TV Tonight: Our highlights for New Year's Eve

Programme Name: The Graham Norton New Year’s Eve Show - TX: n/a - Episode: Graham Norton New Years Special 2020 - Christmas Announcement (No. Christmas Announcement) - Picture Shows: Graham Norton - (C) So Television - Photographer: Christopher Baines (Image credit: BBC/So Television/Christopher Baines)

Graham Norton and his star-studded New Year's Eve special is just one of the gems tonight...

Graham Norton sees out 2020 with a special New Year's Eve episode while Jools Holland is back with his annual Hootenanny to welcome in 2021. Here's what else you shouldn’t miss 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

Graham Norton, 10.25pm, BBC1

Graham Norton TV Tonight

Graham is back with a celeb-packed New Year's Eve special (Picture: BBC/So Television/Christopher Baines)

A bumper edition of the show to round off 2020 welcomes guests including Tom Hanks, Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan and Jessica Chastain. There's music from Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who kept us entertained during lockdown with her 'kitchen disco', Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall has advice for those who might be diving into healthy-eating resolutions tomorrow, and Nish Kumar looks back over the year.  ★★★★ JP

The Great British Sewing Bee, 8pm, BBC1

The Great British Sewing Bee TV Tonight

The Great British Sewing Bee is back for another festive special (Picture: BBC/Love Productions/Mark Bourdillon) (Image credit: BBC/Love Productions/Mark Bourdillon)

Four more celebrities enter the sewing room to bring some much-needed cheer to the end of 2020. Actors Lesley Joseph and Sally Phillips, plus presenter Sabrina Grant and drag queen The Vivienne are tasked with making a child's party skirt. After waistband worries and hitched with hems, they then transform old clothes into a panto character, with hilarious results. Finally the stars create a New Year's Eve party dress, inspired by their own memories. There are lashings of glitter, gold and velvet, and then there is Sally's dress - which has its own tale to tell. ★★★★ JL

Jools' Annual Hootenanny, 11.15pm, BBC2

Jools Holland's Hootenanny has become a New Year's Eve fixture, but social-distance restrictions mean that the studio will be different this year. So while there'll be live music from Jools, plus a few guests, there's also a look at archive performances from pervious years. If you're still up at 1.20am then there are more archive performances from Glastonbury Tea Time Legends including Dame Shirley Bassey and Kylie Minogue. ★★★ JP

Best box set to watch on TV tonight

The Fall, BBC iPlayer, series 1 to 3

TV tonight The Fall

Jamie Dornan stars alongside Gillian Anderson in chilling BBC crime drama, The Fall (Picture: BBC) (Image credit: BBC/Artists Studio/Steffan Hill)

If you're looking for a gripping new box set to get your teeth into this Christmas, then look no further than The Fall on BBC iPlayer. The series, set in Northern Ireland, sees DSI Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) called in to solve a grisly Belfast murder. The series also stars Jamie Dornan, better known as Christian Grey in the Fifty Shades film series, who gives a chilling portrayal of killer Paul Spector.

Best film to watch on TV tonight

Trolls World Tour, 10am and 8pm, Sky Cinema Premier and NOW TV

Back with day-glo visuals and eternal peppiness, this Trolls sequel - thanks to Covid-19 - became a smash hit without even hitting cinemas. The CGI pencil toppers are off on another adventure to band together music tribes in order to stop Rachel Bloom's Queen Barb taking over the aural spectrum with nothing but hard rock. Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake are Poppy and Branch, meeting the likes of Sam Rockwell and funk god George Clinton along the way to unite in favour of tolerance. Good, sugary family fun.  ★★★ NP

Soaps on TV tonight

  • Emmerdale, 7.30pm
  • EastEnders, 7.30pm
  • Coronation Street, 8.30pm

If you watch just one thing on TV tonight… 

Don't miss Graham Norton and his star-studded New Year's Eve special - the best way to see out 2020.

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

Happy viewing!

Claire Crick
Assistant Managing Editor at What To Watch

Claire is Assistant Managing Editor at What To Watch and has been a journalist for over 15 years, writing about everything from soaps and TV to beauty, entertainment, and even the Royal Family. After starting her career at a soap magazine, she ended up staying for 13 years, and over that time she’s pulled pints in the Rovers Return, sung karaoke in the Emmerdale village hall, taken a stroll around Albert Square, and visited Summer Bay Surf Club in sunny Australia. 

After learning some tricks of the trade at websites Digital Spy, Entertainment Daily, and Woman & Home, Claire landed a role at What’s On TV and whattowatch.com writing about all things TV and film, with a particular love for Aussie soaps, Strictly Come Dancing and Bake Off

She’s interviewed everyone from June Brown — AKA Dot Cotton — to Michelle Keegan, swapped cooking tips with baking legend Mary Berry backstage at the NTAs, and danced the night away with soap stars at countless awards bashes. There’s not a lot she doesn’t know about soaps and TV and can be very handy when a soapy question comes up in a pub quiz! 

As well as all things soap-related, Claire also loves running, spa breaks, days out with her kids, and getting lost in a good book.