On TV tonight, Professor Brian Cox fulfils a childhood dream in Brian Cox: Seven Days on Mars on BBC Two, new drama The Summer I Turned Pretty arrives on Prime Video and Aussie comedy Bump begins on BBC One. Romesh Ranganathan's comedy Avoidance continues on BBC One as Sky Arts celebrates the beginning of festival season with coverage of The Isle of Wight Festival 2022. Here’s what you shouldn’t miss on TV tonight.
- Our hand selected recommendations for what's on TV tonight include five 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
Brian Cox: Seven Days on Mars, 9pm, BBC Two
Back in 1980, a 12-year-old Brian Cox wrote to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California asking for photos of space, their reply was one of the things that inspired him to become a physicist. Now, more than 40 years later, he’ll finally get the chance to step inside JPL’s hallowed control centre in this remarkable film that follows NASA’s Perseverance rover 200 million miles across space, as it explores the Red Planet. The images are truly breathtaking, and Brian hopes the mission’s search for life on Mars could also reveal how life begins across the universe and mankind’s origins.
★★★★★ SMA
The Summer I Turned Pretty, Prime Video
The wait is finally over for fans of this 2009 YA romance novel from author Jenny Han, whose To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before franchise has already spawned a string of hit Netflix films. Based on the first book in Han’s Summer trilogy, the series follows once-gawky Isabel ‘Belly’ Conklin (Lola Tung), 16, who spends every summer with brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah Fisher (Gavin Casalegno). Only this year, Belly gets caught up in a sizzling love triangle with the Fisher boys… The drama also dissects the lifelong friendship between Belly’s mother, Laurel (Jackie Chung), and the boys’ mother, Susannah (Peep Show star Rachel Blanchard).
★★★★ RM
Bump, season 2, from 10.40pm, BBC One
Teen mum Olympia ‘Oly’ Chalmers-Davis (Nathalie Morris) returns to deliver more laughs in a second series of Australia’s smash-hit comedy-drama. After shocking herself and those who know her by giving birth to a baby girl, Oly is now juggling motherhood with straight-A grades and a complicated relationship with Santi. Meanwhile, Oly’s mum Angie (co-creator Claudia Karvan) navigates her separation from husband Dom following her dalliance with Santi’s dad, Matias. A clever comedy that’s full of heart. Series one is on BBC iPlayer.
★★★★ RM
Avoidance, 9.30pm, BBC One
Last week’s opener saw Jonathan (Romesh Ranganathan) in denial about his split from long-term partner Claire. He’s still not facing up to reality and is skiving off his job and driving his sister-in-law crazy. There’s a silver lining when his nine-year-old son, Spencer (Kieran Logendra), is invited to a laser tag party by the school’s ‘coolest’ pupil, Jed. Jonathan’s so excited he goes along too, but soon causes mayhem with his dodgy game plan!
★★★★ TL
Isle of Wight Festival 2022, 7pm, Sky Arts/NOW
After many music festivals were cancelled or postponed in 2020 and 2021, this summer they’re back. Sky’s coverage of this year’s Isle of Wight Festival begins tonight with sets from Lewis Capaldi, Nile Rodgers & Chic and Madness, with Kasabian, The Proclaimers, Blossoms and Muse to come over the weekend.
★★★ JP
Best box set to watch on TV tonight
Hacks, season 2, Prime Video
The delay between the first series of this acerbic yet warm-hearted comedy being shown in the US and the UK was such that it had already won a clutch of awards before being screened here. But it also means that fans haven’t had to wait too long for this second series, which sees veteran comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her chaotic twentysomething joke-writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) take to the road. Their relationship has never been better – but there’s a cloud hanging over them….
Best film to watch on TV tonight
Spiderhead, Netflix
This sci-fi movie stars Chris Hemsworth as a creepy researcher running a state-of-the-art prison where volunteer inmates wear surgically attached devices allowing dangerous, mood-altering drugs to be adminstered in exchange for lesser sentences. Inmates Lizzy (Lovecraft Country’s Jurnee Smollett) and Jeff (Top Gun: Maverick’s Miles Teller) form a connection, but as they are distanced further and further from their real emotions, can the pair escape with their lives intact?
Live Sport
- US Open Golf, 1pm, Sky Sports Main Event/NOW
Soaps on TV tonight
- Emmerdale, 7.30pm, ITV
- Coronation Street, 8pm, ITV
- Hollyoaks, 6.30pm, C4
- Neighbours, 6pm, Channel 5
- Home and Away, 6pm & 6.30pm, 5Star
If you watch just one thing on TV tonight…
Don't miss Brian Cox: Seven Days on Mars on TV tonight — Brian Cox goes on an out of this world adventure.
Not found anything you want to watch on TV tonight? Check out our TV Guide.
Happy viewing!
