Ponies<\/p>\n
9pm, Sky Atlantic
Emilia Clarke learned Russian for this exciting cold war comedy drama (\u201cI did Dothraki, I know what I\u2019m doing!\u201d) and she continues to flex her impressive skills as US spy Bea. She prepares to go on a date with a KGB agent to strengthen her cover, and gets some tips from Twila. Will she pull it off? Meanwhile, Twila is also taking secret calls to get to the bottom of a number of sex worker murders. Hollie Richardson<\/p>\n
MasterChef Final<\/p>\n
8pm, BBC One
After an intense Chef\u2019s Table stage at Opheem in Birmingham, where the finalists prepared sand carrot in eight different ways for Michelin-starred chefs, the remaining trio now face their toughest challenge. They must create their best three-course menus in just three hours for Anna and Grace (who will probably need a lie-down after eating all nine dishes). Ali Catterall<\/p>\n
Gardeners\u2019 World<\/p>\n
8pm, BBC Two
The roses are peaking at Longmeadow, giving Monty Don the chance to celebrate England\u2019s favourite flower in all its various guises. Of course, there are a few tips too for viewers whose blooms aren\u2019t quite in bloom. Down in Brighton, a city garden shows what can be achieved in cramped urban spaces; in Bedfordshire, a plot full of succulents and sun-loving plants has an air of the tropical. Jack Seale<\/p>\n
Dispatches: Will My Summer Holiday Be Cancelled?<\/p>\n
8pm, Channel 4
The headlines tell us that the Iran war is sending jet fuel prices soaring and causing thousands of flights to be cancelled. Is there more chance of getting stuck abroad? Could it actually mean that airlines will start competing with super bargains? Kate Quilton investigates, ready to give us the verdicts we don\u2019t want. HR<\/p>\n
Hidden Treasures of the National Trust<\/p>\n
9pm, BBC Two<\/p>\n
Dressed to kill \u2026 a samurai suit at Snowshill Manor in the Cotswolds. Photograph: PHOTOGRAPHER:\/CREDIT LINE:BBC\/Blast Films<\/p>\n
Another trip behind the velvet ropes to witness the restoration efforts of National Trust staff. At Snowshill Manor in the Cotswolds, a child\u2019s suit of lacquered samurai armour requires some serious TLC, while at Calke Abbey in Derbyshire a variety of historic stuffed birds need their feathers unruffled. Graeme Virtue<\/p>\n
First Dates<\/p>\n
10pm, Channel 4
Love can strike at any age, as this week\u2019s visit to Cupid\u2019s restaurant proves. On one table, 62-year-old hairdresser Liz has a promising night with builder Paul. Over on another, 19-year-olds Rue and Kaitlyn are only just dipping their toes into the world of dating. HR<\/p>\n
Film choice<\/p>\n
Dead Man\u2019s Wire (Gus Van Sant, 2025), 8am, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
The spirit of the Al Pacino classic Dog Day Afternoon is alive and well in Gus Van Sant\u2019s ripped-from-the-headlines drama. Both feature a desperate man driven to extremes, a frantic police operation to contain him and a 1970 media circus that creates an antihero. Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd is all gangly, edgy energy as Tony Kiritsis, a low-level Indianapolis land developer who believes mortgage broker ML Hall (Al Pacino in a superbly unlikable cameo) cheated him on a deal. So he takes Hall\u2019s son, Richard (Dacre Montgomery), hostage using the titular contraption connected to a shotgun. It\u2019s surprisingly funny amid the sweaty tension, with Kiritsis\u2019s delusion that he\u2019ll get away with the crime almost endearing. Simon Wardell<\/p>\n
Devil in the Dust (Ned Crowley, 2025), Paramount+<\/p>\n
Guy Pearce as Bender in Devil in the Dust. Photograph: Michael Moriatis\/Signature Entertainment<\/p>\n
This western is knocked off-kilter almost immediately when a cute little blond girl kills a horse by touching it. The supernatural frisson in Ned Crowley\u2019s yarn never really goes away, as we follow Guy Pearce\u2019s grizzled, ether-addicted doctor Bender, rancher Sarah (DeWanda Wise) and her aforementioned daughter (a deadpan Emily Ford, channelling Damien in The Omen) on a quest to a preacher who can supposedly take out the devil in her. An array of quirky supporting characters \u2013 including a Native American called Shakespeare \u2013 keep the film on the lighter side of chilling. SW<\/p>\n
Bring Them Down (Chris Andrews, 2024), 11pm, BBC Two
A film possessing the relentlessness of tragedy, Chris Andrews\u2019 dark rural drama takes two neighbouring Irish farming families, then watches as they destroy each other and themselves. Christopher Abbott\u2019s shepherd Michael sets out for revenge when Jack (Barry Keoghan) \u2013 the son of his former girlfriend, Caroline (Nora-Jane Noone) \u2013 steals two of his rams. We see their actions \u2013 and unforeseen consequences \u2013 successively from both men\u2019s points of view, with Keoghan exceptional in being able to appear malevolent and innocent at the same time. SW<\/p>\n
Live sport<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s World Cup Football, Spain v England, 7.30pm, ITV1 A qualifier in Palma, Mallorca.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ponies 9pm, Sky AtlanticEmilia Clarke learned Russian for this exciting cold war comedy drama (\u201cI did Dothraki, I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-622164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}