TV tonight: our highlights for Wednesday 20th May

Tv tonight The Great British Sewing Bee
(Image credit: BBC/Love Productions)

The Great British Sewing Bee is just one of the gems on today...

The Great British Sewing Bee gets racy and lacy, C4 investigates loneliness during the Covid-19 crisis in Old, Alone and Stuck at Home, and BBC4 tells the story of Jesse Dufton, who is Climbing Blind. 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 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

Old, Alone and Stuck At Home, 9pm, C4

TV tonight Old, Alone and Stuck At Home

Lockdown has been particularly isolating for the over 70s

A film capturing life under lockdown for some of those who are aged 70-plus and shielding themselves from the outside world. The pandemic has forced many to make difficult decisions about how to keep themselves and loved ones safe, like Patricia, who is desperately missing her two-year-old granddaughter, and Chris and Yvonne, who are worried about their disabled daughter who lives in a care home. Technology is helping many people keep in touch, but with no end in sight yet at the time of going to press, how will this extended period of self-isolation affect some of the most vulnerable people in society? 

★★★ JL

The Great British Sewing Bee, 9pm, BBC1

TV tonight The Great British Sewing Bee

Joe's not keeping his creation under wraps

Want to know about lingerie and sleepwear week? We’ve got you covered. But can the same be said for the models in the Made-to-measure Challenge when contestants are tasked with making a lacy two-piece? Before this, the sewers create a boned basque in the Pattern Challenge – where judge Patrick Grant declares someone has made ‘one of the biggest clangers’ in the history of Sewing Bee. Ooh, he’s been getting put-down lessons from Joe Lycett. Will there be more slip-ups when they turn old pyjamas and nighties into summer outfits? Hopefully not all will be revealed. 

★★★★ ER

Climbing Blind, 9pm, BBC4

TV tonight Climbing Blind

Jesse during his climb

I’m not disabled, I’m blind and able,’ says climber Jesse Dufton in this extraordinary film, which follows him as he becomes the first blind person to lead a climb up The Old Man of Hoy, a 140m-high stack of rocks off Orkney. While his climbing ability, courage and strength are pretty mind-blowing, so is his relationship with his wife, Molly. She acts as his eyes, communicating with him via a radio as he hangs perilously off sheer rock faces, while she calmly tells him where the best holds are. 

★★★★★ JL

Best box set to watch 

Doctor Foster, two seasons, BritBox and Netflix

TV tonight Doctor Foster

Suranne Jones as Doctor Foster

There’s the chance to see Killing Eve star Jodie Comer in a more conventional role – as the younger woman who GP Gemma (Suranne Jones) is convinced her husband Simon (Bertie Carvel) is having an affair with in this compelling drama of a marriage falling apart.

Best film to watch on TV tonight

A Beautiful Mind, 6.10pm, Film4

TV tonight A Beautiful Mind

Russell Crowe as mathematician John Nash

This glossy and riveting (as well as Oscar-winning) take on the life of schizophrenic mathematician John Nash (Russell Crowe) uses a clever conceit to show the world through his eyes, which involves conspiracy and a top CIA operative (Ed Harris) co-opting Nash into espionage. Nash’s wife (Jennifer Connelly) slowly begins to see the state that her husband’s mind is in, enlisting a top psychiatrist (Christopher Plummer) to bring him back to the real world. 

Soaps on TV tonight

If you watch just one thing on TV tonight… 

Don't miss The Great British Sewing Bee on TV tonight – there'll be plenty of knickers in a twist.

Not found anything you want to watch on TV tonight? Check out our TV Guide. 

Happy viewing!