TV tonight: our highlights for Wednesday 5th August

TV tonight Paul O'Grady For the Love of Dogs: What Happened Next

Paul O'Grady For the Love of Dogs is just one of the gems on today...

Paul O'Grady has his final catch-up with some of his favourite rescues in For the Love of Dogs: What Happened Next, Dr Michael Mosley shows us how to Lose A Stone in 21 Days, and period drama Harlots comes to BBC2. 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

Lose a Stone in 21 Days with Michael Mosley, 9pm, C4

TV tonight Lose a Stone in 21 Days with Michael Mosley

Michael and his team of dieters

According to Dr Michael Mosley, two thirds of Brits have put on weight in the past four months, overindulging to combat the stress and worry of lockdown. Well, the doctor has decided enough is enough. Determined to stop our bad habits becoming permanent, he’s come up with a three-part series designed to shift our love handles and boost our immune systems. He’s even doing the diet himself. Michael’s insistence that we need to improve our health to prepare against a possible second wave of coronavirus is hard to ignore. 

★★★★ RF

Paul O'Grady For the Love of Dogs: What Happened Next, 8pm, ITV

TV tonight Paul O'Grady For the Love of Dogs: What Happened Next

Cookie now has a new career!

Paul O’Grady has met a lot of troubled canines at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home since this documentary series began in 2012. In the final episode of catch-ups, the presenter is reunited with more of his past favourites and finds out what happened after the dogs found new homes. Tonight’s pets include Poppy, who was born with a missing paw but now has a prosthetic leg. Plus there’s Cookie the staffie, who has since become a police sniffer dog! Do you remember the anxious dog, Whisper? Get weepy as Whisper is reunited with the Battersea staff member who helped rescue her. 

★★★★ ST

Harlots, from 9pm, BBC2

TV tonight Harlots

Samantha Morton as brothel madam Margaret

Set in 18th-century London, this eight-part drama (first shown on ITV Encore) centres on the rivalry between two brothel madams. Samantha Morton plays Margaret Wells, who’s desperate to elevate her tired establishment, while Lesley Manville is her rival, Lydia Quigley, who has amassed riches running the high-class House of Earthly Delights. Their rivalry stems from a dark past, which draws in everyone around them in a tale of lust, betrayal and revenge. 

★★★ HD

Best box set to watch

Black-ish, seasons 1-5, Amazon Prime Video

TV tonight Black-ish

Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross star

An entertaining family sitcom that also wittily weaves issues about race into its storylines. African-American couple Dre (Anthony Anderson) and Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross) raise their children in a predominantly white neighbourhood. 

Best film to watch on TV tonight

King of Thieves, 10pm, Channel 5

TV tonight King of Thieves

Michael Caine and Ray Winstone star

Against expectations, this big-screen adaptation of 2015’s notorious Hatton Garden Robbery hasn’t turned the gang’s exploits into a cosy Lavender Hill Mob-style heist movie. Instead, you’ll find British national treasures Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay, Jim Broadbent, Michael Gambon and Ray Winstone lobbing f-bombs and c-grenades at one another. Far from being a bunch of lovable rogues, the robbers come across here as fairly nasty pieces of work.

Live sport

  • Cricket: England v Pakistan First Test from 10am, Sky Sports Cricket (highlights, 7pm, BBC2)

Soaps on TV tonight

If you watch just one thing on TV tonight… 

Don't miss Paul O'Grady For the Love of Dogs on TV tonight – brave pooches galore!

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

Happy viewing!