TV tonight: more excruciating trials of middle-class motherhood

Anna Maxwell-Martin is back as harried Julia in the school gate sitcom Motherland. Plus: Three Families begins. Here’s what to watch this evening

Motherland

9pm, BBC Two

Fresh from her star turn as the menacing Patricia Carmichael in Line of Duty, Anna Maxwell-Martin dons an altogether more empathetic guise as harried working mother Julia for the third season of the hit sitcom about the trials of middle-class motherhood. Finding herself cut off from the other mums, Julia tries to win back their favour by hosting a nit treatment party. While the combs are out, Amanda (Lucy Punch) gossips about Kevin’s potential divorce and Liz (Diane Morgan) waits to hear back about a job. Ammar Kalia

Between the Covers

7.30pm, BBC Two

Sara Cox is the perfect fantasy book club host, kicking off this new series with guests Oti Mabuse, Mel Giedroyc, Rick Edwards and Griff Rhys-Jones. Their recent “big hitter” up for discussion is The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett, and there’s a new recommendation to add to the neglected bedside table pile. Hannah Verdier

The Great Northern Garden Build

8pm, BBC Two

Trowels and tribulations: in 2017 work began on RHS Garden Bridgewater, transforming a Victorian estate outside Manchester into one of the biggest showcase gardens in Europe. This two-part series goes behind the scenes of the ambitious project and its challenges. Graeme Virtue

Three Families

9pm, BBC One

Sinéad Keenan in Three Families
On trial … Theresa (Sinéad Keenan) finds herself on the wrong side of the abortion law in Three Families. Photograph: Stefan Hill/BBC/Studio Lambert

Set from 2013 to 2019 and based on true stories, this two-part drama tells the story of three women who are affected by the UK’s 1967 Abortion Act, which then did not extend to Northern Ireland. We open as single mum Sinéad Keenan finds herself on trial for providing chemicals that could induce miscarriages. AK

Inside No 9

9.30pm, BBC Two

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton’s horror-comedy anthology returns for a sixth series. We open with a typically sharp spoof of a Tarantino-esque diamond heist, mixed up in a masked commedia dell’arte, all including a heavy dose of breaking the fourth wall – or “Fleabagging” as one character aptly puts it. AK

Jabbed! Inside Britain’s Vaccine Triumph

10pm, Channel 4

A cynic might wonder if the secret was keeping associates of Matt Hancock well away from it. But there is more to Britain’s vaccine rollout than that. The early acquisition of untried vaccines appears to have been a successful gamble – and then came a huge NHS effort, recounted here. Phil Harrison

Film choice

Zain Al Rafeea as 12-year-old Zain in Capernaum
Zain Al Rafeea as 12-year-old Zain in Capernaum. Photograph: Lifestyle pictures//Alamy

Capernaum (Nadine Labaki, 2018), 11.40pm, Film4

Nadine Labaki’s clear-eyed drama – a Cannes winner – follows a malnourished but defiant boy, Zain (a remarkable Zain Al Rafeea), as he struggles with poverty in Beirut, Lebanon. He’s in prison for a stabbing and is suing his parents for neglect; flashbacks reveal the harsh events that brought him to such a state. Simon Wardell

Live sport

World Cup of Pool, 12noon, Sky Sports Main Event
Day two coverage from Milton Keynes.
Netball: Loughborough Lightning v Surrey Storm, 5pm, Sky Sports Main Event
Superleague match from Copper Box Arena.

Premier League Football: Fulham v Burnley, 7pm, Sky Sports Main Event
Live from Craven Cottage.


Contributors

Ammar Kalia, Hannah Verdier, Graeme Virtue, Phil Harrison and Simon Wardell

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