2nd January 2026

1155 - 5

And so we come to the last day of this year’s guide and we start with another top drawer showing from 5; a great Will Smith film, what should be a five star Harrison Ford classic and then the Crocodile Dundee sequel. Yeah, alright, it doesn’t end on a high but those first two are proper slices of fried gold

1435 - BBC2

It’s not quite a bank holiday but it’s excuse enough to drop this film, a 100% sandals epic of major Hollywood proportions. That chariot sequence, Lordy!

1610 - ITV3

A final Carry On, might have had this in the guide before but in case you missed it here’s their parody of the Hammer Horror films

1800 - U & Yesterday.PNG

Three episodes of Red Dwarf? Which just happen to be three of the best, being the backwards one, the one where they play pool with planets and the first polymorph appearance? What an absolute treat

1900 - BBC4

A broad sweep of Top of the Pops here, covering several different years where I’m not sure what the pick will be; ‘99 might take it but depends on what crops up, certainly seeing Bryan Adams and Honeyz up there doesn’t inspire confidence but, hey, always worth rolling the dice right?

2100 - Channel 4

Ah, Taskmaster. It’s wild that this random show from Dave has become this massive worldwide franchise. This show doesn’t have the usual group of comedians but the casting for the show is usually spot on so we should be able to trust it. Won’t we?

2100 - Film4

A right pair of films here about Los Angeles, both digging into the darker side of the Hollywood sign. My pick of the two would probably be Confidential which is a superb adaptation of the original James Elroy novel. It does have Kevin Spacey in it so depends on if you can separate the art from the artist so fair warning. Hollywood is good but, boy, someone really needs to tell Tarantino “90 minutes” at some point

2100 - Great TV

As confirmed whenever Red October was on this isn’t the best Tom Clancy film but it’s not that far off. Firstly, it’s not on a submarine which is something you can say about most films to be fair. Ford is good and has a good villain in Sean Bean but there’s nothing to really elevate it to that next level. Yes, it should have been set on a submarine but then again so should most other films

2130 - ITV4

Here we have one of Clint Eastwood’s secret best films; a great prison escape film with steely eyed Clint at the centre looking to get off the Rock. Don Siegel’s direction is faultless as it captures the routine of prison and how it grinds down those stuck in it. A cracking film

2245 - BBC1

Well, clearly this is wrong as this has three stars and II had four. That’s the wrong way round as II is full of faults but this has one of the best openings of any film you care to mention and one of the best villains in the franchise. AND Cruise has shorter hair so this is 4 stars easily.