Blue Zoo, ABC3, 5.20pm

The concept here is simple: take four Irish teens and four Aussie kids and put them together to learn about seals, turtles and dolphins at a marine park on the NSW north coast. It's all shot in the sort of reality TV format that has become so tediously familiar in adult TV but which comes up fresh in this instance because the kids are so natural in front of the camera. The youngsters learn how to train the animals and take part in activities such as rescuing a dodgy-looking turtle, learning to dive and designing a new enclosure for the penguins. This is wholesome TV aimed at tweens and teenagers that is really hard not to like. The kids seem genuinely excited to be there and, best of all, are shown getting outside rather than being glued to a screen.

The Real History of Science Fiction, SBSOne, 8.35pm

Despite the rather hifalutin title, this is not one of those "real science behind sci-fi" type shows but rather a good-natured romp through the movies and TV series that we have loved (and, in the case of the daleks in Doctor Who, been terrified of) over the years. "The history of science-fiction is the history of the imagination" is the rather pompous pronouncement at the top of this episode, which is, of course, complete tosh. But that doesn't stop the program from being great fun. This week it tackles the many movies and TV shows based around the threat of an alien invasion. That whole shtick was kicked off by Orson Welles' 1938 radio version of War of the Worlds, which famously sparked panic. The program does a good job in setting the various sci-fi memes against the political and social mores of the era. Invasion and conflict was clearly top of mind in the US in 1938, just as The X-Files tapped into a culture of suspicion about government in the 1990s. If all that seems a little cerebral, I personally can never consider the idea of alien invasion without recalling the legendary Ken Dodd and his immortal line: "What a lovely day for sticking a cucumber through the vicar's letterbox and shouting 'The Martians are coming!"' Gold.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, SBS One, 10pm

The Christmas theme is a bit weird in September but other than that Brooklyn Nine-Nine is keeping up the consistently funny writing. It fair crackles with one-liners as Peralta is assigned to protection duty after Captain Holt receives death threats.

Nick Galvin

PAY TV

John Cleese's First Farewell Performance, Studio, 7.30pm

An enjoyable look at the making of A Fish Called Wanda. John Cleese, director Charles Crichton and co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin provide plenty of humour and insights into the filmmaking process.

The Honourable Woman, BBC First, 8.30pm

You might want to keep your thumb near the rewind button tonight because things can be a bit tricky to follow. The episode begins with a flashback to when Anglo-Israeli businesswoman Nessa (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and her Palestinian best friend Atika (Lubna Azabal) were being held captive in Gaza and forced to listen to the screams of someone being tortured. Back in present-day London, however, Nessa is happily getting her gear off with her new bodyguard. That does seem a little odd given that she's just seen Atika's kid being abducted (well, we're assuming that the kid is Atika's). But then Nessa is a very unusual character. And maybe it's just her way of unmasking the bodyguard as a spy working for scalpel-sharp MI6 man Hugh Hayden-Hoyle (Stephen Rea). The spy angle really moves up a gear tonight, with Hayden-Hoyle and his boss (Janet McTeer) looking into American interest in the apparent murder of the Palestinian businessman. Gripping stuff.

Brad Newsome

MOVIES

Gattaca (1997), SBS Two, 8.30m

The Auckland-raised and London-trained writer/director Andrew Niccol made his 1997 directorial debut - launched after Peter Weir took up Niccol's script for The Truman Show and made it a success - with this solemn science-fiction mystery. In an all-too perfect world of genetic engineering a single DNA sample reveals your role in life - those born naturally are condemned to life in the underclass. To become an astronaut, Vincent (Ethan Hawke) adopts the genetic identity of Jerome (Jude Law), a swimmer who was designed to be world champion but attempted suicide after finishing second at a Commonwealth Games. Vincent must avoid discovery while pursuing Irene (Uma Thurman), especially after a murder at his aerospace facility attracts the police. The clash of fate and determinism dovetails cleverly between a thriller and speculative sci-fi and is elegantly matched by Michael Nyman's score and the august Gore Vidal in a supporting role.

Wild Wild West (1999), Action Movies (pay TV), 6.40pm

A reasonably faithful, if wildly expensive and overcooked, remake of the 1960s television show, Wild Wild West teamed up Will Smith and Kevin Kline respectively as US Army captain James West (Smith) and US Marshall Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline). That is an interesting combination, if only for the sly uses Kline could put to Smith's engaging self-belief. But the script is episodic and unconvincing, as the pair use 1870s gadgetry and steampunk inventions to charge around the frontier in pursuit of evil scientist Dr Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh, shamelessly over the top). Salma Hayek is present, mainly to wear a showgirl's outfit, but the cartoonish digital effects for Loveless' monstrous machines are jarring, and the already light banter between the leads dissipates while they run and fall from one set-piece to another as Barry Sonnenfeld, a former cinematographer, proves yet again that he has little feel for story and pacing.

Craig Mathieson