On TV tonight, 12 celebrities test their metal in The Games on ITV, while Sara Cox and Daren Harriott tuck into takeout in Britain's Top Takeaways on BBC Two. The Airport: Back in the Skies starts on BBC One, while new three-part documentary series Mother Teresa: For the Love of God begins on Sky Documentaries/NOW, The Split comes to a close on BBC One and there's a powerful documentary on BBC Two, Fergal Keane: Living with PTSD. 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
The Games, 9pm, ITV
Have you ever wondered how stars such as Strictly’s Kevin Clifton, model Christine McGuinness and Emmerdale actress Rebecca Sarker would do in the Olympics? Well, we’re about to find out throughout this week, in a series that sees 12 celebrities battling it out in everything from high diving to hurdles. Hosts Freddie Flintoff and Holly Willoughby bring us all the action live as the first starting pistol fires tonight, but who will be on the podium on Friday night? After admitting to not riding a bike for a decade, we don’t have high hopes for Kevin in the velodrome! Continues until Friday.
★★★★★ SMA
Britain's Top Takeaways, 8pm, BBC Two
Sara Cox and Darren Harriott host as the owners of the UK’s best takeaway venues compete for the ultimate crown. Each episode sees five different eateries set up in a special kitchen in Manchester to cook and deliver food from their menus to be critiqued by judges specially chosen from members of the public. First up are fish and chip restaurants, which will be serving up everything from battered lobster tails and tropical kebabs to the nation’s favourite, cod and chips. Which outfit will this week’s judges, Moss Side Fire Station Boxing Club, vote as the best? And, perhaps just as importantly, can they stop crisp batter going soggy as it wings its way across town? Continues tomorrow.
★★★★ NH
The Airport: Back in the Skies, 8.30pm (times vary), BBC One (Tues NI)
Remember Airport’s Jeremy Spake? He found fame and legions of fans in BBC One’s fly-on-the-wall series back in the 1990s. Now, he’s returning to Heathrow for a new six-part spin-off show, taking us behind the scenes as the aviation industry recovers from the pandemic. The first episode sees him with Virgin cabin crew as they go through retraining following furlough, while he also celebrates Heathrow’s backroom staff, including the shoe shiners, cleaners and baggage handlers who have kept the airport moving. While clearly much has changed in aviation due to Covid, what hasn’t changed is Jeremy’s enthusiasm and charm.
★★★★ HD
Mother Teresa: For the Love of God, 9pm, Sky Documentaries
This three-part documentary looks at the remarkable life of the canonised woman, who died 25 years ago. The story follows her early life in Skopje, North Macedonia, through becoming a nun and a teacher in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), to serving ‘the poorest of the poor’ in the slums. Biographers, friends – and some critics – contribute, with one of the most striking being a TV producer who, emotionally exhausted after just one day visiting the poor and sick with Mother Teresa in 1969, declared her to be ‘extraordinary’ for devoting her whole life to this.
★★★★ JP
The Split, season 3, 9pm, BBC One
Is there such a thing as a good divorce? That’s the question being asked in The Split’s last-ever episode. Indeed, it’s the end of an era in more ways than one as Hannah (Nicola Walker) and Nathan (Stephen Mangan) attempt to finalise the terms of their separation. But will they go through with it? We’ve thoroughly enjoyed the trials and tribulations of Hannah and her sisters Nina and Rose since 2018 and this is a fitting finale to what’s been a great series.
★★★★ VW
Fergal Keane: Living with PTSD, 9pm, BBC Two
In a personal film, BBC Special Correspondent Fergal Keane discusses his diagnosis of PTSD after reporting on conflict for more than 30 years. He's travelled the globe reporting on some of the most brutal and distressing wars and events including the Rwandan genocide of 1994 to the present war in Ukraine. But in 2020 he revealed he had been diagnosed with an acute from of PTSD. In this very open and honest film he discusses the impact on his work and life and explores the latest scientific thinking about the condition.
★★★★ JL
Best box set to watch on TV tonight
The Pentaverate, season 1, Netflix
Austin Powers’ Mike Myers is rarely content with playing just one character, and in this quirky comedy, the chameleon-like star has a whale of a time tackling no less than eight different roles! Among them is veteran Canadian reporter Ken Scarborough, who is investigating a secret society known as The Pentaverate, which has been saving the world from disaster since the Middle Ages, but is suddenly under threat… He also portrays their oldest member, Lord Lordington. Look out, too, for Jennifer Saunders.
Best film to watch on TV tonight
Slumdog Millionaire, 11.05pm, Film4
How did a barely educated Mumbai ‘slumdog’ manage to win the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?? Danny Boyle’s all-conquering (eight Oscars!) 2008 hit answers the question in a film that’s both beautiful and a grim portrayal of life in the slums. It made an international star of Dev Patel, who plays Jamal, the kid no one believes could possibly know the answer to the posers he’s being pitched. How is he doing it?
Live Sport
- EFL, Sheffield Wednesday vs Sunderland, 7.30pm (k-o 7.45pm), Sky Sports Main Event/NOW
Soaps on TV tonight
- EastEnders, 7.30pm, BBC One
- 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 The Games on TV tonight – good competitive fun!
Not found anything you want to watch on TV tonight? Check out our TV Guide.
Happy viewing!
