TV tonight: our highlights for Wednesday 12th August

(Image credit: BBC/Blast! Films)

Reported Missing is just one of the gems on today...

BBC1's Reported Missing returns for a new series, Michael Portillo embarks on another one of his Great Continental Railway Journeys, and Channel 5 remembers Diana: Her Last Summer. Here’s what you shouldn’t miss on TV tonight.

Our hand-selected recommendations for what's on TV tonight include three TV shows, a film, live sport and the latest trending need-to-binge-on-now box set
Keep up to date with the latest soap spoiler storylines on TV tonight with our daily soap synopsis
For more information about what’s on TV tonight see our TV Guide

What's on TV tonight

Our expert TV journalists have picked the best things on TV tonight...

Best TV shows on TV tonight

Great Continental Railway Journeys, 8pm, BBC2

TV tonight Great Continental Railway Journeys — Michael Portillo at the Berlin Wall

Michael Portillo packs a lot into this leg of his travels as he journeys from Berlin to Stuttgart in Germany. At the time of his 1936 guidebook, it was a tumultuous period and Michael begins at the Reichstag, where Hitler’s rise to power was realised. He also charts the vibrant and liberal arts scene that existed in the 1920s and 30s, visits historic Nuremberg and ends his trip in Stuttgart, at the impressive Porsche Museum.

★★★★ JL

Reported Missing, 9pm (times vary), BBC1

It’s a startling fact that every two minutes, someone in Britain is reported missing, but each case has a different story behind it. As this series returns, cameras follow an operation after Cheshire Police are told of the disappearance of Mark Smith, a former soldier with PTSD and founder of a veterans’ association. His wife and friends are worried as he didn’t take his phone and wallet, and left posts on social media about ending it all. The police, meanwhile, are aware of the risk of approaching a trained soldier in a volatile state.

★★★ JP

Diana: Her Last Summer, 9pm, Channel 5

It seems there’ll never be a time when Diana, Princess of Wales isn’t a hot topic. This autumn, she’s due to loom large in the new series of The Crown and will no doubt be remembered next summer in the year she would have turned 60. Channel 5 has a series of films on Diana this week, starting with a look at events in the summer of 1997. Divorced from Prince Charles, she was – according to contributors including Jennie Bond – learning to stand on her own two feet and making friends, as well as secretly dating a heart surgeon. Then came an invitation to stay on Mohamed Al-Fayed’s yacht…

★★★ JP

Best box set to watch

Kingdom, seasons 1-3, Netflix

Mixed martial arts drama with tough fight scenes and involving storylines. Ex-fighter and gym owner Alvey Kulina (Frank Grillo) trains fighters alongside his two sons – Nate (Nick Jonas), who’s secretly gay, and hard-partying Jay (Jonathan Tucker).

Best film to watch on TV tonight

Evolution, 6.55pm, Film4

A meteorite brings an alien life force to Earth which has rapid powers of evolution. At first, scientists David Duchovny and Orlando Jones are looking at single cell creatures and then, only days later, they’re dealing with teeming insects, giant flying reptiles and malevolent apes. A manic feast of ripe wisecracks and slapstick-fuelled effects, this farcical sci-fi thriller hits all the right comedy buttons.