What's Wrong With Our Weather? SBS One, 7.30pm

Part of the SBS Disaster Doco program, this documentary, hosted by British meteorologist John Hammond and physicist Dr Helen Czerski, deals with recent weather phenomena in Britain, which has included fierce storms and Arctic and Siberian winds. Britain sits in the crux of four air masses, which are in turn determined by the fluctuating jet stream. But what's causing the jet stream to fluctuate? The obvious question of whether it's man-made climate change is addressed, but, sadly, there are no definitive answers. Dr Czerski suggests the "quasi-biennial oscillation" (seriously) could be the culprit, but probably isn't, and basically concludes it's all a bit of a mystery. Unless you're really interested in British weather, this is a little too narrow in its exploration of our changing climate.

Party Tricks, Ten, 8.30pm

Three episodes in, and thanks to the excellent writing and acting, Asher Keddie is decidedly no longer Nina Proudman. Tonight, she and her secret former lover and political opponent, David McLeod (Rodger Corser), launch their respective election campaigns, showcasing their different approaches: David's is a stage-managed multimedia affair, while Kate chooses to focus on recounting her past success and "facts and numbers". McLeod, though, is still winning over the public, until a very contemporary problem surfaces in the shape of risque photos of his teenage daughter, Matilda (Kaiya Jones), on social media. Party Tricks is tightly written with some great, believable dialogue from a stellar cast.

The Goldbergs, Seven, 10.30pm

Back-to-back episodes of this nostalgia-soaked anti-Wonder Years (based on the childhood of creator Adam Goldberg) tonight feature some classic American sitcom tropes: the geeky kid (Sean Giambrone's Adam) trying to get out of a phys-ed test, and then trying to land his first kiss. Overbearing suburban mum Beverly is determined to get her "little boy" out of the President's national fitness test, even if it means getting a letter from the President himself, but dad Murray (Jeff Garlin) is determined Adam should at least give it a try. Light and fluffy and full of unashamed '80s pop-culture references, but always fun.

Kylie Northover

PAY TV

The Walking Dead, FX, 1.30pm, 8.30pm

The Walking Dead returns with a blast of horror and gore that's no less confronting for being entirely customary. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the gang are locked in a shipping container at Terminus - which turns out to be anything but the refuge it pretended to be. Everyone's trying to fashion what makeshift weapons they can, but the Terminus creeps are way ahead of them. Before they know it Rick, Daryl (Norman Reedus), Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr) have been bound, gagged and dragged into a new kind of nightmare. With Carol (Melissa McBride) and Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman) poorly placed to rescue them, things look grim. But life in a zombie apocalypse is nothing if not unpredictable, and the episode provides some moments to cheer, along with plenty of set-piece spectacle and a reminder that the only thing more dangerous than being an established character in The Walking Dead is being a new one.

Brad Newsome

MOVIES

Man on Fire (2004), Gem, 8.30pm

As he currently does in cinemas with The Equalizer, Denzel Washington gives a measured performance as Creasy, a burnt-out former government assassin who brings the full measure of his murderous skills to bear in Tony Scott's revenge drama. Persuaded by a former colleague, Rayburn (Christopher Walken), now a security consultant, to take a bodyguard's position with a wealthy Mexico City industrialist, Creasy becomes attached to Pita (Dakota Fanning), the young daughter of Samuel Ramos (Marc Anthony) and his wife, Lisa (Radha Mitchell). The latter is American, serving as a conduit for the audience's sympathy and providing a reason for why Creasy is protecting a blond-haired, blue-eyed child in a Latin country. The film bristles with xenophobic indignation at official corruption and crime, making clear that the only solution when Pita is kidnapped is a scorched-earth policy that funnels post-9/11 anger into vigilante fantasies. Creasy tortures underlings for information and kills anyone he can find in the kidnapper's chain of command. It is not a subtle film.

The Quiller Memorandum (1966), Fox Classics (pay TV), 8.35pm

Elleston Trevor's Quiller spy novels, about an anonymous British intelligence agent (written under the pseudonym Adam Hall), began appearing in 1965 and immediately marked themselves as the cerebral counterpart to Ian Fleming's James Bond series. The mood was sparse and the narrative contemplative of emotion and grounded in detail, whether viewing a cityscape or describing hand-to-hand combat. Harold Pinter adapted and Michael Anderson directed the screen version of the first Quiller novel, set in West Berlin, where a subversive Nazi organisation is on the rise. As with the books, the focus is on the minutiae of Quiller's tradecraft, with the cryptic plot matching the mood of George Segal's spy, who knows he's almost as likely to be sacrificed by his own side as killed by the opposition. Laying the groundwork for George Smiley, Alec Guinness plays Pol, Quiller's handler in Berlin, who smiles as he taunts and tricks Quiller into risking his life.

Craig Mathieson