What’s on telly tonight? Our pick of the best shows on Thursday 16th August

Celebrity Big Brother - Picture shows: Presenter Rylan Clark-Neal and Emma Willis

TV Times top picks for tonight

What’s on telly tonight? Here the TV Times team of expert reviewers highlight the best shows on Thursday 16th August

Celebrity Big Brother, 9pm, Channel 5

It’s back – for what could be the final time – and this year’s theme is Eye of the Storm. So expect a tempestuous whirlwind of emotions as more celebrities are forced together under the watchful Big Brother eye for 24 hours a day. Rumoured inmates include the aptly named Stormy Daniels, and the Duchess of Sussex’s half-sister, Samantha Markle. One thing’s for sure, Emma Willis will be hosting, with Rylan Clark-Neal’s companion show CBB’s Bit on the Side on next. Rating: ***

Inventing the Impossible, 8pm, BBC2

Inventors Ross and Akram are in Bristol to try to help 26-year-old Greg. Five years ago he was in a car crash and became paralysed from the neck down. Greg can’t press the buttons on pedestrian crossings or pay for things in shops without giving over his card and pin. In Cornwall, 11-year-old Malachi and family are struggling to cope with his Tourette’s, ADHD and autism. Zoe and Ryan are on the case to invent something to help ease Malachi’s debilitating tics. Finally, experts Haiyan and Yusuf are looking for a way to help four-year-old Jasper get stronger after a terrible illness left him with paralysed lower legs. The results, as always, are cutting edge, innovative and life changing. Rating: ****

Searching for Mum, 9pm, BBC2

Abandoned outside a hospital in Sri Lanka, Rebecca was three months old when she was adopted by a British couple and taken to live in the UK. In the first of a two-part series following adoptees, Rebecca, now 38 years old and a mum of four, sets off on an emotionally charged journey back to Sri Lanka where she hopes to find her birth mother. ‘I have always felt a big part of me was missing,’ says Rebecca, who has already made two previous visits to the country but with no success. Meanwhile, 27-year-old Ria from Scotland – one of 11,000 babies also adopted from Sri Lanka – is on a separate mission to find her birth mother. Powerful viewing. Rating: ****

More previews tomorrow

David Hollingsworth
Editor

David is the What To Watch Editor and has over 20 years of experience in television journalism. He is currently writing about the latest television and film news for What To Watch.


Before working for What To Watch, David spent many years working for TV Times magazine, interviewing some of television's most famous stars including Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, singer Lionel Richie and wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough. 


David started out as a writer for TV Times before becoming the title's deputy features editor and then features editor. During his time on TV Times, David also helped run the annual TV Times Awards. David is a huge Death in Paradise fan, although he's still failed to solve a case before the show's detective! He also loves James Bond and controversially thinks that Timothy Dalton was an excellent 007.


Other than watching and writing about telly, David loves playing cricket, going to the cinema, trying to improve his tennis and chasing about after his kids!