Imagine – The One and Only Mike Leigh (BBC1, 10.35pm)

IF the best new programme on TV is tucked away at this time of night, you know it’s a thin night for viewers. Mike Leigh’s current release Mr Turner is once again wowing critics, just as 45 years old his first effort in 1971, Bleak Moments, got exactly the same reception at a time when audiences were queuing to see A Clockwork Orange, Dirty Harry and The French Connection.

For 17 years, Leigh’s improvised comedy-dramas made waves with TV classics like Nuts In May Abigail’s Party which and ex-wife Alison Steadman one of her finest roles.

Life is Sweet helped turn Jane Horrocks into a star, while a bit part for David Thewlis led to him landing him his own star-making turn in 1993 masterpiece, Naked. Leigh won Best Director at Cannes, and Thewlis picked up five Best Actor gongs around the world.

On the silver screen, the director saw Secrets and Lies nominated for five Oscars, a lacklustre reception for Career Girls, and more recognition for Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky and Another Year. He is the only British director to have won the top prize at both Cannes and Venice film festivals and prefers to recruit jobbing actors using a six-month rehearsal period where actors collaborate with him to devise the film.

Here, Leigh opens up as never before, and naturally there are plenty of mentions of the aforementioned Mr Turner, which landed Tim Spall the Best Actor Award at Cannes, and looks like being a contender for Baftas next year. The idea for Mr Turner came after Leigh made Topsy-Turvy in 1999, though despite his standing in the movie industry, getting the cash for such a project was far from easy.

He and regular cinematographer Dick Pope kept the dream alive during regular chats about "this flawed, eccentric, grumpy, passionate, consumed, driven guy," as he calls him, and eventually the dream became a reality. At 71, Leigh could have settled for an easy life years ago, but like fellow British film-maker Ridley Scott, he's busier than ever.

And there's no shortage of actors lining up behind Spall who are ready to sign for a Leigh movie regardless of the content. Not bad for a man who was had his film interest dubbed “The moonings of a stage-struck girlie” by his father when Leigh went off to Rada.

The Missing (BBC1, 9pm)

THIS sprawling, misery-inflected Euro-drama has given James Nesbitt and fellow The Hobbit film star Ken Stott the sort of juicy roles many actors would give their eye teeth for. Stott certainly doesn't seem to mind soaking up the sun on a luxury yacht for the latest offering.

As the case develops, Nesbitt’s Tony takes matters into his own hands, and has a violent showdown - with life-altering repercussions. In the present day, Julien (Tcheky Karyo) and Tony, retracel their steps in Paris as they attempt to find a man they think is connected to Oliver's disappearance.

Miracle Babies (Channel 5, 9pm)

IN the Club, Call the Midwife and One Born Every Minute helped to make childbirth a mainstream subject for TV. This series, which comes to an end tonight, has been particularly emotional, and there's no let up as first-time parents Laura and Ryan deal with having two babies on the neonatal unit.

Twins Max and Charlie were making good progress after being born 14 weeks early, until one of them contracted an infection, something premature babies are particularly vulnerable to due to their immature immune systems. Meanwhile, a child is born with a cardiac defect that means that blood is flowing the wrong way around the heart, and the team face a race against the clock to ensure the infant is stable enough to undergo potentially life-saving surgery.

Mum Kaili faces a tough decision when her new baby Theo needs to be transferred to the neonatal unit, while her ten-month son is still at home.