Tuesday’s best TV: Doctor Foster, The Great British Bake Off (original) (raw)

Doctor Foster

9pm, BBC1

The hit suburban psychodrama returns. Last time we saw mercurial medic Gemma (Suranne Jones) she had sent her adulterous, embezzling husband Simon (Bertie Carvel) packing after an explosive dinner party. Now, two years later, Simon is unapologetically back in town with his new family in tow. How best to deal? Listening to PJ Harvey and flagrantly disregarding NHS guidelines for weekly alcohol consumption seems to be the answer. Graeme Virtue

The Great British Bake Off

8pm, Channel 4

Will the show enjoying the status of the biggest on television rise to its new home’s high expectations? Just one episode in, it’s too early to say, but the number crunchers will be scrutinising viewer stats as the Hollywood-Leith team cast their critical eyes over bakers’ efforts in the second signature challenge – the sandwich biscuit – and a technical task none have attempted before. Fondant fillings will, of course, come with tomfoolery. Sharon O’Connell

The 21st Century Race for Space

9pm, BBC2

Brian Cox is truly in his childlike element here, as he meets the private companies that are leapfrogging national space agencies to make travelling to the heavens less of a possibility and more of a certainty – and soon, too, if they are to be believed. Wangling some impressive access, he speaks to Richard Branson about his plans for Virgin Galactic and quizzes Jeff Bezos about Blue Origin, the project funded by all those Amazon orders. Ben Arnold

Lisa Riley’s Baggy Body Club

9pm, ITV

The problem with losing a lot of weight, as former Emmerdale actor Lisa Riley has (12st in 16 months), is that it can leave you with what she calls the booby prize. “I’ve worked my arse off to be this person of health and physique,” she says, but being left with an overwhelming excess of saggy skin certainly wasn’t the desired result. For this one-off, we follow her progress as she deals with the upsetting side-effects of super-dieting. Ali Catterall

Quacks

10pm, BBC2

James Wood’s comedy set in the days of experimental Victorian medicine continues to delight and engross, even at its most gross. Tonight, Caroline has her first curry, William is doubled up with abdominal pains from a bladder stone that Robert is eager to operate on, and Tom is writing narrative poetry on chloroform. The centrepiece, however, is Robert’s recollection of his days stranded on a desert island, which involved turtle riding and pelican tackling. David Stubbs

Tony Visconti’s Unsigned Heroes

9pm, Sky Arts

The death of David Bowie last year has given rise to a somewhat unexpected spike in the profile of his longstanding producer. This six-part series finds Visconti – assisted somewhat randomly by Stewart Copeland from the Police and Imelda May – searching for talented acts to perform at a gig celebrating his 50-year career. The concert will also feature performances by May, Copeland, Nitin Sawhney and – I’m afraid – Bob Geldof. John Robinson

Snakes In The City

8pm, Nat Geo Wild

Simon Keys and Siouxsie Gillett are snake-catchers, and make their living wrangling our cold-blooded chums in South Africa. As we join the couple for a fourth series, it’s dangerous work as the duo hunt around a gloomy, cluttered shack in search of a deadly black mamba, before going after a cobra. Keys, with his slightly nasal twang, comes across as a bit obsessive, but then again would anyone who was slapdash survive his job? Jonathan Wright

Film choice

The Madness of King George (Nicholas Hytner, 1994) 6.50pm, Film4

Alan Bennett’s reworking of his stage play about the woes of George III is both a handsome historical drama and a moving study of the man inside the ermine. Nigel Hawthorne’s George is magnificent, lurching from nobility to utter wretchedness. Counterpointing the affectations of courtly manners is his moving relationship with his Queen (Helen Mirren).

Shane (George Stevens, 1953) 4.30pm, Film4

A classic western, firmly grounded in the Wyoming range wars. Buckskin-clad Alan Ladd is Shane, the stranger looking for honest labour with the homesteaders but forced into fighting their cause against ruthless rancher Emile Meyer and his hired gun (Jack Palance). This is one of the great showdowns, but what elevates the film is Shane’s complex emotional impact on the homesteading family: friendly rivalry with staunch Van Heflin; would-be lover of the wife, Jean Arthur; and, of course, the hero of her boy, Brandon De Wilde.

Sport

Cycling: Tour of Britain 10.45am, ITV4. Stage three, a 178km route from Normanby Hall Country Park to Scunthorpe.

International Under-21s Football: England v Latvia 7.30pm, BT Sport 1. Action from the European Under-21 Championship qualifier.

World Cup Football: Republic of Ireland v Serbia 7.40pm, Sky Sports Main Event. Group D World Cup qualifier.