TV’s greatest guilty pleasure is back – and it’s still a total hoot! Prepare to gorge yourself silly on it over the holidays along with the mince pies. You know you want to …

‘Turn off your brain and jump!” So says London geezer Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) to ex-girlfriend Emily’s best pal Mindy (Ashley Park), as they flirt their way through a racy dance scene. It could, of course, be an instruction to viewers of season five of Emily in Paris, too. Once pilloried for its Anglophile tendencies and surface-level commitment to la culture française, the fluffy dramedy about an American in Paris helmed by Lily Collins has – over the past five years – become one of TV’s greatest guilty pleasures: a fancy fever dream of great clothes, strapping love interests and a constant karaoke soundtrack courtesy of Park, a Broadway star whose contract clearly dictates that she sing at least five times per episode. The clothes are less outlandish this time around, but still aspirational – lending the show a strand of Sex and the City DNA (they also share a creator, Darren Star).

But, unlike SATC – whose spinoff And Just Like That devolved into a mindless mess – Emily in Paris is free of any baggage, and at liberty to be as silly as it fancies. Much of season five doesn’t even take place in Paris, as our leading lady continues to mix business and pleasure in Rome with cashmere heir Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini). “Ciao and ni hao!” says Mindy, who has rejected a job as a judge on Chinese Popstar (“I’d rather be judging people in real life than on TV”) and is now headed to Italy, just in time to help Emily and her crack marketing team with some #sponsoredcontent (read: singing inside a giant martini glass). Also in town is Alfie: cue an inadvisable fling between the two that instantly breaks all the rules of girl code.

The Olympic cyclist puts together an inspirational plan to raise funds for cancer sufferers. Plus: Monica Dolan reads Jane Austen. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, BBC One
This inspiring film follows Chris Hoy as he formulates a constructive and defiant response to his terminal cancer diagnosis. Glasgow: the Tour de Four is a bike ride that smashed its fundraising target of £1m for charity and proves that a medical prognosis doesn’t need to be the end. Famous friends, including Andy Murray and Jason Kenny, are around to lend a hand. Phil Harrison

Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne tread a delicate line between hard-hitting and empathetic in this profile of the Free Birth Society. Plus, an ode to The Gilmore Girls

A shocking Guardian investigation by Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne into the Free Birth Society (FBS), a movement that made millions of dollars from encouraging pregnant women to have unaided home births – even as the deaths of babies mounted. Its empathetic interviews with ex-members make for a sensitive, hugely listenable show, treading a delicate line between hard-hitting and extending empathy to the women who fell under FBS’s spell. Alexi Duggins
Widely available, all episodes out now

Chloe Hadjimatheou, who broke the story about the bestselling memoir, continues her investigation. Plus: a silly thriller romp with a fun cast. Here’s what to watch this evening

9pm, Sky Documentaries
It was the literary scandal of the year: the Observer alleged that the author of the bestselling memoir The Salt Path, Raynor Winn, hadn’t been entirely truthful in telling the tale – which was made into a film – of financial ruin, her husband, Moth’s, terminal illness and natural healing. Since then, more people have come forward with their version of events. Reporter Chloe Hadjimatheou continues to piece together the exposé that shocked and saddened a nation. Hollie Richardson

From Judi Dench’s very naughty tea with Kenneth Branagh to the Peep Show Bake Off special – including Olivia Colman! – here’s your definitive guide to the best holiday viewing. Bring it on

***

Baxter enjoyed a decades-spanning career on radio, TV and film, and was famous for impersonating famous people including Queen Elizabeth II

• Stanley Baxter obituary

• ‘Astonishing’: how his TV extravaganzas reached 20m

The actor and comedian Stanley Baxter has died at the age of 99.

Born in Glasgow in 1926, Baxter was best known for helming TV sketch series including The Stanley Baxter Show and The Stanley Baxter Picture Show.

Stand Up to Cancer kicks off with unexpected Hollywood stars … and the beloved ‘hundys’ from The Celebrity Traitors. Plus: all-out luxury (and the best cheeses) at a Mayfair hotel. Here’s what to watch this evening

7.30pm, Channel 4
Davina McCall launches a run of programmes with the fight against cancer at their heart – including a Gogglebox special at 9.10pm with Kieran Culkin and Jazz Charton, Josh Hartnett and Tamsin Egerton, and Nick Mohammed and Joe Marler. Before that, there’s a documentary at 8pm from inside a cancer clinic at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge, following patients and their families on their journeys through testing, diagnosis and treatment. It aims to offer an insight into the clinical and emotional experience of this disease. Phil Harrison

The big-name US talkshow host goes all Fab Four superfan in this historical take on the lives of John, Paul, George and Ringo. Plus, Naomi Fry delivers a rich deep dive into The Doors’ legacy

The popular show’s two-part special on the Fab Four has, bizarrely, prompted its Beatles sceptic co-host Dominic Sandbrook to refuse to appear. But his mega-starry replacement is Conan O’Brien, in for an engaging chat with Tom Holland through the career of John, Paul, George and Ringo. Their USP? Says Holland: “We’re a history podcast rather than a music podcast so we need to make the case that the Beatles are significant historically.” Alexi Duggins
Widely available