Saturday’s TV tips
Clumsy young Viking boy Hiccup dreams of following in his warrior father’s footsteps and protecting his village from marauding dragons, but his dad isn’t sure he’s up to the job.
Hiccup gets a chance to prove his worth when he finds a small dragon in the woods, but can’t quite bring himself to slay the defenceless creature and ends up befriending it instead.
In the process, he starts to realise that the flying lizards are much misunderstood, and could even be potential allies.
This is easily one of the best animated fantasies of the last four years, boasting great animation, engaging characters and a huge heart.
It helps that Toothless is a genuine movie star who steals every scene he’s in. Most A-list action directors could learn a lot from that breathtaking third act.
Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig
After his sterling work in making minor continuity errors sound like film-ruining catastrophes in Great Movie Mistakes, Robert Webb has clearly become a top choice for narrating documentaries that string together a selection of old clips.
He’s at it again in this entertaining raid on the TV archives, which unearths the small-screen debuts of some of our best-loved celebrities.
While the footage may sometimes be embarrassing, some of the stars featured are happy to talk about it – Alexander Armstrong shares the bare facts about his own TV beginnings, Will Mellor reminisces about the days when he was paid in chocolate bars, and Casualty actor Derek Thompson confronts his folk-singing past.
Bradley Cooper, Michael McIntyre, Martin Freeman, Nigella Lawson, Freddie Flintoff and Katy Perry are also featured, and there’s a glimpse of a certain Australian housewife when she was still a shy and retiring superstar in waiting...
Impossible Missions agent Ethan Hunt is assigned to retrieve and destroy the supply of a genetically created disease called Chimera before it falls into the hands of a gang of international terrorists intent on infecting the world.
As part of the perilous assignment, the super-spy attempts to infiltrate the group, headed by one his disillusioned former colleagues, but has to turn to Nyah, a cunning female thief, to help him.
Action director John Woo has never let realism get in the way of a cracking adventure, and here he pushes Cruise and company to their limits in a blockbuster boasting great stunts and breathtaking spectacle.
Some scenes with Dougray Scott are bad, but it scarcely matters. This is great fun, which is easier to follow than the first movie. However, the third instalment was even better.
Starring: Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton, Richard Roxburgh, Anthony Hopkins
We take a look back at the exciting story of The X Factor’s current winner in this one-off TV3 special. We follow their tremendous journey from the very first audition to the live finals.
Finally we will see them in the days following the final after becoming the newest pop sensation.
Shane Richie obviously likes being busy.
Not content with being on our screens four nights in week in EastEnders, he’s also found time to go back to his light-entertainment roots, hosting quiz show The Reflex earlier this year, and now he’s back for this new series.
The star will be ushering two contestants along, as they pick a selection of dream prizes to make up their personal wish lists, all of which have a connection to their shared history together.
However, the tough part then comes when the duo face categories of questions in an attempt to win their chosen items, and while it might look easy enough from the comfort of your armchair, things are a lot different when you’re stood under the cold hard stare of the studio lights...
It’s one of the most downloaded shows on the planet – a series which has proved you don’t need to be a car fan to enjoy the often stunning challenges of three middle-aged blokes getting to drive dream motors, take part in death-defying challenges and muck about like an episode of Last of the Summer Wine.
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have caused a certain amount of ontroversy in the past, but the show created a right kerfuffle in Argentina because of a registration plate that drew links to the Falklands War.
The lads’ latest mission is to take three used V8-engined sports cars 1,600 miles through Patagonia. The Porsche 928, Lotus Esprit and Ford Mustang are the vehicles of choice, but they clearly weren’t designed to withstand swamps, deserts, forests, beaches and ski slopes.
The three amigos are off to Ushuaia, the world’s southernmost city. There they hope to stage a car football game against an Argentine team, but get far more than they bargained for.
This hilarious, heart-warming Irish classic was adapted by award-winning Irish author Roddy Doyle from his bestselling novel and stars Irish Golden Globe nominee Colm Meaney and Tina Kellegher.
When the oldest daughter of a large, boisterous, close-knit Dublin family announces her unexpected pregnancy, everyone wants to know who is the father of the ‘snapper’ she is carrying.
Her refusal to name him sends the entire town into a frenzy of gossip and speculation. Her family are supportive, but when the guilty man owns up it causes an escalating crisis that is as traumatic as it is amusing.
Colm Meaney, Tina Kellegher, Ruth McCabe
The Britain’s Got Talent finalist is promising big things from his one-off TV special: some things we’ve never seen before, some things we’ll never see again, and some things you have to see to believe.
Blimey – here’s hoping he can pull that little lot off, although having seen him in action on the talent show, you wouldn’t bet against him achieving all three.
Christine Bleakley presents the programme, which was filmed at Blackpool’s Opera House.
“I’ve spent every waking moment putting together what I promise will be an unforgettable experience,” says Darcy. “Working with the team at ITV Studios has been incredible and we are not holding anything back with this show!”
As well as carrying out illusions in the Opera House itself, he will take to the streets of Blackpool to boggle the minds of those he meets, before trying something that hasn’t been attempted in public for 100 years.
Eoghan McDermot fronts another rollicking romp through the top 20 showbiz, news and sports stories of 2014, aided and abetted by a smattering of famous faces, some of whom made the headlines that they’ll actually be talking about!
Panti will ponder about being catapulted to international prominence after her controversial appearance on The Saturday Night Show. But how prominent will her story be in the top 20?
And after its most successful season yet, Love/Hate’s Janet (aka Mary Murray) muses about the memorable moments from series 5 including her own gruesome and grisly end. Did it grip us enough to finish in the top five?
Other names such as Jennifer Maguire, Bressie, Vogue Williams and Bernard O’Shea will be giving their take on missing planes, retiring sports stars, soccer players who pack a punch with a bite, honeymooning Hollywood heavy hitters and why buckets of water gave us some liquid gold.
Baltimore detective Emmett Fields investigates a double murder in a supposedly locked room, where one girl’s body is discovered wedged in the chimney flue.
He recognises the similarity to a heinous crime described in lurid detail in a collection of short stories by Edgar Allan Poe.
So Fields approaches the writer, a solitary figure who wanders the city streets.
When a second victim is slain and the perpetrator targets Poe’s sweetheart Emily, the writer gladly accepts the challenge.
Punctuated by scenes of explicit gore including the cleaving of one heavily bound victim by a giant pendulum blade, this is suspenseful and tautly paced, drawing inspiration from the same well of misery as Se7en.
Screenwriters Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare splice fact with blood-spattered fiction. However, the meat and gristle of The Raven is pure ludicrous invention.
If you can ignore the inconsistencies, this is an engagingly disturbing journey to the dark side of human nature. Just a pity about the late time slot.
John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Kevin McNally, Brendan Gleeson, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Pam Ferris
