Tonight in HD: June 8

SoHo Premiere: The Gathering Storm (Sky 10, 8.30, 5.1) The first volume of Winston Churchill’s Second World War memoirs was first dramatised for TV nearly 40 years ago and starred Richard Burton. But that production couldn’t muster any of this Storm’s multiple Emmys, Baftas and Golden Globes. It opens in 1934 and chronicles Churchill’s return from the political wilderness on the eve of the Nazi military machine getting into top gear. The fascinating Westminster machinations are paralleled with storm clouds gathering on Churchill’s homefront. Albert Finney’s textured portrayal of Churchill is incomparable while the best-of-British cast includes Vanessa Redgrave (as his darling Clementine), Derek Jacobi, Tom Wilkinson, Jim Broadbent and Ronnie Barker, who came out of retirement to play the Churchills’ butler. Richard Loncraine (The Special Relationship) directs. (2002) ✮✮✮✮

Glee (TV3, 7.30, 5.1) The glee club covers Whitney Houston’s greatest hits while Emma and Will are one step closer to their dream wedding. Said Rolling Stone: “After Mercedes’ excellent and unintentionally-timed tribute to Whitney Houston back in February, it was hard not to groan at the concept of Glee doing an all-Whitney episode surrounding the New Directions’ getting so emotional over their impending graduation. How were they not going to mess this up? The answer: Well, it was better than Brittany/Britney, not as good as Michael and made slightly more sense than last week’s Saturday Night Glee-ver … Overall, the episode was a mixed bag of meh. With the sole exception of the raw emotion of ‘How Will I Know’, the music missed the mark: it was overproduced to the point of blurring any actual vocal skills held by the New Directions or called for vocals out of the glee kids’ range. Thanks for the reminder of the many gems in Houston’s catalogue, though!” ✮✮✮

Home & Away (TV3, 5.30) Bianca learns there are complications with her baby; Harvey needs to decide whether he will plead guilty; Romeo provides Indi with a shoulder to cry on. ✮✮

Friends (TV2, 6.30, R) Monica and Chandler reconcile and, on the roll of the dice, decide to go to a chapel and get married immediately. But once there, they run into some familiar faces. Part two of two. ✮✮✮✮

Shortland Street (TV2, 7.00) Maxwell keeps his cool and sets a trap; TK gets too cosy and pays the price; Bella fails to go posh. ✮✮✮

The Big Bang Theory (TV2, 7.30, 5.1, R) A young grad student’s attraction to Sheldon confuses everyone, including Sheldon. ✮✮✮✮

The Graham Norton Show (TV3, 8.30) With Cameron Diaz, Kathy Burke and The Scissor Sisters. ✮✮✮✮

Hounds (TV3, 10.00) Will tries to make up for forgetting Lily’s birthday by throwing her a surprise party at the dog track. ✮✮✮

The Vampire Diaries (TV2, 10.35, 5.1) The 1920s Decade Dance takes a deadly turn when Damon and Stefan realise they need the help of Matt, Jeremy and Bonnie to undo a spell that could be devastating for everyone. ✮✮✮

Numb3rs (TV3, 12.15, 5.1) The chief suspect in a series of copycat bank robberies is a disgraced FBI agent who reviewed the files from the original heists. ✮✮

NCIS: Los Angeles (TV3, 1.10, 5.1, R) The NCIS team searches Los Angeles for the lead suspect of a murdered Iraqi businessman, a former Marine who had been hired by a private security firm to protect him. ✮✮