Digital, Cable and Satellite Television: Pick of the Day

FOR A WHILE, Helena Bonham Carter was viewed as a period decoration, good for standing around looking pretty in a nice frock but little else. She proved her critics wrong, though, with a strong performance in The Wings of a Dove (8pm Sky Premier), for which she was unlucky not to win an Oscar. In Iain Softley's beautifully filmed adaptation of the harsh novel by Henry James, she plays Kate, a Machiavellian woman. She sets up her beloved Merton (Linus Roache) with her rich but terminally- ill best friend, Millie (Alison Elliott), so she can net Millie's fortune on her death.

Bonham Carter has also demonstrated her versatility by appearing as Woody Allen's wife in Mighty Aphrodite (8pm FilmFour), a comedy about a New York couple who adopt a child. Mira Sorvino (right) also shines with an Oscar-winning turn as a porn actress and hooker.