CLASSIC FILM CHOICE

LILIES OF THE FIELD

(1963) U ● Sunday, 3.30pm, BBC2 ★★★★ Sidney Poitier, who died earlier this year at the grand age of 94, was an actor with an impressive and varied body of work. After his breakout role in the 1955 social drama Blackboard Jungle, he was Oscar-nominated for 1958’s The Defiant Ones, but his Academy win came for this comedy drama – as a handyman (above) building a chapel for nuns in Arizona – making him the first black person to win the Best Actor Oscar. He continued his run of success with a bumper batch of celebrated films in 1967 – Best Picture Oscar-winner In The Heat Of The Night (10pm, BBC2), To Sir, With Love and Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner. A winner at awards ceremonies and at the box office, Poitier will for ever be remembered for helping to break down race barriers in Hollywood – and beyond.