TV tonight: Jamie Redknapp and Andrew Flintoff look into their DNA

The ex-sportsmen explore their family histories using technology and genealogy. Plus: find out what it’s like at Heathrow in the pandemic. Here’s what to watch this evening

DNA Journey

9pm, ITV

ITV has presumably long coveted an equivalent to the BBC’s genealogy epic Who Do You Think You Are?, and this feels like an attempt to fill that gap. Over the series, eight celebrities will be exploring their family histories using DNA technology and a touch of genealogy, too. Tonight, it’s the turn of the former footballer Jamie Redknapp – who uncovers a mystery in east London – and ex-cricketer Andrew Flintoff who, as a Lancastrian, is worried that the show might drag him across the Pennines. He should be so lucky. Phil Harrison

Heathrow: Britain’s Busiest Airport
8pm, ITV

What’s it like at a major transit hub in the middle of a pandemic? A lot less busy, that’s for sure. The faces of the airport workers are now partly hidden behind masks, but nifty new toilet-cleaning robots and the mystery of a missing passenger are still enough to raise eyebrows. Ellen E Jones

Holocaust Escape Tunnel

8.40pm, PBS America

This enthralling, wrenching film follows archaeologists as they dig for remnants of the lost Jewish community in Vilnius, Lithuania. While the programme documents the horror of the Nazi death camp, the big discovery is evidence of a tunnel, dug by a handful of the survivors. Jack Seale

The Terror

9pm, BBC One

The Terror.
The Terror. Photograph: BBC/AMC Film Holdings LLC

The satisfyingly chilly and eerie horror anthology series continues. Tonight, Franklin faces a dilemma as Crozier demands that a sledge party be sent to seek help. Is Crozier likely to risk any more of his men? Not without a scrap – and before too long, the dispute turns dangerously personal. PH

Lost Boy: The Killing of James Bulger

9pm, Channel 5

There are few more haunting images in modern history than the 1993 CCTV pictures showing James Bulger’s abduction by two older boys. This two-parter hears from detectives involved in the case and James’s mother, Denise Fergus, as it examines, once again, a crime that defies understanding. PH

The Great British Dig: History in Your Back Garden

9pm, More4

On the clifftops of South Shields lies a secret military base. Tonight, Hugh Dennis and his archaeologists (with some help from the local army regiment) endeavour to put this piece of British military history on the map. But they had better move quickly before erosion destroys the site for ever. Ali Catterall

Film choice

Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl.
Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl. Photograph: Allstar/New Regency Pictures

Gone Girl 9pm, Sky Cinema Greats
Gillian Flynn’s novel gets the David Fincher treatment, a tense, unsettling tale of murder and misogyny. Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck meet, marry and settle down to a life that’s soon far from happy ever after. When she disappears, he – in that Hitchcockian way – becomes the prime suspect. Paul Howlett

Today’s sport

One-day international cricket: West Indies v Sri Lanka 1pm, BT Sport 1 The first of three matches.

Premier League football: Manchester City v Southampton 5.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event Champions-elect v stragglers.

Champions League football: Liverpool v RB Leipzig 7pm, BT Sport 2 The second leg as Liverpool try to save their season.

Contributors

Phil Harrison, Ellen E Jones, Jack Seale, Ali Catterall and Paul Howlett

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