Top films to watch on TV this week

The Shape of Water (2017) Film4, 11.45p.m.

Set in 1962 Baltimore, The Shape of Water is a swoon-inducing, Oscar-winning reimagining of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale between a “princess without a voice” and a carnivorous merman. Mute Elisa (Sally Hawkins) works as a cleaner at a top-secret US government site. One day, Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon) shepherds a large metal container into one of the laboratories. Inside is a beguiling aquatic creature (Doug Jones). Elisa becomes emotionally attached to the otherworldly arrival, using sign language and music as a crude yet effective form of communication. They eventually fall in love and the cleaner hatches a hare-brained plan to liberate her web-footed paramour. Hawkins is simultaneously luminous and heart-breaking, speaking volumes without saying a word.

THURSDAY

The Lady in the Van (2015) BBC4, 9p.m.

Playwright Alan Bennett (Alex Jennings) moves into a house in Camden – and soon after, a cantankerous woman called Miss Shepherd (Maggie Smith) settles in the same street in her ramshackle vehicle. Alan foolishly agrees to let her take up temporary residence on his driveway. Months turn into years and the playwright despairs as he becomes Miss Shepherd’s guardian and suffers regular visits from interfering social worker Miss Briscoe (Cecilia Noble). Teasingly billed as ‘a mostly true story’, The Lady in the Van is an entertaining screen adaptation of Bennett’s award-winning 1999 stage work. Smith reprises her theatre role as the eponymous tramp, unleashing an array of withering putdowns that would surely have her imperious dowager in Downton Abbey clucking with approval.

FRIDAY

There’s Something About Mary (1998) ITV2, 9p.m.

The Farrelly brothers’ riotous comedy stars Ben Stiller as loveable schmuck Ted, who misses out on a prom date with his high-school crush Mary (Cameron Diaz) after a rather unfortunate bathroom incident. Thirteen years later, Ted is still obsessed with Mary and sets out to track her down with the assistance of slimy claims adjuster Pat Healey (a very funny Matt Dillon), who also falls for Mary and does everything he can to prevent her and Ted ever meeting again. Lee Evans is thrown into the mix as Mary’s architect best chum but his is very much a supporting role. The gross-out setpieces are hilarious, while Stiller and Diaz add a touch of genuine sweetness.

SATURDAY

Casino Royale (2006) ITV1, 8.00pm

Daniel Craig made a fantastic debut as Bond in this thriller. It finds the secret agent on the trail of Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), an international criminal planning to use a high-stakes poker game as a means of funding terrorist organisations across the world. This offering was a huge success and had fans who had been sceptical about Craig’s casting eating their words. Judi Dench is one of the very few constants between the Brosnan era and the dawning of Craig. She brings the same dry wit and gravitas to the role of M, dismayed at her fledgling agent’s ability to bring her department into disrepute once again. Meanwhile, Mikkelsen is suitably creepy as the villain of the piece and Eva Green is memorable as 007’s love interest, Vesper Lynd.

SUNDAY

Calamity Jane (1953) BBC2, 4.00pm

It’s whip-crack-away with Doris Day and Howard Keel in David Butler’s Oscar-winning 1953 musical inspired by the life of the rootin’ tootin’ heroine, replete with unforgettable songs like I Can Do Without You, A Woman’s Touch and Secret Love. Calamity Jane (Day) arrives in the aptly named Deadwood to discover the men at the local saloon in a state of unrest. In order to placate the drinkers, Calamity makes a bold promise that she will lure revered singer Adelaid Adams (Gale Robbins) to Deadwood. Wild Bill Hickox (Keel) scoffs at such a ludicrous notion and to underline his point, he makes a bet with Calamity: if she can get Adelaid to perform at the saloon, he will don the garb of a Sioux woman. The battle lines are drawn and Calamity resolves to wipe the smug grin off Wild Bill’s weather-beaten face.

MONDAY

12 Strong (2018) **** Film4, 9.00pm

Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) resigns his commission to spend more time with his family. Then their TV screen fills with shocking images of the smouldering twin towers of the World Trade Centre. Mitch petitions Lieutenant Colonel Bowers (Rob Riggle) to be reinstated so he can spearhead a retaliatory strike against Osama bin Laden’s network. Chief Warrant Officer Cal Spencer (Michael Shannon), Sergeants First Class Sam Diller (Michael Pena) and Ben Milo (Trevante Rhodes), and senior medic Bill Bennett (Kenny Sheard) volunteer to be part of the classified mission. Based on Doug Stanton’s non-fiction book Horse Soldiers, 12 Strong adds Hollywood sheen to the remarkable true story of a covert US Special Forces mission in northern Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

TUESDAY

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) ***** BBC2, 11.15pm

‘Baby’ Jane Hudson was a successful child performer – until she stopped being cute and was eclipsed by her movie-star sister Blanche. However, Blanche’s career was cut tragically short when she was paralysed in a car accident, and for decades the siblings have lived in virtual isolation, with Jane sliding into alcoholism and deluded dreams of a comeback. When Blanche decides it’s time to make some changes, old rivalries resurface in terrifying fashion. It may be campy (and play on the real-life feud between leading ladies Bette Davis and Joan Crawford), but this drama is also tense and at times genuinely unsettling. Much of the credit goes to Davis, who gamely throws herself into the role of the deranged Jane, but Crawford holds her own in the less showy but equally important role of Blanche.