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Birrell in India: Harry Birrell Presents Films of Love and War.
Birrell in India: Harry Birrell Presents Films of Love and War. Photograph: BBC Scotland/Hopscotch Films
Birrell in India: Harry Birrell Presents Films of Love and War. Photograph: BBC Scotland/Hopscotch Films

TV tonight: the trauma of war, captured on a cine camera

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Richard Madden narrates the wartime diaries of Harry Birrell. Plus: The Split comes to an elegant end. Here’s what to watch this evening

Harry Birrell Presents Films of Love and War
10pm, BBC Scotland

Given his first cine camera as a 10-year-old boy in Paisley in 1928, Harry Birrell was hooked. Seemingly fixated on seeing the world through a camera lens, Birrell captured everything from his boyhood in Glasgow to his deployment to India to fight alongside the Gurkhas. His comprehensive diary entries, narrated by Richard Madden, contextualise this loving feature-length account of his life on film, highlighting the romance of everyday life and the traumas of war. Ammar Kalia

The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer
8pm, Channel 4

How is it that so many celebs lack even rudimentary kitchen skills? Competing for the best baking balls-up this week are Bianca (Patsy Palmer), the Jaws guy (Richard Dreyfuss), her off Gogglebox (Scarlett Moffatt) and him off The Inbetweeners (James Buckley). Ellen E Jones

The Art Mysteries
8.30pm, BBC Four

Art historian Waldemar Januszczak sets out to uncover the hidden meanings of much-studied works in this new series. He begins with Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear, getting to the bottom of what caused the troubled painter to lop off his lobe. Was it for love or a reference to his liking for bullfighting? AK

The Split
9pm, BBC One

A reflective, elegant season finale for Abi Morgan’s grown-up saga about divorce lawyers who are prone to failed relationships themselves. As her character, Hannah, fails to hold it all together, dramatically speaking, Nicola Walker does just that with some raw but exactly judged emoting. Jack Seale

Penance
9pm, Channel 5

Twists and turns … Julie Graham as Rosalie in Penance. Photograph: Channel 5

Neil Morrissey stars in this three-part drama about a family grieving for their dead son. A mysterious young man begins to weave himself into their lives, sparking a potential romance with mother Rosalie Douglas (Julie Graham). Twisty and melodramatic, the series continues on Wednesday and Thursday. AK

Bainne
10.30pm, Sky Arts

Will Poulter stars in this dark supernatural short set in famine-era Ireland. Poulter plays an anonymous farmhand whose instincts towards self-preservation at all costs are challenged by a ghostly female figure he catches stealing milk from his employer. A journey towards self-discovery ensues. Phil Harrison

Film choice

Silly, sexy comedy … Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in Mr and Mrs Smith. Photograph: imagenet

Mr & Mrs Smith (Doug Liman, 2005), 11.05pm, Film4
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie star as a couple who don’t know their spouse is actually an assassin, and are rather bored with their fictional lives. All is resolved with a lot of superbly choreographed gunplay when they are contracted to kill one another, in Doug Liman’s silly, sexy comedy.
Paul Howlett

Sport choice

Snooker: Tour Championship 12.45pm, ITV4. Day one coverage from Venue Cymru in Llandudno.

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