Digital, Cable and Satellite Television: Pick of the Day

STEVEN SPIELBERG has called Pete Postlethwaite the best actor in the world. He is certainly one of the most versatile. The star of such diverse films as The Usual Suspects, The Lost World and Amistad demonstrates his range by playing an ailing brass band leader in Mark Herman's Brassed Off (10pm Film Four). In this moving tragi-comedy, he uses music as a prop once the local pit is closed down. The strong supporting cast is led by Ewan McGregor, Tara Fitzgerald (right) and Stephen Tompkinson as fellow band members.

Stephen King has turned out some middling stuff over the years, but Misery (12.05am Film Four) is a terrific thriller. James Caan plays a popular author who is taken prisoner by his unhinged "No 1 fan" (the wonderful Kathy Bates). The tense climax is the sort of scene you have to watch through splayed fingers.