Best films to watch on TV today, tonight and this week

There may be plenty of movies available on streaming platforms and being released weekly in cinemas, but nothing quite beats the feeling of finding a hidden gem while flicking through the TV.

With such a raft of options – old and new – to pick from this weekend, it can often feel like a bit of an insurmountable task to find one that really tickles your fancy. But that's where we come in to do the hard work for you, picking out some of the most stellar options available to tune into.

This weeks selection includes everything from Ridley Scott's Oscar-winning epic Gladiator, to Jean-Luc Godard's French New Wave classic Breathless and iconic '90s romcom Notting Hill. There's something for everyone and if you're wondering where to find some of the best films on the terrestrial channels this week, we've got you sorted.

Read on for an expertly compiled list of the best flicks airing across the next seven days.

Friday 28th November

It Should Happen to You - 2:40pm, Film4

Charming comedy starring Judy Holliday, Peter Lawford and Jack Lemmon in his feature debut. Struggling model Gladys Glover arrives in New York determined to make her fortune. When she sees an empty billboard she uses all her savings to buy the site and promote her name. Soon the whole city is talking about her, but an ambitious executive also has his eye on this prime location. Read our full review

The Bourne Ultimatum - 9pm, 5Star

Spy action thriller, starring Matt Damon, Julia Stiles and Joan Allen. When an article about a covert CIA operation appears in The Guardian, trained assassin Jason Bourne sets off for London to meet the journalist behind the exposé who may be able to shed light on Bourne's past. But his former employers are also on the trail with instructions to make sure that the meeting never happens. Read our full review

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation - 9pm, E4

Spy adventure starring Tom Cruise. After the CIA chief persuades a Senate committee to disband the Impossible Missions Force, Ethan Hunt and his team are forced to act covertly. Their mission is to thwart a shadowy organisation known as the Syndicate, a network of rogue operatives plotting a series of global terror attacks. Read our full review

Quartet - 11pm, BBC Two

Comedy drama based on Ronald Harwood's play, directed by Dustin Hoffman and starring Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay and Billy Connolly. At the Beecham House retirement home for opera singers, the occasion of Verdi's birthday is always marked by a special fundraising concert. But this year the arrival of one particular grande dame throws preparations into chaos as egos clash and old resentments surface. Read our full review

Saturday 29th November

Witness for the Prosecution - 12:50pm, BBC Two

Billy Wilder's screen adaptation of Agatha Christie's courtroom drama, starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton. Against the advice of his doctors, ailing barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts starts to take an interest in the case of murder suspect Leonard Vole, who is pursued by the police after the death of a rich widow. Read our full review

The Ipcress File - 2:45pm, BBC Two

Spy thriller starring Michael Caine. Intelligence agent Harry Palmer is plunged into the shabby and treacherous world of counter-espionage as he uncovers a bizarre "brain drain" among scientists. Nobody can be trusted and nothing is what it seems. Read our full review

Commando - 11:35pm, Channel 4

Action adventure starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Special Forces Colonel John Matrix retires to his mountain home and steadfastly refuses to return to active service. But when his daughter is kidnapped by South American revolutionaries, Matrix must undertake his most important mission - to rescue her. Read our full review

Apocalypse Now - 11:40pm, Film4

Epic war drama starring Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall. In Vietnam, war-weary Captain Willard is drawn into a nightmarish world when he is ordered to assassinate a rebel American officer, Colonel Kurtz, who has established his own private army deep in the Cambodian jungle. Read our full review

The Impossible - 11:50pm, BBC One

Drama based on a true story, starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts. The holiday of a lifetime in Thailand turns into a nightmare for a family separated by the deadly 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. With the area a devastated wasteland, the struggle begins to find out who has survived. Read our full review

Sunday 30th November

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken - 2:05pm, BBC One

Animated action adventure featuring the voices of Lana Condor and Toni Collette. A shy teenager finds herself torn between two worlds when she discovers she is descended from sea monsters. Read our full review

Skyfall - 8pm, ITV4

Spy adventure starring Daniel Craig as agent James Bond. When an operation to retrieve a computer hard drive containing the names of agents goes wrong, the authority of MI6 boss M comes under scrutiny. Her only ally seems to be Bond, who is assigned to track down the mastermind behind the theft. It's a mission that will reveal long-hidden secrets from M's and Bond's pasts. Read our full review

Mission: Impossible – Fallout - 9pm, E4

Action spy thriller starring Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson and Henry Cavill. Ethan Hunt is sent to Berlin to buy three stolen plutonium cores before a terrorist group can get a hold of them. But after a hostage crisis leads to the failure of the mission, Hunt is targeted by a CIA assassin who could derail the IMF for good. Read our full review

The Northman - 9pm, Film4

Historical action adventure starring Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman and Claes Bang. Viking nobleman Amleth spends years in exile, bent on pursuing revenge against his uncle Fjölnir, who murdered Amleth's father and married his mother, Gudrún. When he hears of Fjölnir's own exile into the Icelandic wilderness, Amleth spies his chance... Read our full review

Gladiator - 10pm, BBC Two

Period epic starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. Rome, the second century AD: dying emperor Marcus Aurelius chooses the city's beloved general, Maximus Decimus Meridius, as his successor - a decision that results in a bitter power struggle with Aurelius's son Commodus, who sentences Maximus and his family to death. The general escapes, but he and Commodus are destined to meet again. Read our full review

Monday 1st December

The Fallen Idol - 2:55pm, Film4

Thriller, based on a short story by Graham Greene, starring Ralph Richardson. The close friendship between a kind-hearted butler and an ambassador's young son is jeopardised when the butler is suspected of murdering his wife. Read our full review

Violent Night - 9pm, Film4

Action fantasy comedy starring David Harbour. It's Christmas Eve but Santa Claus is not feeling his usual cheery self plying his gift-giving trade in an increasingly cynical and materialistic age. However, when he arrives at the mansion of the super-rich Lightstones, just as ruthless mercenaries have taken the family hostage in order to rob their vault, he resolves to rescue them and hand out some season's beatings. Read our full review

The Hitch-Hiker - 10:05pm, Talking Pictures TV

Thriller starring Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy and William Talman, and directed by Ida Lupino. Family men Roy Collins and Gilbert Bowen set out on a fishing trip, but a hitch-hiker turns their holiday into a nightmare. Read our full review

Tuesday 2nd December

Cover Girl - 12:50pm, Film4

Musical comedy starring Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly and Phil Silvers. The career of a New York chorus girl takes off after she appears on a magazine cover. But her success causes problems in her love life. Read our full review

Breathless - 9:10pm, Talking Pictures TV

Jean-Luc Godard's celebrated first feature film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg. Speeding from Marseilles to Paris in a stolen car, Michel Poiccard is involved in a fracas with the police. Despite the danger, he lingers in the capital, held by his reckless attraction to an American girl. Read our full review

Inglourious Basterds - 10:45pm, Film4

Second World War action adventure directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring Brad Pitt. After a Jewish woman's family are slaughtered by the Nazis, she changes her identity and flees to Paris, only to come face to face with the man responsible for the massacre. Meanwhile, Lt Aldo Raine leads a guerrilla squad of Jewish Americans into occupied territory to carry out a series of raids on the enemy, earning a fearsome reputation in the process. Read our full review

Wednesday 3rd December

A Room with a View - 6:45pm, Film4

Period drama based on the novel by EM Forster, starring Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Denholm Elliott, Julian Sands and Daniel Day-Lewis. A young Englishwoman's first grand tour of Europe turns into an unexpectedly complicated journey of discovery. Arriving in Florence with her cousin as her chaperone, they take up their rooms at the Pensione Bertolini and begin to meet the other guests. Read our full review

Brighton Rock - 9pm, Talking Pictures TV

Crime drama based on Graham Greene's novel, starring Richard Attenborough, Hermione Baddeley and William Hartnell. Daily Messenger journalist Kolley Kibber arrives in Brighton, where his paper is offering a cash prize to the first member of the public to spot him. However, the members of a gang led by ruthless delinquent Pinkie Brown believe he murdered one of their number and are hot on his trail. Read our full review

Fury - 11:05pm, Film4

Second World War drama starring Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman and Shia LaBeouf. In the final days of the conflict, a young tank driver gets a baptism of fire when he joins a battle-hardened crew led by the uncompromising "Wardaddy". Read our full review

Thursday 4th December

Notting Hill - 6:35pm, Film4

Romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. An American film star bumps into a humble bookshop owner and they begin an unlikely affair. But their relationship is put under strain when the press finds out. Read our full review

This is England - 9pm, Film4

Drama set during the early 1980s, starring Thomas Turgoose and Stephen Graham. After losing his father in the Falklands War and being bullied at school, young Shaun Fields finds friendship with Woody and his gang of skinheads. But when an old friend of Woody's appears on the scene, the group's loyalties become divided. Read our full review

Boiling Point - 11:05pm, Film4

Drama starring Stephen Graham and Vinette Robinson, featuring Jason Flemyng. Head chef Andy Jones faces a build-up of problems - many of his own making - during one stressful night running his high-end London restaurant. Read our full review

Friday 5th December

Live Now – Pay Later - 5:50pm, Talking Pictures TV

A smooth-talking salesman persuades clients to spend beyond their means, while cheating on his wife and stealing from his boss. Comedy drama, starring Ian Hendry and June Ritchie. Read our full review

Die Hard - 9pm, Film4

Action thriller starring Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman. New York cop John McClane gets caught up in a terrorist plot after arriving in Los Angeles to spend Christmas with his estranged wife Holly and his two children. When Holly is taken hostage in the offices of the Japanese corporation she works for, McClane launches a daring rescue attempt. Read our full review

The Graduate - 11pm, BBC Two

Classic comedy drama starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft and Katharine Ross. Recent college graduate Benjamin Braddock returns home and discovers a new "tutor" in the attractive form of Mrs Robinson. The alcoholic, older married woman decides that Benjamin needs instruction in more physical matters following all those demands on his intellect. Then Benjamin meets Mrs Robinson's daughter Elaine... Read our full review

In the Earth - 12:10am, Film4

As the world searches for a cure to a disastrous virus, a scientist and park scout venture deep in the forest for a routine equipment run. Through the night, their journey becomes a terrifying voyage through the heart of darkness, the forest coming to life around them. Director Ben Wheatley's horror, starring Joel Fry and Reece Shearsmith. Read our full review

If you have Netflix, we have rounded up the best movies on Netflix and the best series on Netflix to watch now – and Disney Plus viewers can check out our best movies on Disney Plus guide. Got Prime Video? We also have the best movies on Amazon Prime.

Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.