mike Wozniak, however, who bears the brunt of their youthful japes. One contestant says Mike puts him in mind of “death”. Charming! Ellen E Jones
Peter Kay Live: Comedy Genius
9pm, Channel 5
If the words “garlic bread” make you roll on the floor with laughter, this roundup of Kay’s funniest live moments will do the job. Expect the classic routines about family weddings and dipping your biscuit, along with the funniest skit of all: Kay’s misheard lyrics. Take That’s “Wash your back for good”, anyone? Hannah Verdier
The Graham Norton Show
10.40pm, BBC One
Nicole Kidman, Cynthia Erivo and James Norton star in some of the biggest films of the Christmas season – Babygirl, Wicked and Joy – so they get cosy on Norton’s sofa, alongside Strictly favourite Chris McCausland. Music comes from Benson Boone. HR
Film choices
Joy (Ben Taylor, 2024), Netflix
The story of how the world’s first “test-tube baby”, Louise Joy Brown, came to be born in 1978 has been turned into an absorbing tale of medical discovery and motherhood by writer Jack Thorne and director Ben Taylor. Cambridge biologist Robert Edwards (James Norton) and Oldham obstetrician Patrick Steptoe (Bill Nighy) were the public face of 10 years of IVF research, but we mainly see the project’s ups and downs through the eyes of the team’s vital third member, lab technician Jean Purdy (Thomasin McKenzie). Her struggles over her faith and health, and empathy with the childless test subjects, give an achingly personal dimension to the historic, life-changing quest. Simon Wardell
Blitz (Steve McQueen, 2024), Apple TV+
After Occupied City, his epic look at the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam, Steve McQueen updates London’s second world war history with a drama delving into the lives of its working-class citizens. Amid relentless German bombing, George (Elliott Heffernan), the mixed-race son of Saoirse Ronan’s factory worker Rita, is due to be evacuated. But he jumps off the train taking him away and heads back into the city – a chaotic, surreal world where Dickensian thieves, Nigerian air-raid wardens and swing bands cross paths. SW
Bread and Roses (Sahra Mani, 2023), Apple TV+
When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in 2021, a group of women documented their increasingly dangerous lives on camera. In this Jennifer Lawrence-produced film, Sahra Mani collates undercover footage from dentist Zahra, former government employee Sharifa, and Taranom, who has had to flee to Pakistan. Female activists organise incredibly brave protests against the restrictions placed on them by the Islamist regime – from the closure of girls’ schools to bans on playing music – but there is the ever-present threat of arrest, torture, even death. A moving chronicle of an continuing tragedy. SW
IF (John Krasinski, 2024), 10.35am, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
If Roald Dahl had had a sentimental bone in his body, he might have come up with a sweet story like this. John Krasinski’s fantasy concerns Bea (Cailey Fleming), a 12-year-old whose widowed dad is in hospital, and who meets a former clown (Ryan Reynolds) and his friends – an array of bizarre comic creatures named the IFs –Imaginary Friends. When kids grow up, they forget their IFs, so Bea sets out to find the lonely beasties new homes. Play spot the famous voice (Blunt, Clooney, Damon) or just enjoy a simple fable about childhood. SW
