Sunday’s TV tips
(2008) For his latest animated epic, Hayao Miyazaki turns to Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale The Little Mermaid for inspiration.
Featuring the voices of Tiny Fey, Cate Blanchett and Liam Neeson, A fish falls in love with a boy, so uses magic to turn herself into a human – but, her meddling with sorcery throws the future of the natural world into jeopardy, leaving the pair desperately racing against time to undo the damage while also finding a way to let her remain in her new form.
Ponyo is pitched to a younger audience than most of the director’s work. It is sweet but very slight, with an environmental message about mankind’s pollution of the sea that is delivered in bold, underlined, block capitals.
(1960) Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 epic about Roman slaves in revolt, which won four Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actor for Peter Ustinov.
He joins an all-star cast including Kirk Douglas, Sir Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton and Jean Simmons.
The slave Spartacus (Douglas) is spared from a death sentence by the wily Batiatus (Ustinov), who trains the condemned man at his academy as a gladiator, to fight to the death for the entertainment of the rich and the powerful including Gracchus (Laughton) and his scheming successor Crassus (Olivier).
Enraged by how little the Empire values human life, Spartacus leads a uprising with Antoninus (Tony Curtis) at his side but the valiant slaves are no match for Crassus, who desires Spartacus’s wife Varinia (Simmons).
(1991) The eccentric lifestyle of the Addams family is threatened when the family attorney and a greedy mother/son team conspire to steal the family fortune.
Starring: Anjelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, Raul Julia.
Cheryl Fernandez-Versini’s own career on The X Factor has arguably been far more dramatic than any of the contestants’.
She first became a judge on the TXF in 2008, and was the winning mentor twice out of the three series she judged.
However, in 2011, she left the UK version to judge in the American incarnation, but left during the auditions stage, fuelling rumours that she had been sacked.
In March of last year, it was announced that she would return as a judge on the 11th series of the UK, signing a £1.5 million contract. Here, Cheryl looks back on some of her most memorable moments, and chooses her favourite acts.
Although at one point he was rarely seen without his canine companion Fanny the Wonder Dog, we never really had comedian Julian Clary down as a nature presenter in the making, but this series has proved that he does have a way with animals _ and the people who have devoted their lives to observing them.
In the last of the current run, he’s in Walsall in the West Midlands to meet Joan Lockley, who runs her very own ’Hedgehog Hosprickal’ (see what they did there?), which has helped over 5,000 of the prickly little creatures.
Now, with the help of expert Dr Richard Yarnell, she’s getting the chance to track one of her former patients after it is released back into the wild. Julian also comes to the aid of a woman who wants to get her first glimpse of a badger, and a couple of dedicated otter spotters.
(2007) Having lost his memory and the one person he loved, Bourne is forced to hunt down his past in order to find a future.
Traveling from Moscow, Paris and London to Tangier and New York City, he continues his quest to find the real Jason Bourne-all the while trying to outmaneuver the scores of cops, federal officers and Interpol agents who have him in their crosshairs.
Returning cast members Julia Stiles and Joan Allen join new additions David Strathairn and Paddy Considine in this non-stop, intelligent thrill ride! Directed by Paul Greengrass.
Starring: Matt Damon, Joan Allen and Julia Stiles.
(2012) Ballsy CIA officer Maya (Jessica Chastain) accepts a posting to Islamabad under Station Chief Joseph Bradley (Kyle Chandler).
CIA operative Dan (Jason Clarke) worries the newcomer might not be up to the task at hand. But Maya imposes herself on the team, which initially creates friction with colleagues Jessica (Jennifer Ehle), Larry (Edgar Ramirez) and Steve (Mark Duplass).
Over the next eight years, Maya dedicates her life to every scrap of intelligence which might lead her to Osama bin Laden.
Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti (Tushaar Mehra), who reportedly operates as bin Laden’s personal courier, becomes her focus and the CIA tracks him to a heavily guarded compound in Abbottabad.
The first episode of a second three-part adventure for crime-solving couple Tommy and Tuppence. Major Carter realises there could be a leak in the department and is not sure who to trust.
He sends Tommy on a top secret mission, which he cannot even tell Tuppence about.
Checking into a Cromer guesthouse, he must unmask a Russian spy and discover what has become of a scientist working on a nuclear bomb, who has disappeared from a nearby military base.
Tuppence does not take kindly to being left out, and begins her own investigation.
Odelle and Aslam are rescued from an awkward situation by Luc, who apparently has his own reasons for keeping Frank Majors alive.
Back in New York, Peter struggles to keep his conscience clear while trying to help Yusuf and Sophia.
Harrison Walters gets dangerously close to Ruby, and Bob discovers the high price he has to pay in exchange for telling Harrison Ruby’s true identity.
Meanwhile, Suzanne goes to extreme lengths in order to keep her new friend close - without appreciating her true role in everything.
Rapper Abz Love first found fame in the 1990s as a member of the boy band 5ive. But while his teen pin-up days may be behind him, he’s still Gettin’ Down, only now it’s on the farm.
Along with his girlfriend, singer-songwriter Vicky Fallon, he’s planning to swap city life for a smallholding in Wales, but with little in the way of money or experience, achieving their dream of a self-sufficient, off-grid lifestyle is not going to be easy.
This three-part series follows them over the course of a year, as they make the move to a remote farm in Carmarthenshire, which is in need of some serious renovation.
However, in this first episode, the couple seem relatively undaunted by the scale of the task in front of them, as they start purchasing livestock at auction.
British Jamaican writer, dub poet and Rastafari Benjamin Zephaniah has toured the likes of South Africa, Zimbabwe, India, Pakistan and Colombia during his long and distinguished career.
However, he has never visited the National Eisteddfod of Wales, until now that is.
Here, during his first trip to the event, he explores the roles language, poetry, tradition and dissent play in the annual gathering.
He also observes a druidic ceremony and talks to songwriters, poets and members of the public about their experiences at the festival.
(2010) Twelve-year-old Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) lives with his mother (Cara Buono).
Bullied mercilessly at school by classmate Kenny (Dylan Minnette) and sidekicks Mark (Jimmy Pinchak) and Donald (Nicolai Dorian), Owen harbours fantasies of stabbing his tormentors with a penknife and spies on the neighbours with his telescope.
Late one night, he watches with interest as a girl (Chloe Moretz) and her father (Richard Jenkins) move into the apartment next door.
When the latest beating from Kenny draws blood, Abby tells Owen to hit back hard – harder than he dares – and pledges her support to end the cycle of verbal and physical intimidation.
