Saturday

Journey's End, BBC Two, 9pm

Based on RC Sherriff's classic 1928 play, which had already been filmed four times before, and made to coincide with the centenary of the end of the First World War, this powerful drama stars Asa Butterfield as the naive young Second Lieutenant Raleigh, who arrives on the front in the last year of the war. His commanding officer is Captain Stanhope (Sam Claflin), a family friends who was a few years ahead of Raleigh at school. The young soldier is looking forward to their reunion and the prospect of serving alongside him, only to find that the horrors of the trenches have left Stanhope a changed man. The impressive supporting cast includes Paul Bettany, Toby Jones and Stephen Graham.

Sunday

The Man Who Would Be King, Sunday, Film 4, 6.10pm

Tributes to the late Sean Connery have necessarily concentrated on the roles for which he’s best known – James Bond, which he played seven times between 1962 and 1983, and Jimmy Malone, from 1987’s The Untouchables, the film which won him his only Oscar. No arguments there. But what would the purists say was Connery’s best film? Probably not 1968 Western Shalako, in which he played alongside Brigitte Bardot, or 1974 sci-fi curio Zardoz. There are plenty of contenders, however, among them The Name Of The Rose, The Hunt For Red October, The Hill and Finding Forrester. But while each has its merits, they'd all have to get past this late, great offering from Hollywood legend John Huston.

Released in 1975 it stars Connery as Daniel Dravot and Michael Caine as Peachy Carnehan, two ex-soldiers turned roguish adventurers in 19th century India who find their way to the remote mountain kingdom of Kafiristan where Dravot is set up as a king and then taken for a deity, a fact which goes to his head somewhat. It’s based on Rudyard Kipling’s 1888 novella of the same name, which Huston had wanted to film for decades. He originally fancied Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable in the lead roles and later moved on to Robert Redford and Paul Newman – this was post-Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid – but Newman reportedly turned the role down with the words: “They’ve got to be English. Connery and Caine”.

Newman’s poor grasp of nationality aside, he pretty much nailed it. And so it was to Connery and Caine that Huston turned. “Thank God,” says esteemed film critic David Thomson in Have You Seen?, his survey of his thousand favourite films. “For once those two get together, the heart of the film is impregnable, and a natural boyish humour emerges.”

And how. Connery and Caine are on scintillating form, the camera work is fabulous, the backdrops are exquisite (Huston shot the film on location in France and Morocco) and there are endless pleasing touches both in the adaptation and the casting of the supporting actors. Rudyard Kipling appears as a character at the start (played by Christopher Plummer, who stepped in after Richard Burton pulled out) and there are winning roles for Saeed Jaffrey (as Billy Fish, an ex-Ghurka that Danny and Peachy fall in with) and Shakira Caine, Michael Caine’s wife, who plays Roxanne, the woman Danny falls hard for. The film was nominated for four Oscars including one for its sumptuous costumes, designed by the great Edith Head, the woman who put Audrey Hepburn into that iconic LBD in Breakfast At Tiffany’s. A great tribute to a great Scottish actor.

Monday

Charade, Talking Pictures, 10.20am

Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant make a delightful pairing in director Stanley Donen's hugely enjoyable romantic thriller, which mixes stylish Hitchcock-esque intrigue with screwball comedy touches. Regina Lambert (Hepburn) is considering divorcing her husband, but before she can break the news, she discovers that he's been murdered. What's more, it turns out he was involved in a $250,000 robbery - and his former accomplices think she can point them in the direction of the loot. Regina turns to a handsome stranger (Grant) for help, but can she really trust him? The impressive supporting cast includes Walter Matthau and James Coburn, but no one comes close to stealing Charade from the leads, who have such great chemistry, you're left wishing they had made more movies together.

Tuesday

Casino Royale, ITV4, 9pm

The James Bond franchise gets a tough and gritty overhaul, with Daniel Craig making his debut as 007. This time around, the secret agent is on the trail of Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), an international criminal planning to use a high-stakes poker game as a means of funding terrorist organisations across the world. This offering was huge success and had fans who had been sceptical about Craig's casting eating their words. Judi Dench is one of the very few constants between the Brosnan era and the dawning of Craig. She brings the same dry wit and gravitas to the role of M, dismayed at her fledgling agent's ability to bring her department into disrepute once again. Meanwhile, Mikkelsen is suitably creepy as the villain of the piece and Eva Green is memorable as 007's love interest, Vesper Lynd.

Wednesday

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, BBC Four, 10pm

Distinguished by an incendiary lead performance from Andy Serkis, this biopic of 1970s punk pioneer Ian Dury is every bit as unconventional and fantastical as the man himself. Within a mosaic of flashbacks, dream sequences and musical interludes, Dury is depicted as selfish, arrogant and foul-mouthed, ignoring the advice of loved ones to pursue his self-destructive course, which somehow includes a million-selling album and a UK number one single. Serkis does all his own singing, backed by the original Blockheads. He also lost two stone in preparation for the role. Bill Milner, Naomie Harris, Olivia Williams, Toby Jones and Ray Winstone are also included in the impressive cast.

Thursday

Easter Parade, BBC Four, 8pm

When his dance partner Nadine (Ann Miller) announces she's going solo, a spurned Don Hewes (Fred Astaire) decides to prove he can make it without her by picking a chorus girl at random and transforming her into a star. As luck would have it, the girl he picks is Hannah Brown (Judy Garland) and she takes the act to new heights thanks to her great voice and girl-next-door charm. But will Don ever see her as anything more than a replacement for the glamorous Nadine? The plot is thin, but the stars are on compelling form and some of the big musical numbers – most notably A Couple Of Swells and Steppin' Out With My Baby, both written by the great Irving Berlin – are truly unforgettable. Released in 1948, it was directed by Charles Walters.

Friday

A Fistful of Dollars, Channel 5, 9pm

Clint Eastwood became a Hollywood superstar thanks to his first outing as The Man With No Name in this 1964 Western from director Sergio Leone. The mysterious gunslinger rides into a town on the Mexican border divided by two warring families. After killing the henchmen of one clan, he seems to have made it clear where his loyalties lie and is hired by their rivals. However, he is secretly planning to play them off against each other to his own advantage. As Westerns go, this and its sequels For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly are as good as they get. Eastwood is perfect in the role, and he's well supported by Gian Maria Volonte, who's equally impressive as Ramon Rojo.

And one to stream …

Relic, available on BFI Player, Amazon and Curzon Home Cinema

The last half decade has seen a slew of horror films directed by women, most of which have managed to hit the right horror beats while also bringing something new to the table. It has led British film bible Sight & Sound to refer to a “female horror renaissance”, with stand-outs to date including Alice Lowe’s Prevenge (heavily pregnant widow goes on murder spree), Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (the only black and white feminist Iranian vampire-western you’ll ever need to see: all others are pale imitations) and Australian director Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook (anxious single mum battles bogeyman baddie). Rose Glass’s Saint Maud recently entered the canon and now comes Relic, by Jennifer Kent’s compatriot Natalie Erika James.

Based on James’s own experiences with her grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, and set in the Australian state of Victoria it stars Emily Mortimer as Kay and Bella Heathcote as her daughter Sam. It opens with the pair driving to the large, rural home of Kay’s mother Edna (Robyn Nevin), who has been reported missing. The women find the house empty and, after a few days in the place, they begin to hear strange sounds emanating from within the walls. They also notice the new locks on the doors and Kay is plagued by dreams of an old cottage which once stood in the grounds. When Edna suddenly re-appears standing barefoot in the kitchen, Kay and Sam are relieved. But later come the questions – questions Edna isn’t inclined to answer, which is when things take a turn for the spooky. A pleasing chiller with some neat House Of Leaves-style touches thrown in.