TV tonight: our highlights for Friday, 2 July 2021

TV tonight: Michael Bublé sings at the BBC. (Image credit: BBC)

On TV tonight sing along to Bublé at the BBC, marvel at the beautiful wildlife in Scotland: A Year in the Wild on Channel 5 and learn all about Picasso's Weeping Woman in Great Paintings of the World also on Channel 5. 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

Bublé at the BBC, 11.30pm, BBC4

BBC4 loves a theme on Fridays – 1 July is Canada Day, and to mark it there’s a new programme at 9.30pm, Canadian Hits at the BBC. At 10.30pm you can see
kd lang: BBC Four Session and, later at 12.30am, In Concert: Gordon Lightfoot, but we’d like to bet that many people’s favourite Canadian singer is Michael Bublé. At 11.30pm it’s Bublé at the BBC, a special concert recorded in 2016 and presented by Claudia Winkleman.

★★★ JP

Scotland: A Year in the Wild, 7pm, Channel 5

TV tonight: A red deer swims across a loch. — It's hot out there! A red deer takes a cooling dip in a Scottish loch. (Image credit: Channel 5)

This beautiful series follows the hardy Scottish wildlife as the summer sun warms the highlands, moorlands and islands. In the oak woods of the west coast two white-tailed eaglets take sibling rivalry to the extreme as they battle to be top chick. Deep in the Caledonian Forest a family of red squirrels search for food, while in the Highlands a new red deer calf has its first swimming lesson. On Shetland a young otter is in danger from an older male as agile gannets dive bomb into the sea at an impressive 60mph to catch a meal. Narrated by John Hannah.

★★★★ JL

Great Paintings of the World with Andrew Marr, 9pm, Channel 5

TV tonight: Andrew Marr in front of Picasso's Weeping Woman. — Andrew Marr in front of Picasso's *Weeping Woman*. (Image credit: Channel 5)

In 1937 Pablo Picasso painted Weeping Woman – a striking depiction of grief and torment like the world had never seen before. Andrew reveals Picasso was inspired by the devastating attack on the city of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, where a third of the population was killed. He also reveals the importance of women in Picasso’s life, especially Dora Maar, a fellow artist who was instrumental in the creation of Weeping Women. Finally, Andrew explains what happened when the painting was stolen from the London home of a private collector and how close it came to being lost forever.

★★★★ JL

Best box set to watch on TV tonight

Professor T, season one, BritBox

TV tonight: Ben Miller in new ITV drama Professor T — Ben Miller as Jasper Tempest in crime drama Professor T. (Image credit: ITV)

Ben Miller stars as Jasper Tempest, a brilliant, quirky University of Cambridge criminology lecturer with OCD who is recruited as a police consultant by equally talented DI Lisa Donckers (Bridgerton's Emma Naomi). They make a fine investigative duo in a very watchable crime drama. In the opening episode, Jasper helps the police when a woman is attacked on campus.

Best film to watch on TV tonight

The Ice Road, Amazon Prime Video

TV tonight: Liam Neeson as trucker Mike McCann. — Liam Neeson as trucker Mike McCann. (Image credit: Amazon Prime Video)

This high-octane action-adventure, inspired by the French classic The Wages of Fear, sees Liam Neeson as a tough trucker driven to extremes. The Irish actor plays Mike McCann, a toothpick-chewing, down-on-his-luck former ice-road driver, who embarks on a life-or-death rescue mission to save 26 men who are trapped in a diamond mine. But it’s a race against time, as the miners are running out of air after a methane explosion. For the men to have any chance of surviving, McCann and a ragtag team of other truck drivers must deliver some vital rescue equipment within 30 hours – but will the drivers be able to navigate the treacherous melting ice roads in time?

Live sport

UEFA Euro 2020 Switzerland v Spain, 4.15pm (k-o 5pm), ITV
UEFA Euro 2020 Belgium v Italy, 7.30pm (k-o 8pm), BBC1
Wimbledon 2021, 11am, BBC2
Wimbledon 2021, 1.45pm, BBC1

How to watch Euro 2020 online from anywhere

Soaps on TV tonight

Emmerdale, 7.30pm, ITV
Coronation Street, 8pm and 8.30pm, ITV
Hollyoaks, 6.30pm, C4

If you watch just one thing on TV tonight…

Don't miss Bublé at the BBC on TV tonight – and singalong to all his greatest hits!

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

Happy viewing! And don't forget to check out Bingewatch — the brilliant podcast for TV addicts.

Joanne Lowles has been writing about TV since 2002. After graduating from Cardiff University with a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism, she worked for All About Soap magazine covering the ups and downs of life on the cobbles, the square and the Dales.

Next came nearly 10 years at TV Times magazine as a writer and then deputy features editor. Here she spent many happy days interviewing the biggest names in entertainment and visiting the sets of some of our most popular shows including Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife and Strictly Come Dancing.

With a love of nature and wildlife she’s also interviewed the leading experts in this area including David Attenborough, Chris Packham and Steve Backshall. She’s also travelled the world visiting Mongolia, Canada and South Africa to see how the best in the business make the most brilliant natural history documentaries.

Freelance since 2013, she is now is a digital writer and editor for What to Watch, previews the best on the box for TV Times mag each week and loves being constantly surprised, entertained and informed by the amazing TV that she is lucky enough to watch.