Mayflies
9pm, BBC One
This beautifully told two-part story is an adaptation of Andrew O’Hagan’s 2020 novel, delicately tackling male friendship, loyalty and grief. When Tully Dawson (Tony Curran) tells his best pal Jimmy (Martin Compston) that he has terminal cancer, the two men reminisce over old times growing up in a working-class coastal town near Glasgow during the 80s. Curran is deeply moving as a man who refuses to let death have the last laugh, with Ashley Jensen as his firecracker wife Anna. With plenty of flashbacks brimming with rebellious teen spirit and a soundtrack of New Order and the Smiths, it’s a nostalgic and poignant watch for the quieter days of the festive period. Hollie Richardson
Dogs in the Wild: Meet the Family
8pm, BBC One
Meet the canids, a global family with 37 members, including wolves, foxes, jackals and dogs. While the domestic breeds have been part of human households since Paleolithic times, their wild cousins are less familiar. In this three-part series Chris Packham makes some introductions and the cute, big-eared fennec fox is an instant favourite. Ellen E Jones
Vienna Blood
9pm, BBC Two
The wonderfully evocative period sleuther concludes with a juicy case: a film star is in attendance at a glitzy premiere, then spoils it by dying of poisoning during the screening. She’s an old patient of Max’s, but her backstory is even richer than it looks and the investigation leads into the darker corners of turn-of-the-century Austrian politics. Jack Seale
Jon and Lucy’s Party of the Year
9pm, Channel 4
Jon Richardson and Lucy Beaumont call on their celebrity pals for a boozy bonanza in the run-up to the new year. Romesh Ranganathan, Judi Love and Tom Allen join in the merriness, which involves challenging a Lioness to do a TikTok and strapping one of their hosts to a spinning wheel. Hollie Richardson
New Amsterdam
9pm, Sky Witness
Abortion rights are in the spotlight in the first of tonight’s double-bill of this medical drama. As a patient faces a pregnancy that puts her life in danger, she finds herself turning to staff about what options she has in the light of the supreme court decision. Don’t expect it to make the US judiciary look great. Alexi Duggins
Rosie Molloy Gives Up Everything
10pm, Sky Comedy
Rosie (Sheridan Smith) continues her spectacularly scattergun efforts to clean up her act and kick her habits, this time ditching rehab to hang out with a hippy couple who run a mobile drug-dealing empire before accidentally uncovering a family secret. Smith is such an empathic screen presence that it’s hard not to root for her. Katie Rosseinsky
Film choice
Heat (Michael Mann, 1995) 10.30pm, BBC Two
Michael Mann’s honed thriller is a study in contrasts, embodied in Robert De Niro’s thief and Al Pacino’s LA cop. De Niro’s Neil is fastidious and emotionally distant; Pacino’s Vincent is instinctive and passionate. However, they are both obsessive about their work, which makes this film’s cat-and-mouse plot zing, as Neil plans his next job while contending with antagonistic criminal elements and Vincent’s dogged pursuit. The big acting beasts of their age, De Niro and Pacino make the most of their first film on screen together in a tale enamoured of the minutiae of both the heist and its investigation. Simon Wardell
Live sport
Premier League football: Leeds v Manchester City 8pm, Amazon Prime Video. Top scorer Erling Haaland visits Elland Road.
