Digital, Cable and Satellite Television: Pick of the Day

MIKE LEIGH'S strength lies in probing family life as shown in Abigail's Party and Life Is Sweet. Secrets and Lies (10pm FilmFour), another example, marked his breakthrough into the big time, securing the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Festival and several Oscar nominations. It focuses on the disruption caused by the unexpected appearance of a black woman who had been given up for adoption at birth by her white mother. Marianne Jean-Baptiste (who returned to our screens recently as Doreen in ITV's The Murder of Stephen Lawrence) and Brenda Blethyn (right) both won acclaim for their performances.

For all her other more arty roles, Sigourney Weaver is still best known as the resilient space traveller, Ripley, in the Alien cycle. In the well-made Alien Resurrection (10pm Sky Premier), Ripley is cloned.