TV tonight: Emilia Clarke’s exciting cold war drama

Ponies 9pm, Sky Atlantic Emilia Clarke learned Russian for this exciting cold war comedy drama (“I did Dothraki, I know what I’m doing!”) and she continues to flex her impressive skills as US spy Bea. She prepares to go on a date with a KGB agent to strengthen her cover, and gets some tips from Twila. Will she pull it off? Meanwhile, Twila is also taking secret calls to get to the bottom of a number of sex worker murders. Hollie Richardson MasterChef Final 8pm, BBC One After an intense Chef’s Table stage at Opheem in Birmingham, where the finalists prepared sand carrot in eight different ways for Michelin-starred chefs, the remaining trio now face their toughest challenge. They must create their best three-course menus in just three hours for Anna and Grace (who will probably need a lie-down after eating all nine dishes). Ali Catterall Gardeners’ World 8pm, BBC Two The roses are peaking at Longmeadow, giving Monty Don the chance to celebrate England’s favourite flower in all its guises. Of course, there are a few tips too for viewers whose blooms aren’t quite in bloom. Down in Brighton, a city garden shows what can be achieved in cramped urban spaces; in Bedfordshire, a plot full of succulents and sun-loving plants has an air of the tropical. Jack Seale Dispatches: Will My Summer Holiday Be Cancelled? 8pm, Channel 4 The headlines tell us that the Iran war is sending jet fuel prices soaring and causing thousands of flights to be cancelled. Is there more chance of getting stuck abroad? Could it actually mean that airlines will start competing with super bargains? Kate Quilton investigates, ready to give us the verdicts we don’t want. HR 9pm, BBC Two Dressed to kill ... a samurai suit at Snowshill Manor in the Cotswolds. Photograph: PHOTOGRAPHER:/CREDIT LINE:BBC/Blast Films Another trip behind the velvet ropes to witness the restoration efforts of National Trust staff. At Snowshill Manor in the Cotswolds, a child’s suit of lacquered samurai armour requires some serious TLC, while at Calke Abbey in Derbyshire a variety of historic stuffed birds need their feathers unruffled. Graeme Virtue First Dates 10pm, Channel 4 Love can strike at any age, as this week’s visit to Cupid’s restaurant proves. On one table, 62-year-old hairdresser Liz has a promising night with builder Paul. Over on another, 19-year-olds Rue and Kaitlyn are only just dipping their toes into the world of dating. HR Film choice Dead Man’s Wire (Gus Van Sant, 2025), 8am, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere The spirit of the Al Pacino classic Dog Day Afternoon is alive and well in Gus Van Sant’s ripped-from-the-headlines drama. Both feature a desperate man driven to extremes, a frantic police operation to contain him and a 1970 media circus that creates an antihero. Bill Skarsgård is all gangly, edgy energy as Tony Kiritsis, a low-level Indianapolis land developer who believes mortgage broker ML Hall (Al Pacino in a superbly unlikable cameo) cheated him on a deal. So he takes Hall’s son, Richard (Dacre Montgomery), hostage using the titular contraption connected to a shotgun. It’s surprisingly funny amid the sweaty tension, with Kiritsis’s delusion that he’ll get away with the crime almost endearing. Simon Wardell Devil in the Dust (Ned Crowley, 2025), Paramount+ Guy Pearce as Bender in Devil in the Dust. Photograph: Michael Moriatis/Signature Entertainment This western is knocked off-kilter almost immediately when a cute little blond girl kills a horse by touching it. The supernatural frisson in Ned Crowley’s yarn never really goes away, as we follow Guy Pearce’s grizzled, ether-addicted doctor Bender, rancher Sarah (DeWanda Wise) and her aforementioned daughter (a deadpan Emily Ford, channelling Damien in The Omen) on a quest to a preacher who can supposedly take out the devil in her. An array of quirky supporting characters – including a Native American called Shakespeare – keep the film on the lighter side of chilling. SW Bring Them Down (Chris Andrews, 2024), 11pm, BBC Two A film possessing the relentlessness of tragedy, Chris Andrews’ dark rural drama takes two neighbouring Irish farming families, then watches as they destroy each other and themselves. Christopher Abbott’s shepherd Michael sets out for revenge when Jack (Barry Keoghan) – the son of his former girlfriend, Caroline (Nora-Jane Noone) – steals two of his rams. We see their actions – and unforeseen consequences – successively from both men’s points of view, with Keoghan exceptional in being able to appear malevolent and innocent at the same time. SW Live sport Women’s World Cup Football, Spain v England, 7.30pm, ITV1 A qualifier in Palma, Mallorca.