Pick of the Day: Digital, Cable and Satellite Television

THE ATTEMPT by Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton (right) to cross Antarctica in 1914 is told in South (FilmFour 8pm), a silent film that may inspire future adventurers to follow in his frozen footsteps. On this occasion, Shackleton's journey came to an unfortunate end as his ship, Endurance, was crushed in the ice and the crew had to make a hazardous escape by sledge and boat to Elephant island, some 800 miles away. Rather predictably our man died with his crampons on, eight years later, during a fourth Antartic expedition.

There's more snow in The Winter Guest (Film Four 10pm) Alan Rickman's directorial debut. Emma Thompson stars opposite her mother Phyllida Law in a tale set against the bleak backdrop of a fishing village. Law plays Elspeth, a mother who tries to build a relationship with her widowed daughter (Thompson).