TV tonight: our highlights for Monday 7th December

TV tonight Coronation Street: 60 Unforgettable Years

Coronation Street: 60 Unforgettable Years is just one of the gems on today...

Corrie celebrates its 60th birthday with a special documentary, The Vicar of Dibley is back with the first of three lockdown specials, and Hospital looks at how the second wave of COVID-19 has hit the NHS. Here's what you shouldn’t miss 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 Vicar of Dibley in Lockdown, 8.50pm, BBC1

TV tonight The Vicar of Dibley in Lockdown

Hugo helps Geraldine during lockdown

Dawn French is bound to raise a smile or two by bringing back her popular Vicar of Dibley character Geraldine for a three-part series of short ‘zoom sermons’, which are set pre-lockdown, during lockdown and post-lockdown. Geraldine will be helped by Hugo (James Fleet) and by local schoolchildren with theories on Dynamo walking down a huge building. At one point the jolly vicar will be singing The Sound of Music on a hill! It’s great to have some Dibley back in our lives. 

★★★★ NC

Coronation Street: 60 Unforgettable Years, 8.30pm, ITV

This week is a very special one for Coronation Street as the soap celebrates its 60th anniversary. In this documentary narrated by Joanna Lumley (who appeared in the show in 1973 as Elaine Perkins, a girlfriend of Ken’s) stars past and present talk us through everything from their first audition to their favourite storylines, and there’ll be some behind-the-nets secrets on offer too. And, of course, there’ll be a deep dive into the archive for magic moments that had millions of us hooked… 

★★★★ SP

Hospital, 9pm, BBC2

TV tonight Hospital

ITU consultant Nick Macartney

‘I’m fighting breast cancer so I’ll fight this too,’ says mum-of-two Greta about her recent COVID-19 diagnosis. Told in March she had breast cancer, she faced chemo alone during the first wave of the pandemic and now she’s battling the virus while waiting for a mastectomy. The emphasis of this episode is how the second wave compares to the first and how hopefully new treatments will improve the outcome for as many people as possible. Another hard-hitting episode that illuminates the amazing bravery of patients and NHS staff as they continue the fight against this relentless disease. 

★★★★★ JL

Best box set to watch on TV tonight

The IT Crowd, seasons one to four, All 4/Netflix

TV tonight The IT Crowd

Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade and Katherine Parkinson star

Richard Ayoade, Chris O’Dowd and Katherine Parkinson star in this BAFTA-winning sitcom set in the IT department of a large corporation. The geeks may be tech wizards, but they’re much less capable when it comes to social interaction.

Best film to watch on TV tonight

The Magnificent Seven, 10pm, Channel 5

Denzel Washington rides tall in the saddle in this remake of John Sturges’ classic 1960 Western – itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 epic Seven Samurai. Once again, a beleaguered community turns to a bunch of gunslingers – Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke and Vincent D’Onofrio among them – to defend themselves against a rapacious enemy. The movie is hardly another classic, but the amiable cast are terrific and it does deliver when it comes to the final showdown.

Live sport

  • Premier League Football 7pm (k-o 8pm), Sky Sports Premier League/NOW TV

Soaps on TV tonight

If you watch just one thing on TV tonight… 

Don't miss Coronation Street: 60 Unforgettable Years on TV tonight – celebrating an institution

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

Happy viewing!