Rugby Union: Toulon v Racing Metro | Proms On Four: Friday Night At The Proms | Paul Merton: World's Biggest Cruise Ship | Reading Festival | How To Be A World Music Star: Buena Vista, Bhundu Boys And Beyond | Big School | The Burrowers: Animals Underground | A League Of Their Own*Rugby Union: Toulon v Racing Metro
7.45pm, ESPN
*
The dosh-splashing French teams are transforming the European club game – and putting noses out of joint – with Heineken Cup-holders Toulon leading the way. Toulon boast Bryan Habana, Bakkies Botha, Matt Giteau and rugby's best-paid player Jonny Wilkinson. Not to be outdone, Racing have their own dream team, with Lions heroes Jamie Roberts and Jonny Sexton spearheading an all-star attack. The two meet in this highly-anticipated early season clash. Lanre Bakare
*Proms On Four: Friday Night At The Proms
7.30pm, BBC4
*
Nigel Kennedy performs Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. It was his 1989 recording of these concertos which established him as both an exciting, irreverent musician and – to some – an iconoclastic irritant. He's accompanied by two groups of younger musicians. One is the Orchestra Of Life, which the English violinist founded in 2010 in his adopted home of Krakow. The other is the Palestine Strings, comprised of players from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music. Andrew Mueller
**Paul Merton: World's Biggest Cruise Ship*
8pm, Channel 5
*
Paul Merton is the antithesis of the travel presenter, being someone manifestly uninterested in trying the scary local delicacy, and who, were this not paid work, would clearly have preferred to have stayed at home. In this instalment from his 2011 series on holidaying, he boards the Allure Of The Sea, the world's largest cruise ship. You would think a Caribbean cruise was a soft option to launch his quest with, but Merton's meetings with a tiger and the Jamaican dog-sled team serve to liven things up. John Robinson
**Reading Festival*
8pm, BBC3
*
Hide the loo roll, pour a bucket of water over your carpet, and warm up all your beer, because the BBC has a massive three-and-a-half hours of music from Reading. Greg James and Jen Long present coverage of folk's most tolerably earnest singer-songwriter Frank Turner on the Main Stage, and electropop outfit Bastille on the Radio 1/NME stage. Then Billie Joe Armstrong leads Green Day out to close the Main Stage from 9pm, playing songs from recent release ¡Tré! and hopefully, plenty of hits. Issy Sampson
**How To Be A World Music Star: Buena Vista, Bhundu Boys And Beyond*
9pm, BBC4
*
"Where do you put two albums as diverse as a Bulgarian tractor factory workers' choir, and a guitar-slinging hotshot from Guinea-Bissau?" Andy Kershaw there, on the problems facing 80s record shops trying to market a new influx of fascinating music. Calling it the quaint (if not downright patronising) "world music" solved that; as this one-off explains, the rest is history, from Nusrat to Ofra Haza. It's followed by a compilation, The A-Z Of World Music. Ali Catterall
*Big School
9pm, BBC1
*
David Walliams's school-set sitcom limps on. Miss Postern is organising a talent show to raise money for Children In Need. So PE teacher Mr Gunn attempts his Keith Lemon impression, sad sack geography teacher Mr Barber sings a Welsh song, and Mr Church gets his oboe out. All the classroom tropes – the coarse PE guy, the hot new teacher, the boring chemistry teacher – are here, and not terribly funny. It makes you pine for Channel 4's far superior Teachers, from more than a decade ago. Bim Adewunmi
**The Burrowers: Animals Underground*
9pm, BBC2
*
Like Big Brother for burrowing mammals instead of deluded people, Chris Packham returns to the subterranean world to spy brazenly on unsuspecting voles, badgers and rabbits. It's a nuzzling frenzy as the baby rabbits begin to explore their artificially built burrow and orphaned badgers acclimatise to a synthetic sett, so anyone sensitive to internet-grade cuteness should be forewarned. It's all Packham can do to keep his excitement at an acceptable level, but his enthusiasm is infectious. Ben Arnold
*A League Of Their Own
9pm, Sky1
*
A boon for those feeling starved of James Corden on our screens, as he and the gang return with a new series of the sports challenge show, with Red and Blue teams pitted against one another in the usual series of challenges. These include everything from a game of one-on-one football in zorb suits to a matchmaking game involving improbable celebrities including Steven Gerrard and Kim Cattrall, culminating in a speed quiz/assault course combo. Guests include Jamie Redknapp, Freddie Flintoff, Jimmy Carr and Jack Whitehall. David Stubbs Reported by guardian.co.uk 20 hours ago.
7.45pm, ESPN
*
The dosh-splashing French teams are transforming the European club game – and putting noses out of joint – with Heineken Cup-holders Toulon leading the way. Toulon boast Bryan Habana, Bakkies Botha, Matt Giteau and rugby's best-paid player Jonny Wilkinson. Not to be outdone, Racing have their own dream team, with Lions heroes Jamie Roberts and Jonny Sexton spearheading an all-star attack. The two meet in this highly-anticipated early season clash. Lanre Bakare
*Proms On Four: Friday Night At The Proms
7.30pm, BBC4
*
Nigel Kennedy performs Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. It was his 1989 recording of these concertos which established him as both an exciting, irreverent musician and – to some – an iconoclastic irritant. He's accompanied by two groups of younger musicians. One is the Orchestra Of Life, which the English violinist founded in 2010 in his adopted home of Krakow. The other is the Palestine Strings, comprised of players from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music. Andrew Mueller
**Paul Merton: World's Biggest Cruise Ship*
8pm, Channel 5
*
Paul Merton is the antithesis of the travel presenter, being someone manifestly uninterested in trying the scary local delicacy, and who, were this not paid work, would clearly have preferred to have stayed at home. In this instalment from his 2011 series on holidaying, he boards the Allure Of The Sea, the world's largest cruise ship. You would think a Caribbean cruise was a soft option to launch his quest with, but Merton's meetings with a tiger and the Jamaican dog-sled team serve to liven things up. John Robinson
**Reading Festival*
8pm, BBC3
*
Hide the loo roll, pour a bucket of water over your carpet, and warm up all your beer, because the BBC has a massive three-and-a-half hours of music from Reading. Greg James and Jen Long present coverage of folk's most tolerably earnest singer-songwriter Frank Turner on the Main Stage, and electropop outfit Bastille on the Radio 1/NME stage. Then Billie Joe Armstrong leads Green Day out to close the Main Stage from 9pm, playing songs from recent release ¡Tré! and hopefully, plenty of hits. Issy Sampson
**How To Be A World Music Star: Buena Vista, Bhundu Boys And Beyond*
9pm, BBC4
*
"Where do you put two albums as diverse as a Bulgarian tractor factory workers' choir, and a guitar-slinging hotshot from Guinea-Bissau?" Andy Kershaw there, on the problems facing 80s record shops trying to market a new influx of fascinating music. Calling it the quaint (if not downright patronising) "world music" solved that; as this one-off explains, the rest is history, from Nusrat to Ofra Haza. It's followed by a compilation, The A-Z Of World Music. Ali Catterall
*Big School
9pm, BBC1
*
David Walliams's school-set sitcom limps on. Miss Postern is organising a talent show to raise money for Children In Need. So PE teacher Mr Gunn attempts his Keith Lemon impression, sad sack geography teacher Mr Barber sings a Welsh song, and Mr Church gets his oboe out. All the classroom tropes – the coarse PE guy, the hot new teacher, the boring chemistry teacher – are here, and not terribly funny. It makes you pine for Channel 4's far superior Teachers, from more than a decade ago. Bim Adewunmi
**The Burrowers: Animals Underground*
9pm, BBC2
*
Like Big Brother for burrowing mammals instead of deluded people, Chris Packham returns to the subterranean world to spy brazenly on unsuspecting voles, badgers and rabbits. It's a nuzzling frenzy as the baby rabbits begin to explore their artificially built burrow and orphaned badgers acclimatise to a synthetic sett, so anyone sensitive to internet-grade cuteness should be forewarned. It's all Packham can do to keep his excitement at an acceptable level, but his enthusiasm is infectious. Ben Arnold
*A League Of Their Own
9pm, Sky1
*
A boon for those feeling starved of James Corden on our screens, as he and the gang return with a new series of the sports challenge show, with Red and Blue teams pitted against one another in the usual series of challenges. These include everything from a game of one-on-one football in zorb suits to a matchmaking game involving improbable celebrities including Steven Gerrard and Kim Cattrall, culminating in a speed quiz/assault course combo. Guests include Jamie Redknapp, Freddie Flintoff, Jimmy Carr and Jack Whitehall. David Stubbs Reported by guardian.co.uk 20 hours ago.