TV Tonight: our highlights for Saturday, Oct. 16

AJ Odudu and Kai Widdrington impress with their jive.
AJ Odudu and Kai Widdrington impress with their jive. (Image credit: BBC)

On TV tonight, get ready for another fabulous episode of Strictly Come Dancing on BBC1, a new drama starring the brilliant Sally Lindsay, The Madame Blanc Mysteries, beings on Channel 5 and Robson Green is exploring the shores around the UK in Robson Green: Coastal Fishing 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

Strictly Come Dancing 2021, 7pm, BBC1

TV tonight John Whaite and Johannes Radebe.

 John Whaite and Johannes Radebe impress with their Cha Cha Cha. (Image credit: BBC)

The silver-screen glamour of Movie Week is behind us, but hopefully, the Strictly stars will still continue to produce gold-standard dances. Now we’re a few weeks into the series, we have some questions: will early frontrunners AJ Odudu and John Whaite still be near the top of the leaderboard? When will the curse of the samba claim its next victim? And will Shirley spot the ‘fundamentals’ she’s always looking out for? At least one of those questions will be answered tonight...

★★★★★ SP

The Madame Blanc Mysteries, 9pm, Channel 5

TV tonight Jean gets to know the locals, including taxi driver Dom (Steve Edge)

Jean gets to know the locals, including taxi driver Dom (Steve Edge). (Image credit: Channel %)

Antiques Roadshow meets Midsomer Murders in this new drama created by Sally Lindsay. After her husband dies unexpectedly on his way home from the south of France, leaving her nearly penniless, antiques dealer Jean White (Sally) realises the expensive ring he’d bought moments before has vanished from his personal effects, so she flies out to the sleepy town of Sainte Victoire to track it down. Jean may not speak much French, but she’s got the makings of a cracking amateur detective – and this sun-soaked series full of lovably eccentric characters looks set to be the perfect antidote to dark autumn nights. 

★★★★ SP

Robson Green: Coastal Fishing, 7.05pm, Channel 5

TV tonight Robson discovers what our coast has to offer

Robson discovers what our coast has to offer. (Image credit: Channel 5)

Robson Green travels Britain’s coastline in search of some of the biggest and most unusual fish. That means he has to get to grips with 7ft conger eels off the coast of Weymouth, learns to fillet plaice and makes skipper rolls, a Devonshire signature dish. He also tries fishing from a pedal kayak, which is trickier than it sounds. This series certainly gives a new insight into what’s lurking in our oceans and when you see Robson tucking into freshly cooked seafood, it will send you running to your nearest chippy. 

★★★★ NH

Best box set to watch on TV tonight

I Know What You Did Last Summer, season 1, Amazon Prime Video

TV tonight Madison Iseman as Lennon.

Madison Iseman as Lennon. (Image credit: Amazon Prime Video)

The end of high school turns deadly for six teenagers in a new adaptation of the 1973 novel by Lois Duncan and the 1997 movie starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ryan Phillippe. Friends Allison, Lennon, Dylan, Johnny, Margot and Riley are leaving their graduation party in Hawaii when they’re involved in a devastating accident. The series’ opening episode gradually reveals what happened on that fateful night, and charts Lennon’s return to her home town the following summer, where there’s a gruesome surprise waiting inside her closet alongside the scrawled message, ‘I know what you did last summer.’ Realising that someone knows their secret, the group face an uneasy reunion as they try to identify their mystery blackmailer. An atmospheric, twist-laden remake. 

Best film to watch on TV tonight

Venom, 9pm, C4

TV tonight Michelle Williams and Tom Hardy

Michelle Williams and Tom Hardy star. (Image credit: C4)

As shabby investigative journalist Eddie Brock, Tom Hardy accidentally bonds with an alien life form at bad guy Riz Ahmed’s dodgy biotech lab, which gives him superpowers and turns him into Venom, an antihero with big teeth and a taste for human brains. The film looks murky and is muddled, but there are lots of darkly funny laughs and exciting action – and Tom is great fun in his dual role as Eddie and Venom. Michelle Williams also stars as Eddie’s lawyer girlfriend Anne Weying. The delayed sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage is out in cinemas now. 

Live Sport

  • Premier League, Watford v Liverpool, 11.30am (k-o 12.30pm), BT Sport 1
  • Premier League, Brentford v Chelsea, 5pm (k-o 5.30pm), Sky Sports Main Event/NOW

If you watch just one thing on TV tonight…

Don't miss Strictly Come Dancing on TV tonight – who will be top of the leaderboard after tonight's show?

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.