Jessie Buckley (below) narrates this documentary about the attempt to create a global communications network between Europe and America, and Belfast-born physicist William Thomson's part in that race.
It's the story of the first transatlantic communications cable to traverse the ocean floor, from Valentia Island in Kerry to Newfoundland in Canada, all of 165 years ago.
The film showcases innovative graphics, historical reconstructions and rarely seen archive footage, providing an insight into the eight-year journey of those who successfully connected North America and Europe for the first time.
The documentary also tells how the first cable helped lay the foundation of the modern world’s technology industry and explains the fragility of undersea cables in the digital age.
New or Returning Shows
Mastermind, 7.30pm, BBC Two
Clive Myrie (below) presents the first heat of 24 heats of the classic quiz show where contenders face the famous black chair with the ultimate goal of becoming the next Mastermind champion.
The specialist subjects on tonight’s show are classic BBC comedy Dad's Army, Liverpool FC under Jürgen Klopp, the life and works of Jane Austen, and Shania Twain.
Hurling for Cancer Research 2024, 7.15pm, TG4
Live coverage of the annual charity game, taking place this year in Netwatch Cullen Park in Carlow.
Set up in 2011 by racing legends Jim Bolger and Davy Russell, Hurling for Cancer Research has this year attracted some of the game's biggest-ever stars.
They include Kilkenny legend TJ Reid (below), Kerry star Paudie Clifford, Aintree Grand National-winning jockey Rachael Blackmore, Con O'Callaghan and Ciarán Kilkenny from the record-breaking Dublin team - along with GAA pundits Ursula Jacob and Cora Staunton.
Emergency, 9.00pm, Channel 4
Season 3 of this documentary series opens with a 38-year-old paratrooper who arrives at the Royal London after a paragliding accident.
He's lost sensation in his legs and needs specialist high-risk surgery to fix his compacted spine and pelvis if he's to have any chance of ever walking again.
Other patients tonight include a pedestrian whose leg has been crushed by a bus in south London and a teenager who put his leg through a glass security door.
The things that happen to people . . . take care out there, folks.
Only Connect, 8.00pm, BBC Two
Victoria Coren Mitchell (below) returns with another run of the quiz where knowledge only gets you so far - the vital extra ingredients are logic and lateral thinking.
Only the smartest survive here.
In this opening heat, three fresh air fanatics take on a trio of Midlanders, attempting to find connections between a series of random clues. For example, what comes next in this sequence: sumo, tuwe, thfr...?
That's followed at 8.30pm by the return of University Challenge.
The 2024-25 season begins with Queen’s University Belfast taking on Liverpool for a place in the second round, with Amol Rajan asking the questions.
The Cleaning Lady, 9.00pm, Sky Witness
Streaming on NOW
Sky have been flying through this US drama at an alarming pace.
For the uninitiated, it’s about a Cambodian doctor, Thony De La Rosa, who finds herself trapped in Las Vegas as an undocumented immigrant when her visa expires.
Picking up a cleaning job to make ends meet, she falls into a world of organised crime, acting as both a cleaner and doctor for a crime syndicate in exchange for help with her sick son.
Leaping straight into the third season of the hit US crime drama, Arman mysteriously disappears, leaving Thony and Nadia to begrudgingly team up to look for him.
My Tiger Family, 9.00pm, BBC Two
An epic 50-year story of an Indian tiger clan and its five most charismatic and powerful tigresses, who have revealed more about the lives of tigers than anyone thought possible.
Their home is Ranthambhore, a magical landscape in Rajasthan dominated by a huge, ancient fort and three crocodile-filled lakes teeming with tiger prey.
One passionate man, Valmik Thapar, has dedicated his life to following the big cats, witnessing the most remarkable tiger behaviour ever seen and filmed.
The Sky at Night, 9.55pm, BBC Four
In this Sky at Night special, the team talk to Dr Nicola Fox, NASA’s head of science, whose life began in the UK.
Presenter Chris Lintott chats to Nicky about her early years growing up in Hertfordshire and discovers how she fell in love with the stars.
Maggie Aderin-Pocock then takes Nicky on a trip down memory lane.
Along the way, Maggie and Nicky chat about how university and science have changed and how new technology and deeper understanding are fuelling the missions for which Nicky is now responsible.
Finally, Chris and Nicky discuss her role as the associate administrator for the science mission directorate at NASA, and Nicky reveals what the exciting plans for future missions may reveal.
Don’t Miss
Call My Bluff, 9.00pm, BBC Four
Here's a repeat from 1974 of a series that was very popular back in the day. It'll look a gazillion years old now.
Robert Robinson presides over a duel of words and wit between team captains Frank Muir and Patrick Campbell, who are joined by Joanna Lumley (above), Miles Kington, Mary Peach and Simon Williams.
Followed at 9.30pm by the even older series Going For a Song, from 1971.
It’s an antiques game show hosted by Max Robertson in which Jane Rossington and Tim Hollier are the celebrities trying to assess the mystery objects.
New to Stream
Solar Opposites, Disney+
Lampooning the classic sitcom format, the animated hit follows a family of aliens who seek refuge in middle America and find that they clash with Earth culture.
In season 5, the entire alien family will be back on Earth and readjusting to their lives on the planet they love to despise.
Terry and Korvo will be basking in their newlywed glow, while Yumyulack and Jesse fight to fit in at school.
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