TV Tonight: our highlights for Monday, August 1

TV tonight – Fan favourites Ekin-Su and Davide.
Fan favourites Ekin-Su and Davide. (Image credit: ITV2)

On TV tonight, "I've got a text!" And it says the winner of Love Island 2022 will be announced tonight in Love Island 2022's live final on ITV2. Big budget sci-fi drama La Brea begins on Channel 5 and crime drama City on a Hill also returns to Paramount Plus. Elsewhere, the Scottish comic is off on her travels again in Susan Calman's Grand Week by the Sea on Channel 5, Cash in the Attic finds a new home on Channel 5 and a new series of MasterChef Australia cooks up a storm on W. Here’s what you shouldn’t miss on TV tonight.

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

Love Island: The Live Final, 9pm, ITV2

TV tonight Laura Whitmore hosts.

Laura Whitmore hosts the live final.  (Image credit: ITV)

After weeks of flirting, fighting and frequent shouts of "I’ve got a text!", the long-awaited final is here at last. But which couple will be taking home the £50,000 prize money they’ve all had their eye on since day one? This year’s series has been nothing short of dramatic, with fiery showdowns, brutal dumpings and shock recouplings after the Casa Amor bombshells turned many a head. Meanwhile, an explosive exit rocked the villa when Jacques left the show. Now, it just remains to be seen which couple will be crowned the Love Island 2022 winners tonight… 

★★★★ GM

La Brea, 10pm, Channel 5 & Paramount Plus

TV tonight A sinkhole reveals another world

A sinkhole reveals another world. (Image credit: Channel 5)

This big-budget sci-fi drama begins as a huge sinkhole appears below Los Angeles, dragging people, buildings and vehicles into an abyss. We follow Eve (Natalie Zea) as she and her son Josh (Jack Martin) are sucked into the hole and emerge into a strange land where they must band together with other survivors. Meanwhile, Eve’s estranged husband Gavin (Eoin Macken) and daughter Izzy (Zyra Gorecki) are left behind in the "real world" where everyone is trying to work out exactly what happened. 

★★★★ NH

City on a Hill, season 3, Paramount Plus

TV tonight Kevin Bacon stars.

Kevin Bacon stars. (Image credit: Paramount Plus)

Kevin Bacon returns as Jackie Rohr in a new run of the drama set in 90s Boston. Having quit the FBI and thrown his badge into Boston Harbour, Jackie is enjoying his life as head of security for a rich family, although his perfect job soon begins to unravel as secrets from the past are revealed and Jackie has to ask himself which side he is really on. Meanwhile, Assistant District Attorney Decourcy Ward (Aldis Hodge) thinks he’s found a way to mend the broken criminal justice system, and Siobhan Quays (Lauren E. Banks) takes on a distressing case representing a construction worker.

★★★★ JL

Susan Calman's Grand Week by the Sea, 8pm, Channel 5

TV tonight Debbie and Susan at Skegness

Debbie and Susan at Skegness. (Image credit: Channel 5)

After her globetrotting Cruising series, Susan Calman is back on British shores for a five-stop tour, starting in Skegness. In search of traditional seaside pursuits, the Scottish comic visits the amusement arcades, has a go at bingo and discovers the secret of perfect fish and chips, as well as getting an introduction to the world of Butlin’s redcoats. Special guest Debbie McGee reminisces about trips to Skegness with her magician husband Paul Daniels, and Susan talks her into a pirate-themed escape room challenge – then heads off to learn how to make rum with a twinkle in her eye. The series continues nightly with trips to the Isle of Wight, Weymouth, Tenby and Scarborough. 

★★★★ JPM

Two Doors Down, season 5, 10pm (NI, Tuesday), BBC Two

TV tonight Gail and Andy at Cathy and Colin’s for a post-holiday reunion.

Gail and Andy at Cathy and Colin’s for a post-holiday reunion. (Image credit: BBC)

There’s something supremely satisfying about seeing the residents of Latimer Crescent from an outsider’s point of view. And that’s done to great effect tonight when Julie Graham (Benidorm) and Kevin Harvey (Time) guest star as Gail and Andy. Desperate to impress, Cathy and Colin invite everyone around to meet the couple they befriended on holiday in Italy. As the duty free flows, Cathy and Colin go into overdrive and threaten to ruin their own evening by being themselves. While Gail and Andy quickly realise some things are best left on holiday! A corker of an episode… 

★★★★★ ER

Cash in the Attic, 6pm, Channel 5

TV tonight ‘Kammy’ and Jules present.

‘Kammy’ and Jules present. (Image credit: Channel 5)

Get ready to rummage! After a decade away, Cash in the Attic is back with a new home on Channel 5 and new presenters in the shape of Escape to the Country’s, Jules Hudson and football pundit Chris ‘Kammy’ Kamara. With daily programmes across the week, the duo take it in turns to host. Today’s opener sees an excitable Kammy head to Leamington Spa to meet Ian and his stepson, Bradley. There are treasures aplenty that Ian’s inherited from his late parents, including some Beryl Cook prints. Can Ian raise enough cash at auction to treat his wife, Amanda, to the honeymoon they never had? It looks promising! 

★★★★ TL 

MasterChef Australia, 7pm, W

TV tonight Judges Jock, Melissa and Andy.

Judges Jock, Melissa and Andy. (Image credit: W/UKTV)

Australians (and Brits!) are still hungry for the long-running reality show as series 14 kicks off today with a David vs Goliath battle. In the first challenge, the contestants must cook a dish that recognises their strengths. Helping them to stretch themselves are some of the biggest names in food including Nigella Lawson and, later in the run, Yotam Ottolenghi and Heston Blumenthal. Judges Melissa Leong, Jock Zonfrillo and Andy Allen return to oversee proceedings. 

★★★★ MC

Best box set to watch on TV tonight

Under the Banner of Heaven, Disney Plus

TV tonight What happened to Brenda?

What happened to Brenda? (Image credit: Disney Plus)

Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as Brenda Wright Lafferty, a 24-year-old woman found murdered in her Utah home in 1984, along with her infant daughter, Erica, in this true-crime drama. Devout Mormon detective Jeb Pyre (Andrew Garfield) initially suspects Brenda’s husband Allen (The Serpent’s Billy Howle) of the crime, but suffers a crisis of faith when he learns that a fundamentalist religious sect may have played a part. With a carefully balanced portrayal of belief in many forms, and uniformly excellent performances, this gripping miniseries doesn’t shy away from the big questions about the power of faith. 

Best film to watch on TV tonight

Apocalypse Now: Final Cut, 11.15pm, BBC Two

Francis Ford Coppola's epic Vietnam War drama resurfaces in a newly restored cut that has used state-of-the-art wizardry so that the director's masterpiece, in his own words, "looks better than it has ever looked and sounds better than it has ever sounded". The movie remains terrifying, exhilarating and surreal, and possibly the best ever depiction of the horror and madness of war. 

Live Sport

  • Commonwealth Games 2022, from 9.15am, BBC One/Two/iPlayer/Red Button
  • EFL, Watford vs Sheffield United, 7.30pm (k-o 8pm), Sky Sports Main Event/NOW

Soaps on TV tonight

If you watch just one thing on TV tonight…

Don't miss Love Island: The Live Final on TV tonight — which islanders will walk away a lot richer than when they arrived?

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

Happy viewing!

Joanne Lowles
Freelance writer and editor

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.