Best films to watch on TV today, tonight and this week
Whatever your taste, there's a movie on for everyone.

While there are so many streaming sites that boast a seemingly endless collection of movies, isn't it great when you stumble across an absolute classic whilst browsing the TV guide?
If you're wondering where to find some of the best films, both old and new, on the terrestrial channels this week, then we've got you sorted with our picks for the next seven days.
Sponsored
Bring the cinema home with Sky Cinema
Upgrade now for just £11 a month to enjoy blockbusters like The Suicide Squad, Peter Rabbit 2 and Godzilla vs Kong, alongside a selection of festive flicks like A Boy Called Christmas and Elf – all from the comfort of your own home.
Whether it's a classic Western like The Searchers or a recent animated favourite like Coco, there's a flick for everyone on the telly this week.
With so many amazing films airing, we've compiled a list of the best flicks for you to choose from.
Friday 20th May
Bluebeard - 2:35pm, Talking Pictures TV
A mysterious strangler stalks the women of Paris, killing them and throwing their bodies in the Seine. Thriller, starring John Carradine, Jean Parker and Ludwig Stossel. Read our full review
Basic Instinct - 9pm, Great Movies
Erotic thriller starring Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone. After a former rock star is brutally murdered with an ice pick, San Francisco detective Nick Curran interviews Catherine Tramell, the star's novelist girlfriend, whose last book contained an identical killing. Curran, who is trying to reform his excessive lifestyle with the help of a police psychologist, soon becomes dangerously involved with his key suspect. Read our full review
Bringing Out the Dead - 9:05pm, Talking Pictures TV
Drama starring Nicolas Cage and Patricia Arquette. Over the course of three night shifts, burnt-out New York paramedic Frank Pierce becomes increasingly attracted to Mary, the daughter of a heart attack victim. But he is still haunted by visions of Rose, a young girl whose life he failed to save. Read our full review
The Fast and the Furious - 10:45pm, ITV
Action thriller starring Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. When illegal street racer Dominic Toretto is suspected of being the mastermind behind a series of truck hijacks, undercover police officer Brian O'Conner is sent to infiltrate his gang. But O'Conner's judgement becomes clouded when he falls in love with Toretto's sister, Mia. Read our full review
Saturday 21st May
Eddie The Eagle - 4:40pm, Film4
Sports drama based on a true story, starring Hugh Jackman and Taron Egerton. As athletes assemble in Calgary for the 1988 Winter Olympics the dreams are of gold medals and broken records. But an irrepressible ski jumper from the Great Britain team will make headlines and capture hearts around the world for an entirely different reason. Read our full review
Back to the Future Part II - 5:55pm, ITV2
Sequel to the time-travelling comedy adventure, starring Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd. Barely back to 1985 after his original jaunt, Marty McFly is whisked forward to 2015, along with his girlfriend Jennifer, by "Doc" Brown. Marty's mission this time is to prevent a crime involving his teenage son before he disgraces the whole of the McFly family. Read our full review
Zombieland: Double Tap - 9:20pm, Channel 4
Horror comedy starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin. Five years after they met, makeshift family Tallahassee, Columbus, Wichita and Little Rock are living a comfortable apocalyptic life in the abandoned White House. When friction arises within the group, Wichita and Little Rock fly the coop, prompting Tallahassee and Columbus to head back into the zombie wasteland to look for them. Read our full review
Crazy Rich Asians - 10:20pm, BBC One

Romantic comedy starring Constance Wu, Henry Golding and Michelle Yeoh. New Yorker Rachel Chu travels to Singapore with her partner, Nick, for a friend's wedding, and discovers that Nick's family is hugely wealthy. They also expect him to remain in Singapore to inherit their hotel business - a plan that, as Nick's imperious mother Eleanor makes quite clear, does not involve Rachel. Read our full review
Taken - 10:40pm, ITV
Action drama starring Liam Neeson as former CIA operative Bryan Mills, who calls upon his tried-and-tested skills in a race-against-time bid to rescue his daughter from the sex traffickers who have kidnapped her during a holiday in France. Read our full review
Sunday 22nd May
Coco - 2:05pm, BBC One
Animated adventure featuring the voices of Anthony Gonzalez and Gael García Bernal. A young boy wants nothing more than to become a musician, but his family forbids him from pursuing his dreams. When he plays a guitar hanging in the crypt of a famous singer, the boy is transported to the magical Land of the Dead, where he embarks on a quest to uncover the truth about his roots. Read our full review
The Queen - 7pm, ITV3
Oscar-winning historical drama, starring Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II and Michael Sheen as Prime Minister Tony Blair. Following the death of Princess Diana in 1997, the royal family struggles to acknowledge the nation's unprecedented display of collective grief. As old-fashioned royal protocol begins to crumble, the newly elected Labour government seeks a solution to the mounting crisis. Read our full review
Air Force One - 9pm, Great Movies
Action thriller starring Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman and Glenn Close. US President James Marshall, along with his wife and daughter, is returning home from Russia on the presidential plane when it is hijacked by Russian terrorists. Their leader, Ivan Korshunov, demands the release of an imprisoned general or else he will kill a passenger every half hour. Read our full review
Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool - BBC Two
Story of the real-life romance between ageing Hollywood star Gloria Grahame and young Liverpudlian actor Peter Turner, whose family looked after Grahame when she became ill. Read our full review
Monday 23rd May
Silverado - 6:25pm, Great Movies
Sleeping with the Enemy - 9pm, Great Movies
An emotionally abused wife fakes her own death to escape her violent, obsessional husband. She moves to a new town and starts a new life under an assumed identity. However, her brutal spouse realises she is still alive and resolves to hunt her down. Thriller, starring Julia Roberts, Patrick Bergin, Kevin Anderson and Elizabeth Lawrence. Read our full review
The Revenant - 11pm, ITV4

Oscar-winning historical adventure starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. Rural Missouri in the 1820s: frontiersman and fur trapper Hugh Glass acts as a guide for a hunting party when the men are attacked by a local tribe. The survivors head for Fort Kiowa but on the way, Glass is savagely mauled by a bear. Although left for dead and severely injured, Glass is determined to make it back to the fort and have his revenge. But ahead of him lies hundreds of miles of tough terrain, bitter cold, and murderous tribesmen. Read our full review
Tuesday 24th May
The Searchers - 6:30pm, TCM
Classic western starring John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter and Natalie Wood. John Ford's masterpiece tells the story of Ethan Edwards and his five-year search for the last surviving member of his murdered family - a young girl captured by Comanches. Read our full review
Casino Royale - 9pm, ITV4
Spy adventure starring Daniel Craig in his first appearance as 007. James Bond is awarded his licence to kill and sets off in pursuit of Le Chiffre, a corrupt banker who finances terrorism. Realising that the desperate Le Chiffre needs to win big on the gaming tables of Montenegro to pay off a dangerous client, Bond formulates a plan to ruin him in a high-stakes poker game. Read our full review
Sicario - 9pm, Film4
Crime thriller starring Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro. With the war between Mexican drug cartels and the American authorities becoming increasingly vicious, highly regarded FBI agent Kate Macer is sent to join an operation to bring down one of the more ruthless gangs. But Kate soon learns that her by-the-book approach to the job might not work in a world where nothing is quite as it seems. Read our full review
Wednesday 25th May
The Narrow Margin - 1:05pm, Great Movies Classic
Star Trek: Generations - 6:45pm, Film4
Science-fiction adventure starring Patrick Stewart and featuring William Shatner. When an evil alien threatens to destroy a star system along with millions of lives, Captain Jean-Luc Picard travels into a time vortex to enlist the help of his famous predecessor, James T Kirk. Read our full review
Cathy Come Home - 10pm, BBC Four
Ken Loach's celebrated gritty drama, which indirectly inspired the founding of housing charity Shelter. It tells the tale of Cathy, who loses her home, husband and eventually her child through the inflexibility of the British welfare system. Carol White and Ray Brooks star. Read our full review
Thursday 26th May
The Man Who Would Be King - 1:15pm, Film4
Adventure based on a story by Rudyard Kipling, starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine. In 1880s India, two impoverished former British army soldiers make plans to travel to the remote wilderness of Kafiristan, where they intend to establish themselves as rulers. But their journey is fraught with difficulties. Read our full review
Suspicion - 9pm, BBC Four
Oscar-winning psychological thriller starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine. Shy Lina McLaidlaw marries handsome man-about-town Johnnie Aysgarth, but her happiness slowly becomes tainted with the fear that her charming husband is not all that he seems. Read our full review
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood - 9:00pm, Film4

Faded television actor Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth strive to hang on to their careers during the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles. As they navigate a changing film industry they barely recognise any more, they are drawn into the orbit of both ill-fated rising star Sharon Tate, and Charles Manson and his cult of zealous followers. Drama from director Quentin Tarantino, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Timothy Olyphant and Al Pacino. Read our full review
Full Metal Jacket - 9pm, TCM
Stanley Kubrick's war drama starring Matthew Modine and Adam Baldwin. After a gruelling eight weeks of extensive training and military induction under the sadistic rule of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, a disparate group of US Marines faces real combat in Vietnam. Read our full review
Friday 27th May
They Live by Night - 1:05pm, Great Movies Classic
Romantic film noir starring Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell. An innocent young convict breaks free from jail in the company of two hardened criminals and is injured in a car accident. Recovering in a darkened hide-out, he is nursed back to health by a young woman and the two fall in love. But their new-found happiness is to be short-lived. Read our full review
Passport to Pimlico - 6:15pm, Talking Pictures TV
Bridget Jones's Baby - 11:00pm, Channel 5
Romantic comedy starring Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth and Patrick Dempsey. Forty-something Bridget is still viewing life through a glass of Chardonnay and getting on with being single until life takes a twist when she discovers she's pregnant. All she has to do now is find out who the father is. Read our full review
Desperately Seeking Susan - 11:40pm, BBC One
Screwball comedy thriller starring Rosanna Arquette, Madonna and Aidan Quinn. Married and bored in New Jersey, Roberta happens upon a series of personal ads in the paper, through which lovers Susan and Jim communicate. When Roberta spies on the couple reuniting in a park in Manhattan, she discovers Susan is in serious trouble, and soon finds herself catapulted into a world of nightclubs, magic shows and murder. Read our full review
If you have Netflix we have rounded up the best movies on Netflix, the best series on Netflix to watch now and Disney+ viewers check out our best movies on Disney Plus guide. Amazon? We have the best movies on Amazon Prime. Wondering what to watch on TV? Visit our TV Guide.
The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now – Subscribe now and get the next 12 issues for only £1. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times Podcast with Jane Garvey.
Try 12 issues for £1
Join thousands of happy subscribers and start your Radio Times weekly magazine subscription today for just £1