76 Days

9pm, Sky Documentaries

The pandemic’s unpredictable development in the past year has provided the perfect material for documentary film-makers. This fast-paced account of the beginning of the outbreak in Wuhan provides an often harrowing insight into the virus’s ground zero and the Chinese city’s lockdown in January 2020. There are urgent scenes of vital frontline workers battling the then unknown disease, while families wearing PPE grieve for loved ones. Only the vaccine’s arrival now provides some hope. Ammar Kalia

Pooch Perfect

8pm, BBC One

Stanley the canine superstar and his lovable sidekick Sheridan Smith host the quarter-final of the dog-grooming challenge. It’s a tough gig for the remaining crimpers: this week’s task is to turn a bunch of scruffy bichon frises into immaculate fluffy clouds. Utterly therapeutic. Hannah Verdier

Death in Paradise

9pm, BBC One

A troubling mystery presents as an open-and-shut case in this season finale. A man confesses to murder – he was even found holding a gun at the scene – but something just doesn’t feel right to DI Parker (Ralf Little). If only he could trust his romantic instincts like he does his policing ones. Ellen E Jones

Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby

9pm, BBC Two

Giles Coren and Monica Galetti at Swinton Park hotel
Living it up … Giles Coren and Monica Galetti at Swinton Park hotel. Photograph: BBC Studios

Monica Galetti and Giles Coren are used to pitching in with staff on their trips to the world’s swankiest crash-pads. But during a socially distanced stay at the Swinton Park hotel – a stately home in North Yorkshire – the pair have to cope with coaxing owls and hugging trees. Graeme Virtue

Esther Rantzen: Living With Grief

10pm, Channel 5

With more than 116,000 people having died in the UK from Covid-19, Esther Rantzen presents this show on bereavement. She confronts her instinct not to look back at the death of her husband 20 years ago, while she hears from a woman whose husband died of coronavirus. AK

Rob & Romesh Vs Drag

10pm, Sky One

The comics conclude their entertaining series in which they learn new skills with a foray into the world of drag. Recruiting RuPaul’s Drag Race stars The Vivienne and Baga Chips as their guides, the pair take on drag personas before performing an extravagant routine in front of a live audience. AK

Film choice

George Kennedy and Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke
Freedom fighters … George Kennedy and Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke. Photograph: Warner Bros/Sportsphoto/Allstar

Cool Hand Luke (Stuart Rosenberg, 1967), 4.40pm, TCM Movies
Paul Newman is at his charismatic best as convict Luke Jackson in Rosenberg’s 1967 drama, fighting to maintain inner freedom despite the brutalities of being in a deep south chain gang. Much in the style of the old Warner Bros melodramas, the hardnut action is lightened by a funny streak. Paul Howlett

Live sport

Grand Slam tennis: The Australian Open 8.25am, Eurosport 1. The opening men’s singles semi-final from Melbourne.

Snooker: The Welsh Open 12.45pm, Eurosport 1. The afternoon session on day four at Celtic Manor in Newport.

Europa League football: Wolfsburg v Tottenham Hotspur 5.30pm, BT Sport 2. A tough away trip for the north Londoners. Benfica v Arsenal follows.



This content first appear on the guardian

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