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

And this time out, we have another varied list for you, with everything from acclaimed French drama Petite Maman to classic '80s comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles – so there really is something for everyone.

With so many amazing films airing, we've compiled a list of the best flicks for you to choose from below.

Friday 17th November

Tomorrow - 10:40am, Talking Pictures TV

A lonely farmer in backwoods Mississippi takes in a pregnant drifter, who has been abandoned by the father of her child. Drama, starring Robert Duvall and Olga Bellin. Read our full review

Darkman - 9pm, Film4

Fantasy horror starring Liam Neeson and Frances McDormand. When scientist Peyton Westlake is hideously disfigured by a vicious gangster, he plots an ingenious revenge using his invention of synthetic skin. Read our full review

The Dirty Dozen - 10pm, Channel 5

Second World War adventure starring Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. Major Reisman's mission to lead a covert operation behind enemy lines and destroy a specified target is a tough one; especially when his team is to be made up of 12 prisoners convicted for murder, robbery and other violent crimes. Read our full review

Pretty Woman - 11:40pm, BBC One

Romantic comedy starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. A chance encounter on the streets of Hollywood leads wealthy corporate raider Edward Lewis into hiring beautiful prostitute Vivian Ward to be his companion for a week. As Edward introduces Vivian to the privileged world of the rich and powerful, romance begins to blossom. Read our full review

Saturday 18th November

Into the Woods - 10am, BBC Two

Musical fantasy starring Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and James Corden. A baker and his wife wish for a family, but have been cursed by a witch to be childless unless they find four items for her. During their search they cross paths with Jack, Cinderella, Rapunzel and Red Riding Hood, who also have wishes to be fulfilled. Read our full review

Contact – 1:30pm, 5 Star

Science-fiction drama starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey. Research specialist Dr Eleanor Arroway firmly believes in extraterrestrial life. So when she receives an alien message from a distant star, which reveals plans to make a space craft, she wants to be the first to make "contact". Read our full review

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoneix - 5:30pm, ITV1

Fantasy adventure starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. Despite having battled Voldemort in person, Harry Potter cannot convince the wizarding world of the evil lord's return. Inspired by his friends in the secret Order of the Phoenix, Harry forms an underground army at Hogwarts in preparation for battle with the forces of evil. Read our full review

Sneakers - 9pm, Legend

Security experts are blackmailed into stealing a sophisticated computer hacking device from its inventor. After the mission, they discover they have stolen something very dangerous and placed it in the wrong hands - so plot to steal it back. Comedy thriller, starring Robert Redford, Ben Kingsley, Dan Aykroyd, River Phoenix, Sidney Poitier, Mary McDonnell and David Strathairn. Read our full review

X+Y – 12:40am, BBC One

Drama starring Asa Butterfield, Rafe Spall and Sally Hawkins. Teenager Nathan Ellis is socially awkward and shy but he's also a maths whizz. So when Nathan gets into the Maths Olympiad and travels to Taiwan, a life-changing experience unfolds in more ways than one. Read our full review

Sunday 19th November

Dark Victory - 12:45pm, BBC Two

Melodrama starring Bette Davis. Long Island heiress Judith Traherne has a jet-setting lifestyle revolving around her thoroughbred horses. Plagued by headaches, she is persuaded to visit eminent brain specialist Dr Frederick Steele, who advises that only an immediate operation can save her. Read our full review

Mamma Mia! - 4:30pm, ITV1

Musical romantic comedy featuring the music of Abba, and starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan. On an idyllic Greek island, young Sophie Sheridan prepares to marry the man of her dreams. But a problem looks set to blight the big day as the bride doesn't know who her father is. So Sophie sends out invitations to three men who might fit the bill, hoping to solve the riddle once her guests arrive. Read our full review

Logan Lucky - 4:40pm, Great Movies

Comedy caper directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver and Daniel Craig. Two down-on-their-luck brothers decide to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. In order to pull off the job, they need the help of explosives expert Joe Bang - but first they must break him out of prison. Read our full review

The Day After Tomorrow - 5:45pm, Channel 4

Disaster movie from Independence Day director Roland Emmerich, starring Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal. When climatologist Jack Hall tries to warn Washington that the planet is facing an imminent, catastrophic climate shift, government officials fail to take him seriously. But, when the Earth abruptly plunges into a new ice age, it soon becomes clear that the human race is facing extinction. Read our full review

Only You - 11:45pm, BBC Two

A chance meeting on New Year's Eve results in a passionate relationship between Spanish arts council worker Elena and PhD student Jake. The couple are seemingly made for each other and quickly move in together. But although they are soon ready to try for a family, Elena's biological clock is ticking. Romantic drama, starring Laia Costa and Josh O'Connor. Read our full review

Monday 20th November

Cover Girl - 11am, 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

The Nice Guys - 9pm, Great Movies

Crime comedy starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe. A burned-out PI is hired to investigate the death of a porn star but, while navigating the sleazy underbelly of 1970s Los Angeles, he collides with a violent enforcer. After they learn that a missing young woman could be in danger, the two men team up as the mystery develops into a full-blown conspiracy. Read our full review

Colette - 11:15pm, BBC Two

Biographical period drama starring Keira Knightley and Dominic West. In belle époque Paris, provincial girl Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette marries the rakish "Willy" and writes stories that are published under his name. When the novels become bestsellers, Willy's demands escalate, and Colette begins an affair with a Louisiana debutante. Read our full review

Tuesday 21st November

Cast a Dark Shadow - 12:35pm, Talking Pictures TV

A cunning murderer plans to kill his wife and get his hands on her inheritance - but discovers she is flat broke and sets his sights on bumping off a plucky barmaid instead. Crime thriller, starring Dirk Bogarde, Margaret Lockwood, Kay Walsh, Kathleen Harrison and Robert Flemyng. Read our full review

The Heist - 7:05pm, Great Movies

Comedy caper starring Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman and William H Macy. Three museum security guards conspire to retrieve the artworks they have grown to love when the pieces are sent for exhibition at another venue. But their plan quickly goes awry. Read our full review

Love & Mercy - 11:15pm, BBC Two

Biographical drama starring Paul Dano and John Cusack. While recording an album with his band, the Beach Boys, in the 1960s, singer Brian Wilson struggles with panic attacks that concern his bandmates. Later, in the 1980s, an older Wilson tentatively enters into a relationship with a Cadillac saleswoman, but his therapist's intense scrutiny threatens to derail the union before it gathers any momentum. Read our full review

Wednesday 22nd November

Arctic - 7:05pm, Great Action

A man is stranded in the freezing Arctic after a plane crash and desperately seeks rescue. One day he thinks salvation has come, but a disaster leaves him fighting not just for his own survival, but also that of another who is critically injured. Director Joe Penna's thriller, starring Mads Mikkelsen, Maria Thelma Smaradottir and Tintrinai Thikhasuk. Read our full review

Riders of Justice - 9pm, Film4

Markus, a deployed military man, has to go home to his teenage daughter, Mathilde, when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. It seems to be plain bad luck - but it turns out that it may have been a carefully orchestrated assassination. Action comedy drama, starring Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas. In Danish and Arabic. Read our full review

Elizebeth: the Golden Age - 11:25pm, BBC One

Historical drama, the sequel to Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen and Geoffrey Rush. Queen Elizabeth I is under pressure at both home and abroad to resolve the problem of her imprisoned Catholic cousin Mary. The matter gathers urgency following an assassination attempt on the Protestant monarch - and the realisation that King Philip of Spain is on the verge of invasion. Read our full review

Thursday 23rd November

Planes, Trains and Automobiles - 9pm, Film4

A stressed businessman just wants to make it home to spend Thanksgiving with his family. However, when his flight is forced to land miles from its destination, he finds himself sharing a disaster-strewn journey across America with an amiable but slobbish salesman. Comedy road movie, starring Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Robins, Kevin Bacon and Michael McKean. Read our full review

Final Cut - 10:05pm, BBC Four

Horror comedy starring Romain Duris and Bérénice Bejo. The shooting of a low-budget zombie movie is interrupted by the arrival of the actual undead, forcing its beleaguered crew and domineering director to adapt on the fly. Read our full review

Petite Maman - 12:55am, Film4

Fantasy drama starring Joséphine Sanz and Gabrielle Sanz. Eight-year-old Nelly joins her mother, Marion, in cleaning out the rural home of her recently deceased grandmother. When Nelly wanders into the woods, she befriends another child, also called Marion, and soon realises that they share a bond that transcends time. Read our full review

Friday 24th November

Kind Hearts and Coronets - 4:35pm, Film4

Classic Ealing comedy starring Dennis Price, Alec Guinness and Joan Greenwood. Louis Mazzini is whiling away the eve of his execution by working on his memoirs. Born the distant heir to a dukedom, he recalls his vow to avenge his wronged mother by planning the murder of all the members of her noble family who stood between him and the title he covets. Read our full review

Run Silent Run Deep - 5:20pm, Great Action

Second World War drama starring Burt Lancaster as Lieutenant Jim Bledsoe, who expects to take charge of the submarine Nerka. But the job is given to Commander Richardson (Clark Gable), who doesn't exactly instil confidence in the crew as his last submarine was sunk by the Japanese. Read our full review

Mary Queen of Scots - 11:05pm, BBC Two

Historical drama starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie. In 1561, young Catholic queen Mary returns to Scotland to reclaim her throne, which threatens the status of her cousin, Elizabeth, the Protestant queen of England. When Elizabeth attempts to intervene by sending English suitors up to Scotland, her plans backfire, and an increasingly vicious power struggle commences. Read our full review

Sleepy Hollow - 12:10am, Channel 4

Gothic horror fantasy starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. Unorthodox detective Ichabod Crane is sent to the village of Sleepy Hollow following a series of decapitations. However, his investigation is hampered by the locals' belief that the murders are being committed by the ghost of a headless horseman, and by his growing infatuation with the beautiful Katrina Van Tassel. 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.

Wondering what to watch on TV? Visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide.

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