TV tonight: Davina McCall’s ‘middle-aged Love Island’ is here

But there’s much more to it than you’d expect. Plus: the truth about ballet schools, and Starstruck concludes. Here’s what to watch this evening

My Mum, Your Dad

9pm, ITV1

Davina McCall insists that her new dating show, despite being originally pitched as a “middle-aged Love Island”, is more than just mugging off, icks and head turns. Over 10 episodes, eight single parents in their late 40s and 50s look for love again in a country mansion, while – unbeknown to them – their children observe the romantic happenings from a nearby bunker. Sure, everybody here is incredibly attractive, as they are in the Love Island villa. But there is added heart and wisdom, with genuine connections and people really worth rooting for. And don’t worry: there is also enough drama and nervous tension to keep it from being a total schmaltzfest. Hollie Richardson

Laura Kuenssberg: State of Chaos

9pm, BBC Two

The BBC’s former political editor can’t complain about a boring career: she has seen the Brexit referendum, scandalous resignations, a pandemic and three prime ministers in a single year. In this three-parter, she asks: has our politics been stretched to breaking point and can it ever be normal again? HR

Panorama investigates ballet schools
Walking on eggshells … Panorama investigates ballet schools. Photograph: BBC

Panorama: The Dark Side of Ballet Schools

8pm, BBC One

To be filed under “disturbing but not surprising”, this investigation looks at two elite ballet schools in London and Birmingham, hearing allegations from former pupils who say they were pressured into staying a certain weight even when puberty made this difficult. Eating disorders and mental health problems were, it’s claimed, the result. Jack Seale

Top Guns: Inside the RAF

9pm, Channel 4

This detailed observational documentary reveals Britain’s fighter pilots to be a sensible lot. They don’t go in for any of the airborne peacocking that Maverick and Goose indulged in. And just as well, because high over Syria, young pilot Buzz is encountering a Russian aircraft, just as his wingman suffers a cockpit emergency. Ellen E Jones

Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty

9pm, Sky Atlantic

The turbulent basketball story continues to work as a human melodrama and a potted social history of the 80s. The Lakers have got what they wanted: everybody hates and fears them in equal measure. But with vulnerabilities showing after a series of defeats, can they handle the challenge presented by the Boston Celtics? Phil Harrison

Starstruck

10pm, BBC Three

The more single Rose Matafeo’s Jessie gets, the more interesting she becomes, which makes this the best Starstruck season yet. But will Tom throw her off course in the last two episodes? Jessie has a lonely but eventful 33rd birthday to contend with as Tom puts the finishing touches to his wedding plans, but inevitably the two collide. Hannah Verdier

Joan Crawford and Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
Best of enemies … Joan Crawford and Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Photograph: Aldrich

Film choice

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich, 1962), 11.15pm, BBC Two

Golden age film icons Bette Davis and Joan Crawford brought their long-running rivalry to life in Robert Aldrich’s glorious, pugnacious melodrama. Davis plays Jane, once a child star known as “the Diminutive Dancing Duse from Duluth”; Crawford is Blanche, whose adult Hollywood career surpassed that of her sister – until a suspicious car crash left her in a wheelchair. Years later, the kindly Blanche is stuck upstairs in her house at the mercy of an increasingly delusional and violent Jane, played to the edge and way, way beyond by Davis. Simon Wardell

Contributors

Phil Harrison, Ellen E Jones, Hollie Richardson, Jack Seale, Hannah Verdier, Simon Wardell

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