TV tonight: our highlights for Friday 23rd October

Celebrity Gogglebox is just one of the gems on today...

There's a special celebrity Gogglebox for Stand Up SU2C, German spy thriller The Same Sky comes to More4, and BBC4 tells the life story of Count Basie Through His Own Eyes. 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

The Same Sky, 9pm, More4/All4

TV tonight The Same Sky — Agent Lars: Licence to seduce

Set in the summer of 1974, this three-part spy thriller begins at the Stasi Espionage Training Centre in East Germany as agent Lars Weber (Tom Schilling) learns the questionable tricks of the trade for his first ‘Romeo’ assignment. Targeting females working at politically sensitive places, the ‘Romeos’ use their well-rehearsed charms to seduce secretaries and find out useful information. The sexism is jaw-dropping but of the time and we suspect Lars’ first target, 43-year-old Lauren, won’t be easily impressed by any cheesy chat up lines. In German with English subtitles.

★★★★ JL

Gogglebox: Celebrity Special for SU2C, 9pm, C4

Do you remember what a jaw-dropping moment it was to see Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Noel Gallagher sprawled on the sofa eating crisps and watching Downton Abbey? That was the first Gogglebox Stand Up to Cancer special in 2014 and there’s been one every year since. Tonight’s edition includes comedians Mo Gilligan and Babatunde Aleshe (pictured top), and a host of Gogglebox regulars, as they watch the latest TV plus several very moving SU2C short films. And, as usual, there’ll be a reminder of how you can donate.

★★★★ JP

Count Basie Through His Own Eyes, 9pm, BBC4

Celebrated band leader and composer Count Basie ‘was one of the most famous people in the world without anyone knowing very much at all about him,’ says jazz critic Gary Giddins. This film uses home movies, letters and photos from Basie’s wife Catherine to correct that. We see him in a dressing gown at Christmas, or in the pool with his beloved daughter Diane, who had cerebral palsy. But for most of the time, he was on the road, and fascinating footage from the 1920s onwards tells his story – including the appalling racism he faced while touring. A remarkable film about a remarkable man.

★★★★ JP

Best box set to watch

Strike, seasons one to four, BBC iPlayer

Following the recent fourth series on BBC1, now is the time to revisit the first three seasons of the detective drama based on the JK Rowling novels, written under the name Robert Galbraith, starring Tom Burke as private eye Cormoran Strike.

Best film to watch on TV tonight

Parasite, Amazon Prime Video

TV tonight Parasite — Siblings Ki-jung and Ki-woo pitch in to help the family

The first foreign-language film ever to win the Best Picture Oscar, Bong Joon Ho’s masterpiece is a deceptively simple story. It concerns a family of grifters (led by the irrepressible Song Kang Ho) who slowly ingratiate themselves and infiltrate the home of a tech millionaire through his fabulously glamorous, but thoroughly naïve wife (played wonderfully by Cho Yeo Jeong). There are secrets and lies everywhere, though… Supremely well-acted with a razor-sharp script, beautifully shot and masterfully directed, this is nigh-on cinematic perfection.

Live sport

Rugby League: Wigan Warriors v Salford Red Devils 5.15pm (k-o 5.30pm), Sky Sports Arena/NOW TV
Rugby League: St Helens v Leeds Rhinos 7.45pm (k-o 7.45pm), Sky Sports Arena/NOW TV
Rugby Union: Scotland v Georgia 7pm (k-o 7.30pm), ITV4
Championship Football: Nottingham Forest v Derby County 7pm (k-o 7.45pm), Sky Sports Football/NOW TV