TV tonight: a nostalgic romance drama with a cracking soundtrack

The Guardian

20 hours ago

Tuesday, 9pm, BBC Two'You don't forget the first mixtape a boy makes you.' Cracking music soundtracks this four-part will they/won't they story, starting with New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle, as teenagers Daniel (Rory Walton-Smith) and Alison (Florence Hunt) first talk sheepishly at a Sheffield house party in 1989. Twenty years later, Daniel (Jim Sturgess) has stayed put and is a music journalist, while Alison (Teresa Palmer) is a successful novelist in Sydney. Both have families, but as they remember the mix tapes they shared and unanswered questions, is a reunion on the cards? Think One Day (incidentally, Sturgess starred in the film version) except grittier. Hollie Richardson
8pm, Channel 4Quarter-final time: the teams must are tasked with creating two dozen savoury sweet desserts before the real challenge: summoning up alien-themed showstoppers with jelly art desserts in just five hours. All under the watchful gaze of higher intelligences Cherish Finden and Benoit Blin. Ali Catterall
8.20pm, PBS America
Access to a KGB archive in Ukraine provides the hook for this new two-parter on the 1986 nuclear disaster; the files therein suggest officials were aware of flaws in the power plant's design. There are also sombre interviews with survivors, including a technician who was on site when reactor No 4 exploded. Graeme Virtue
9pm, BBC OneSara Pascoe is back to host the 11th series of the amateur sewing competition. The first challenge asks the contestants to create a voluminous tie-front blouse – a garment that seems very much up Pascoe's own style street. They then graduate from gathers to pleats in the 'made to measure' round. Ellen E Jones
10pm, Channel 4The unusual team of actor Emilia Fox, criminologist David Wilson and former detective Graham Hill dig into another cold case. Brian Price and Susan Tetrault were murdered in bed in 1986 in Clapham, south London. Could international drug traffickers have been involved? Jack Seale
10.05pm, ITV2
The brilliant Doon Mackichan guest stars as the head of HR, as supermarket manager Simon (Nick Frost) rounds up the team to discuss how best to get rid of rubbish night-shift worker Liv (Jordan Gray). But how can he do it without being cancelled for firing a transgender woman? Bitingly funny comedy. HR
Jaws 1-4 (Steven Spielberg, 1975; Jeannot Szwarc, 1978; Joe Alves, 1983; Joseph Sargent, 1987), NetflixThe 50th anniversary of Jaws – year zero of the modern blockbuster – has already been well publicised. However, half a century of Jaws also means half a century of Jaws sequels, which is a different kind of fun. This week, Netflix has gathered together all four films for viewers to enjoy at leisure. The question is, which should you watch? The peerless original? Jaws 2, which is more or less a remake of the first? Jaws 3, which was shot for 3D seemingly just for the scene where a shark is exploded? Or Jaws: The Revenge, in which a shark with a vendetta chases Michael Caine around the Bahamas? Strictly speaking, only one of these films is good. But in their own way, they are all great. Stuart Heritage
Hell Is a City (Val Guest, 1960), 2:20pm, Film4
To be specific, hell is Manchester. This stunning 1960 British noir has plenty going for it, like its tight, hardboiled plot – an inspector is tasked with tracking down a murderer after a jailbreak – and the gruffly unsentimental performances from Stanley Baker and John Crawford. It deserves to be rediscovered and heralded as a classic. However, Hell Is a City was also shot in Manchester – rare for a film – and provides a wonderful snapshot of the city 65 years ago. To describe it as unrecognisable would be an understatement. SH