Saturday

Lynn + Lucy, BBC Two, 10.55pm

Airing as part of BBC Two’s ongoing season of new British films, this gritty drama set in the Essex bad lands marks the debut of Anglo-Moroccan director Fyzal Boulifa and centres on the relationship between the two women of the title, friends since school and now living opposite each other on the outskirts of Harlow.

Lynn (Roxanne Scrimshaw) married her high school sweetheart Paul (Shaq B Grant) and had a daughter, Lola (Tia Nelson), who’s now 10. Lynn has only ever been a stay-at-home mother, a fact she views with a mixture of pride and guilt. But with Paul now invalided out of the army after an accident she needs to find a job, which leads to her sweeping the floor of the hair salon now owned by Janelle (Jennifer Lee Moon), a hated ex-schoolmate. Lucy (Nichola Burley) has always been the party girl, tumbling through a series of relationships and never settling down until now – the film opens with Lynn and Paul attending the christening of baby Harrison, Lucy’s son with boyfriend Clark (Samson Cox-Vinell). For Lynn it marks a new chapter in their relationship, but Lucy still has her doubts about motherhood. “I don’t know if I can love him,” she says of her son.

Her words assume an even darker meaning when events take a turn for the tragic. After a row between Lucy and Clark following a drunken night out with Lynn, Harrison dies. Candles and toys are left outside Lucy’s front door and Lynn types ‘Sudden Infant Death Syndrome’ into a search engine. But when Clark is arrested, the community turns on Lucy, now sleeping on Lynn’s sofa. As tongues start to wag and texts, new facts emerge and social media posts fuel the air of rumour and suspicion, the friendship between the two women is tested to breaking point.

Leeds-born Nichola Burley, who featured in Andrea Arnold’s acclaimed take on Wuthering Heights, brings just the right mixture of bullishness and vulnerability to the role of Lucy but the stand-out performance comes from newcomer Roxanne Scrimshaw, who was working in a Lidl in Dagenham when Boulifa cast her as Lynn.

Sunday

Call Me By Your Name, Channel 4, 12am

Adapted from Andre Acriman’s novel, Italian director Luca Guadagnino's sensual, rhapsodic and gorgeously restrained romance is a film to reinvigorate your belief in the power of cinema to perfectly reflect the vagaries of the human condition. Elio Perlman (the wonderful Timothee Chalamet) spends the summer in an Italian villa, while his scholarly father (Michael Stuhlbarg) studies Greco-Roman culture. Mr Perlman’s handsome American intern Oliver (Armie Hammer) arrives and Elio begrudgingly surrenders his light and airy bedroom to the visitor. Initially, Elio is irritated by Oliver’s presence and he observes the newcomer's effect on local women with voyeuristic, cool detachment. Gradually, flickering embers of attraction between Elio and Oliver ignite a raging inferno of sexual desire. Great stuff, and if you want more like this check out We Are Who We Are, Guadagnino's first foray into small screen drama – an eight-part HBO series which airs on BBC Three from November 22.

Monday

The Bourne Supremacy, ITV 4, 9pm

Two years after losing his memory in The Bourne Identity, Matt Damon's resourceful CIA operative finds himself embroiled in a deadly new game of cat and mouse when he is framed for the murder of two US agents during a botched stakeout overseen by Agent Pamela Landy (Joan Allen). Director Paul Greengrass's twitchy, handheld direction invests The Bourne Supremacy with an edgy, nervous quality, reflecting Bourne’s sense of unease as he tries to outwit his foes. The camerawork is especially effective during the breath-taking car chases which bookend the film. Damon delivers a compelling lead performance, coping admirably with the physical exertions of the role which leave his hero battered and bruised by the adrenaline-pumping finale.

Tuesday

'71, Film 4, 11.10pm

Jack O'Connell plays a British soldier trapped in the cauldron of violence of 1971 Belfast in Yann Demange's nail-biting survival thriller, which has a script by Scottish playwright Gregory Burke, author of Black Watch. New recruit Gary Hook (O'Connell) finishes his training and is immediately dispatched to Northern Irish to facilitate a fragile peace. On his very first day on the streets of Belfast, Hook becomes embroiled in a riot and is separated from the other soldiers. Chased down alleyways by a gang who want him dead, Hook finds himself trapped in a hostile environment far from the safety of his barracks, unable to distinguish between enemies and friends. As night draws in, he must somehow survive in the darkness and wait until help arrives.

Wednesday

Fish Tank, BBC Four, 11pm

Andrea Arnold's 2009 follow-up to award-winning, Glasgow-set Red Road surpasses that extraordinary film, distinguished as it is by tour-de-force performances from newcomer Katie Jarvis and by Robbie Ryan's sumptuous cinematography. The emotionally wrought human drama centres on 15-year-old Mia (Jarvis), who lives on a rundown housing estate with her mother Joanne (Kierston Wareing) and mouthy little sister Tyler (Rebecca Griffiths). Tensions within the household intensify with the arrival of Joanne's new boyfriend, Connor (Michael Fassbender), to whom young Mia finds herself irresistibly attracted. He encourages Mia to pursue her dreams of becoming a dancer and, as man and girl become increasingly close, the sparks of sexual attraction threaten to push them both over the edge. And if you like this, check out Arnold’s Oscar-winning 2003 short film Wasp, which dips into a very similar milieu.

Thursday

Brief Encounter, BBC Four, 8.30pm

Housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) gets a nasty piece of grit in her eye at a railway station and consequently meets a handsome doctor, Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard). Her sight restored and her heart racing, Laura kindles a smouldering attraction to the dashing medic and considers cheating on her husband Fred (Cyril Raymond). The strangers agree to meet again and spin a thin web of lies to friends in order to conceal their true feelings. An unfortunate interlude with a police officer forces Laura to confront the agonising truth - there is no future with Alec - and she prepares to bid him a tearful farewell in David Lean's seminal 1945 weepie that remains one of the most achingly romantic stories committed to celluloid.

Friday

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, Channel 5, 9pm

A professional gunslinger, an outlaw and an assassin learn about a hidden bounty of gold during the American Civil War. But each man only knows part of the way to find the treasure, setting off on a deadly path of betrayal as each tries to learn the others' secrets without revealing their own. Sergio Leone's 1966 Western is the third of the Man With No Name films, and definitely the best. It has everything: drama, comedy, violence, and Clint Eastwood in his element. The soundtrack, by Ennio Morricone, is also particularly memorable, and the great supporting cast includes Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach and Rada Rassimov. Three hours will fly by.

And one to stream …

His House, Netflix

The feature debut from former commercials director Remi Weekes, His House was part-funded by the BBC and comes to Netflix fresh from a well-received world premiere at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. A punchy and beguiling film, it starts out as a piece of gritty cinéma vérité, detours sharply into haunted house territory and then for its third act braids together flashback sequences and scenes of brilliantly-executed staginess that make you feel at points as if you’re watching a live streamed theatre performance. Oh, and it also has Matt Smith in it as Mark, a lanyard-toting case worker employed by whichever arm of the British state is responsible for housing refugees.

In one sense, the house of the title – a grim and run-down dwelling in a low-rise London council estate – is Mark’s. It’s him that bestows it on refugees Bol (Sope Dirisu) and Rial (Wunmi Mosaku) when they’re finally removed from the detention centre in which they’ve been languishing. Originally from war-affected South Sudan they arrived in the UK via a perilous Channel crossing which claimed the life of their daughter, Nyagak (Malaika Abigaba).

Bol tries to blend in by going to the pub and joining in with football songs. Rial simply tries to find the local GP surgery and, when she becomes lost, finds her accent and appearance being mocked by a gang of black kids who tell her to go back to Africa. It’s a neat touch from Weekes as he undercuts the usual narrative of white prejudice.

Pretty soon Bol starts to unravel as the malign presence which Rial has already felt begins to impinge on his sanity. He hears things, sees his dead daughter, has visions of gaping holes in the walls from which he pulls seaweed-choked rope. Rial blames a male witch, a malevolent spirit, which has travelled from Sudan with them. Perhaps that ‘His’ of the title refers to this entity. Or perhaps it’s guilt at not saving his daughter, or the pressure of loss and dislocation which are causing Bol’s strange behaviour. As flashbacks fill in more of the backstory, further twists ensure. A complex and accomplished film which blends genuine scares with a deft political and social message.