Horizon: What Is One Degree?
9pm, BBC2
Comedians don't seem to be happy these days unless they're dusting off their old subjects from university and making a programme about them. Here, Ben Miller, who studied quantum physics at Cambridge, attempts to tackle a question that is simple at first glance, but rather more complicated when you think about it: what is one degree of temperature? His quest includes talking to researchers who are working on the hottest and coldest temperatures in the universe, and visiting labs, including one in which super-cooled liquids pass through glass. MS
Episodes
10pm, BBC2
Matt LeBlanc curbs his enthusiasm, playing himself alongside Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig in this comedy about two British TV writers whose award-winning show about a charming, erudite English headmaster is picked up for a US remake by a boorish US producer who immediately inserts LeBlanc into the lead role. It lacks big laughs, but has a similar charm to another Mangan vehicle, Free Agents.
WD
Shameless
10pm, C4
Paul Abbott's ribald comedy-drama about the Gallagher family has been a breeding ground for strong British acting – James McAvoy, Maxine Peake and Anne-Marie Duff have all inhabited its Chatsworth estate – and the series continues to bring the novelty. The first five episodes of this eighth series are stripped across five consecutive nights, so if you've dropped out of the habit of watching, and feel Frank's errant dynasty has become too complex to follow, here's an opportunity to catch up. And what better way to start than with the wedding of the year: Frank's. But,
er, where is he, exactly?
JR
Inside The Actors Studio
1.25pm, Sky Arts 1
Host James Lipton gets a lot of stick for not exactly being the toughest of interviewers, but his respectful routine is pretty much guaranteed to get his subjects to open up on topics they wouldn't address in other forums. Not that Chris Rock needs any prompting in letting rip on a variety of subjects. There's little about Rock that is conventional; an easy target for bullies in an otherwise almost all-white school, he also holds French New Wave director Eric Rohmer in high regard. A complex but naturally funny character. PO'N
Glee
9pm, E4
Glee Clubbers New Directions may have failed to win the regionals, but they, like, totally found themselves. Now they're back for a second series, in which reason-to-keep-watching Sue Sylvester is rattled by the arrival of a new coach ("a female football coach, like a male nurse – sin against nature") and teams up with Will to push her out. But their uneasy truce quickly falls apart, amid renditions of Empire State Of Mind, Telephone and Listen. Glee hasn't lost any of its preachiness, but it has enough singing – and enough Sue – for you to stick with it for now. RN
Tool Academy
10pm, E4
Rick Edwards presents a 100-minute opener to a more sedate UK version of the shrill US reality series. Some stupid men are tricked into thinking they're competing for the title of Britain's Ultimate Lad. But really their girlfriends have enrolled them in a fake "academy" in which they have learn to be less awful than they currently are. There's a stoner, a fake-tan addict and one with anger issues. The couples compete for prize money and the chance to air their dirty linen with therapist Dr Sandra Scott on television – because obviously that's the best thing for a rocky relationship. JNR
