TV tonight: our highlights for Thursday 15th October

Taskmaster is just one of the gems on today...

Comedy game show Taskmaster moves from Dave to C4, Lee Mack co-hosts new reality show The Chop, and glitzy drama Riviera is back on Sky Atlantic. Here’s what you shouldn’t miss on TV tonight.

Our hand-selected recommendations for what's on TV tonight include three TV shows, live sport, a film 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

The Chop, 9pm, Sky History/NOW TV

TV tonight The Chop — Wood you believe it? Rick, Lee and William

This carpentry contest sees top woodworkers competing to win their own exhibition at London’s William Morris Gallery. This week’s theme is furniture for a Frontier cabin, and sees them knocking up everything from a saddle stand to a boot rack. A familiar face from Amazing Spaces, master craftsman William Hardie, presides over the challenges, alongside presenter Rick Edwards. However the real star of the show is co-host Lee Mack, whose hilarious commentary is worth tuning in for, even if you’ve never so much as put up a shelf.

★★★ IM

Taskmaster, 9pm, C4

Taskmaster jumps from Dave to C4, and despite a few COVID-necessary alterations (tasks were filmed pre-lockdown, but the studio segment was recorded later without an audience), it’s still the same delightful, daft show. The contenders are Johnny Vegas, This Country’s Daisy May Cooper, The IT Crowd’s Katherine Parkinson and stand-up stars Mawaan Rizwan and Richard Herring. They all throw themselves into Greg Davies and Alex Horne’s tasks with gusto, and one that involves egg-transporting turns out to be a triumph for a previously thwarted Johnny…

★★★★★ SP

Riviera, 9pm, Sky Atlantic/NOW TV

TV tonight Riviera — Georgina teams up with Gabriel in Venice

We are all in need of some escapism and glamour right now and the return of this glossy thriller for a third run is just the ticket. Art expert Georgina (Julia Stiles) has, perhaps wisely, shunned her troubled life in the South of France to lecture on stolen art. But she is drawn into danger when charming Gabriel Hirsch (a great turn from Sherlock’s Rupert Graves) asks her to help him investigate the dubious provenance of a Picasso in Venice and they swiftly become embroiled with a corrupt Argentinian family...

★★★★ CC

Best box set to watch

Rev, seasons one to three, BritBox

TV tonight Rev — Tom Hollander is the Rev

Us star Tom Hollander is equally engaging in this smartly written comedy as Anglican priest Adam Smallbone, who moves from a small rural parish to one in inner-city London. Olivia Colman co-stars as Adam’s solicitor wife, Alex.

Best film to watch on TV tonight

Sweet Country, 9pm, Film4

Aboriginal farmhand Hamilton Morris goes on the run after killing a white man in self-defence, hotly pursued by a local posse. Set in 1929 and inspired by true events, this visually striking, emotionally powerful Australian film is an outback Western with a compelling plot and a searing social conscience. There are striking performances, too, from Sam Neill as a compassionate farmer and Bryan Brown as a dogged policeman.