TV tonight: a grand new documentary for what would have been the Queen’s 100th birthday

5 hours ago 1

Queen Elizabeth II: Her Story, Our Century

9pm, BBC One

The Queen would have been 100 this week and is, in death, still one of the British royal family’s most marketable assets, so here’s a grand documentary that puts her life in parallel with the biggest social changes of the late 20th century. Contributors include Helen Mirren, David Attenborough and Barack Obama. Jack Seale

Wild Philippines

5pm, Sky Nature

An unfussy two-part guide to the tropical flora and fauna of the Philippines, with the crisply filmed wonders compensating for the whole thing feeling like a tourist board video. Episode one finds cuteness in flying foxes feasting on fruit, and baby crocodiles learning how to hunt by chasing after beautiful blue dragonflies. JS

Secret Garden

7pm, BBC One

David Attenborough’s delightful tour of Britain’s backyards takes him to a garden in Cumbria, whose owners have been working hard to encourage the local wildlife. Their pond gives us a glimpse into palmate newts’ perfume-wafting mating rituals, and their toolshed is home to a barn swallow who has journeyed from southern Africa to reunite with his lifelong partner – but she’s nowhere to be seen. Lucinda Everett

Antiques Roadshow: Royal Special

8pm, BBC One

Fiona Bruce and the Royal Collections Curator, Caroline de Guitaut, stand infront of a red table, on which is laid out Queen Elizabeth II's coronation dress.

The 49th season of the heirloom-appraising perennial gets under way with an edition marking the centenary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth. Fiona Bruce heads to Windsor Castle for a peek at some royal items, including Princess Elizabeth’s first pair of ballet shoes and her 1953 coronation gown. Graeme Virtue

Grace

8pm, ITV1

It’s the last in this run of the twisty Brighton-set crime drama, and the case at hand is the hit-and-run killing of a local hotelier. But, as is customary, Grace’s investigations soon unearth a more complex mystery – this time involving a murky criminal underworld. LE

Your Song

9pm, Channel 4

Who doesn’t love a good cry of a Sunday evening? This week’s episode offers cathartic tears aplenty as a hospital volunteer sings for a D-day veteran on his 100th birthday, and a former soldier performs a track that got him through PTSD. LE

Film choice

Despicable Me, 3.05pm, BBC One

Gru, a character from the animated film Minions, walks along a tunnel with two yelllow creatures called minions at his feet.

With three sequels and a third spin-off prequel due in July, this 2010 animated comedy juggernaut is basically critic-proof. Luckily, it is terrific. There’s a melodramatic, witty supervillain, Steve Carell’s Gru (who’s not too villainous), three cute orphaned girls he takes in (who aren’t too cute) and, the clincher, the Minions: a posse of giddy little yellow workers who are Gru’s version of the Oompa-Loompas and endlessly expendable. Aside from the odd adult-oriented gag (the Bank of Evil is “formerly Lehman Brothers”), it’s kid-focused fun all the way. Simon Wardell