TV tonight: cracking comedy pilot Perfect is worthy of a full series

It tackles the big issues facing wheelchair users and has some superb gags. Plus: a tribute to Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul. Here’s what to watch this evening

Perfect

10pm, Dave

“You spend your life proving how capable you are, then come here to do the exact opposite to get a few quid.” Georgia, Liam and Christopher are three friends who meet at a half-cocked work preparation programme for people on disability benefits. It not only addresses the issues faced by wheelchair users head-on, but is also a promising pilot for what could be a decent comedy series, crammed with cracking one-liners (see the one about Christopher calling his mum a “cock-blocker”). Hollie Richardson

Hobby Man

8pm, Channel 4

Joe Wilkinson is Alex Brooker’s companion this week, as the pastime odyssey visits south Wales. In a genial but inessential programme that is crying out to be half as long as it is – an hour, with adverts – the comedians make a good-natured mess of knitting, fly fishing and photography. Jack Seale

Aretha Franklin: A Tribute to the Queen of Soul at the Proms

8pm, BBC Four

Clara Amfo introduces what should be a beautiful and vibrant ode to the Queen of Soul, who died four years ago this month. The conductor Jules Buckley and the Quincy Jones protege Sheléa perform her hit songs at the Royal Albert Hall, including that anthem of the civil rights movement, Respect. HR

This Is My House

8.30pm, BBC One

Drama erupts this week as we go through the keyhole with Stacey Dooley, in the form of an argument between two contestants claiming to be the homeowner, Ellie. Will Shaun Ryder, Harry Hill, Judi Love and Richard Madeley be able to work out if one of them is telling the truth about the ex-council flat in the south side of Glasgow? HR

Jane Austen’s Sanditon

9pm, ITV

The season finale climaxes with dramatic resolutions. As Alison (Rosie Graham) gets ready to leave Sanditon after unexpected romantic developments, Georgiana (Crystal Clarke) and Esther (Charlotte Spencer) learn a shocking truth, while Charlotte (Rose Williams) reconsiders her future. Diyora Shadijanova

Digging for Treasure: Tonight

9pm, Channel 5

Real-life detectorists Dan Walker, Michaela Strachan, Raksha Dave and their team are hoping to unearth hidden history from a new location every week. In tonight’s opening episode, they are in Northallerton, North Yorkshire – a former stomping ground of Romans and Vikings. Ali Catterall

Film choices

Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman are outstanding in Paul Thomas Anderson’s occasionally discomforting comedy drama Licorice Pizza.
Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman are outstanding in Paul Thomas Anderson’s occasionally discomforting comedy drama Licorice Pizza. Photograph: Paul Thomas Anderson/MGM

Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2021), Amazon Prime Video
Anderson’s comedy-drama is a colourful slice of nostalgia, delighting in the passion and possibilities of youth. In 1973 Los Angeles, a relationship develops between 15-year-old actor and waterbed entrepreneur Gary (Cooper Hoffman, son of Philip Seymour) and mid-20s photographer’s assistant Alana (Alana Haim of sibling rock trio Haim). Despite the occasional discomfort of the age gap (picture this with the genders reversed), it’s a chaste romance, sweetly played by the two leads, which develops through a series of exquisite set-pieces – none more so than the delivery of a bed to notoriously furious Hollywood producer Jon Peters (a hilarious Bradley Cooper cameo). Simon Wardell

Galaxy Quest (Dean Parisot, 1999), 9pm, Film4
This affectionate parody of Star Trek picks fun at the excessive fandom surrounding sci-fi films and TV shows, while nodding towards the pigeonholing that the actors can face in the rest of their careers. It helps that it’s a quality cast – Tim Allen plays the Shatner-esque star of cancelled 80s series Galaxy Quest, who is contacted by aliens who believe the show is factual. Along with Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman (wonderfully sour in the Spock role), he is thrust into a real extraterrestrial war and must use all his thespian skill to defeat the enemy. SW

Contributors

Hollie Richardson, Jack Seale, Diyora Shadijanova, Ali Catterall and Simon Wardell

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