Top TV picks this weekend: Colin Farrell’s suave private eye could be hiding some secrets in ‘Sugar’

Friday

SUGAR

Apple TV+

Hired by a movie producer (James Cromwell) to track down his missing granddaughter, Colin Farrell’s super smooth, impeccably tailored private eye John Sugar is very much a man out of time as he glides around present-day Los Angeles in a beautiful vintage blue coupé, telling us, via an old-school voiceover, that he doesn’t care for violence while nonetheless inflicting plenty of it.

The fact that clips of old Hollywood noir thrillers keep flashing through his head tips you off that all might not be as it seems. Prepare for a big twist halfway through the eight episodes. The first two are available today, the rest weekly.

MANHUNT

Apple TV+

In episode five of the historical drama, Edwin Stanton (the terrific Tobias Menzies) is closing in on Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth (Anthony Boyle), but his health is rapidly deteriorating.

GIRLS STATE

Apple TV+

What would happen to democracy in the USA if the running of the country was left in the hands of teenage girls? This fascinating documentary focuses on a summer camp experiment designed to answer the question.

ALEX RIDER

Amazon Prime Video

The third and final season of the spy thriller starring Otto Farrant as the reluctant teenage secret agent hero of Anthony Horowitz’s bestselling YA novels.

HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU

BBC1, 9pm

The seemingly indestructible satirical panel show with Paul Merton and Ian Hislop returns for, astonishingly, its 67th run. Clive Myrie fills the guest host’s chair for the fifth time, while the guests include Jon Richardson.

AVOIDANCE

BBC1, 9.30pm

Return of the sitcom co-written by and starring the ubiquitous Romesh Ranganathan as the conflict-dodging Jonathan, who makes a disastrous attempt to win back Claire (Jessica Knappett) by donning Lycra for an impromptu performance at the school fundraiser.

BOXSET BINGE CHOICE: RIPLEY

Netflix

Andrew Scott is mesmerising in Steven Zaillian’s gripping adaptation of The Talented Mr Ripley, stunningly filmed in beautiful black and white.

Saturday

OUR DREAM FARM

Channel 4, 8pm

Presented by the amiable Matt Baker, this new series is a departure from the pap that usually dominates the reality show/competition genre.

Seven applicants compete for what those who know something about farming will recognise as a rare prize: the 10-year tenancy of a 340-acre, four-bedroom farm in Northumberland owned by Britain’s National Trust. A no-chancers zone.

TREASURES OF THE WORLD

Channel 4, 7pm

In the first of a new run, Professor Bettany Hughes explores the Adriatic Coast of Albania and unearths its forgotten role in history, which includes it once being the site of two thriving ancient Roman ports.

TRACES

BBC1, 9.25pm

In part two of the Scottish forensic crime drama, a second bomb attack puts pressure on McKinven and Gordon. Meanwhile, Emma and Daniel are on the brink of splitting after a terrible time in court.

THE JONATHAN ROSS SHOW

UTV/ITV1, 9.35pm

Ross’s guests this week are better than usual: Michael Palin, boxer Anthony Joshua and the irrepressible Lulu.

BOXSET BINGE CHOICE: BAND OF BROTHERS

Sky

If you liked Masters of the Air, you’ll love this superb 2001 miniseries, also from the Spielberg-Hanks stable, following the real exploits of the 101st Airborne Division’s “Easy” Company from 1942 through to the end of the war. Stars include Damian Lewis.

Sunday

THE DARKEST DAYS: ISRAEL-GAZA SIX MONTHS ON

BBC2, 9pm

Six months, tens of thousands dead, Gaza in ruins. In this one-off documentary, Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s chief international correspondent, ponders what can be done.

She looks at the conflict from both sides, hearing powerful eyewitness accounts from Israel and Gaza of the carnage and destruction.

MAMMALS

BBC1, 7pm

David Attenborough takes an often depressing look at how humans’ encroachment on wildlife habitats has forced animals such as cheetahs, wolves and otters to adapt.

EUROVISON SONG CONTEST 1974

BBC4, 8pm

Rerun of the competition’s 19th edition, staged in Brighton and won by Abba with Waterloo. An amusingly modest, clunky production by today’s standards.

PAUL O’GRADY’S GREAT ELEPHANT ADVENTURE

UTV/ITV1, 8pm

In the concluding part of O’Grady’s final documentary before his death, he falls in love with a 37-year-old elephant called Pun.

THIS TOWN

BBC1, 9pm

Ratings-wise, the news for Steven Knight’s six-part drama set against the rise of two-tone in Birmingham in the 1980s isn’t good. The first episode last Sunday drew a modest 2.1 million viewers; by Monday’s second instalment, a million had tuned out. Not all that surprising, frankly.

BOXSET BINGE CHOICE: SLOW HORSES

Apple TV+

Gary Oldman sparkles as malodorous spymaster Jackson Lamb in this cracking series. Seasons 1-3 are available now.