TV tonight: Our highlights for Friday, September 8, 2023

(Image credit: BBC Studios/Kirsty Anderson)

On TV tonight, Mrs Brown's Boys returns for a new series, adult fairytale series The Changeling begins streaming on Apple TV Plus, Gogglebox returns for its 22nd series, Jane's off for more adventures in Japan in Jane McDonald: Lost in Japan, and Our Lives: Our Sea Forest explores the underwater spaces of the South coast. Here's what you shouldn't miss on TV Tonight.

Our hand-selected recommendations for what's on TV tonight include 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

Mrs Brown's Boys season 4, 9.30 pm, BBC One/iPlayer (box set)

Agnes Brown (Brendan O'Carroll) — (Image credit: BBC Studios/Kirsty Anderson)

Agnes (Brendan O’Carroll) is uncharacteristically down in the dumps when we return to Finglas for the first in a four-part run. She is feeling taken for granted by her nearest and dearest, and it’s up to the mouthy matriarch’s best friend Winnie (Eilish O’Carroll) to act as Mammy’s little helper and give Agnes’ children food for thought. With a quiet, poignant undercurrent about making sure your loved ones feel special – balanced out, of course, with sight gags (Agnes putting peppermint drops in her eyes is something to behold), playful props, slapstick, puns and trademark rude jokes – this is a triumphant return for O’Carroll
and co.

★★★★ ER

Gogglebox, 9 pm, Channel 4

Can you believe it’s been more than 10 years since Gogglebox became a part of our national consciousness and is now in its 22nd run? We never tire of hearing Britain’s best armchair critics – Stephen and Daniel, the Siddiquis, Jenny and Lee, and Pete and Sophie among them – review the latest TV offerings. We expect Bake Off: The Professionals, Bear Grylls and The Woman in the Wall to be on their radar, along with snacks, drinks and four-legged friends...

★★★ MC

The Changeling, Apple TV Plus

LaKeith Stanfield and Clarck Backo in The Changeling — (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

Based on the novel by Victor LaValle, who narrates, this series starts out as a love story before transforming into something darker. Smitten by librarian Emma (Clark Backo), book dealer Apollo (Knives Out’s LaKeith Stanfield) persistently asks her out until she says yes. Apollo is distraught to learn Emma is about to go to Brazil, but, when she returns, the pair are reunited, marry and have a son. Then, Emma starts to act strangely around her child and, after tragedy strikes, Apollo uncovers a strange and seemingly supernatural mystery with links to his childhood and Emma’s trip abroad. An absorbing mix of family drama and dark fairy-tale fantasy. The first three episodes are available from today.

★★★★ IM

Jane McDonald: Lost in Japan, 9 pm, Channel 5

We last saw Jane leaving Tokyo on a bullet train to Kyoto. As she glides calmly through a beautiful bamboo forest on a hand-pulled rickshaw, she’s visibly enjoying the tranquillity. ‘If Tokyo is go, go, go,’ she says, ‘then Kyoto is slow, slow, slow.’
For her next cultural experience she dresses up in a traditional kimono (worth an eye-watering $300,000) and takes a tea ceremony with geishas who engage her in a drinking game! A trip to Kyoto wouldn’t be complete without visiting the sacred torii gates at Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine. Afterwards, feeling Zen, she practises meditation with a monk, who has a surprising way of keeping her focused.

★★★ MC

Our Lives: Our Sea Forest, 7.30 pm (times vary), BBC One

Eric Smith in diving gear for Our Lives: Our Sea Forest — (Image credit: BBC/Big Wave/James Blake)

When most people hit retirement age, they look forward to a less strenuous life. Not 74-year-old Eric Smith, who has been freediving (going underwater without the aid of scuba gear) since he was 11. He’s had major concerns for his local undersea environment, between Brighton and Bognor Regis, because of the damage to the kelp beds he explored as a boy, and there’s also been less wildlife living off the kelp. This film sees Eric – and his daughter Catrine – freediving off the South Coast again, but, thanks to changes in trawler-fishing regulations, there are now cuttlefish, huge stingrays and angel sharks making an appearance. ‘Give nature a bit of space,’ says Eric, ‘and it’ll come back.’

★★★★★ NC

Best box set on TV tonight

One Piece, Netflix

Main One Piece cast, from left to right: Sanji (Taz Skylar), Roronoa Zoro (Mackenyu Arata), Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy), Nami (Emily Rudd), and Usopp (Jacob Romero Gibson) — (Image credit: Netflix)

All aboard for Netflix’s live-action and action-packed seafaring show, based on Eiichiro Oda’s acclaimed manga series. The eight-part comedy adventure stars Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy, an unflappable dreamer with supernatural rubber-like properties, who is determined to find the fabled piece of treasure and become king of the pirates.

As leader of a ragtag band of misfits known as The Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy and his shipmates on the Going Merry use their distinct skills to defend themselves against unpredictable villains such as deranged clown pirate Buggy. Starring Jeff Ward, Emily Rudd and Craig Fairbrass. Narrated by Ian McShane.

Best film on TV tonight

The Meg, 10.10 pm, 5Star

Jason Statham in The Meg. — (Image credit: Warner Brothers)

With The Meg 2 still making a splash at the box office, here's a perfect chance to see the film that started it all. In The Meg, a massive creature attacks a deep-sea submersible, leaving the crew of the disabled vessel trapped at the bottom of the Pacific. Rescue diver Jonas Taylor is hired to save the crew from a 75-foot-long prehistoric shark called the Megalodon. Director Jon Turteltaub's action thriller, starring Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Rainn Wilson and Ruby Rose