TV Tonight: our highlights for Saturday, September 24
Strictly Come Dancing is just one of the gems on TV tonight.
On TV tonight, a fresh batch of bronzed stars nervously take to the dance floor as the first live Strictly Come Dancing launches on BBC One. Also shaking their funky stuff on ITV are the remaining celebs in The Masked Dancer and the fourth round of blind auditions get underway in The Voice UK also on ITV. A new series of Dynasty drops on Netflix, documentary Diana Dors: Britain's Blonde Bombshell is on Channel 5, Kylie at the BBC is on BBC Two and a new series of Blankety Blank arrives on BBC One. Here's what you shouldn't miss on TV tonight.
- Our hand selected recommendations for what's on TV tonight include seven 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, 6.45 pm, BBC One
The nights are drawing in, the leaves are falling from the trees and mince pies are already available in the shops (yes, really!), which can mean only one thing: Strictly is back! We’ve seen this year’s brave celebrities paired with their professional partners and tonight all 15 famous faces take to the floor for the first time to perform either a Latin or ballroom routine. Fortunately, they only have to impress Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse – there’s no public vote as the first elimination is next week. It’s all quite the marathon, but it’s the first chance we get to see who’s hot to trot and who’s not! We’ve no doubt it’ll be fab-u-lous!
★★★★★ VW
The Masked Dancer, 6.30 pm, ITV
We try not to have favourites, but we’re already obsessed with Pearly King the cockney lion and his (or maybe her?) tendency to maul Joel Dommett whenever within clawing distance. Hopefully, Joel’s got security on standby tonight as Pearly King returns, along with Sea Slug, Tomato Sauce, Cactus and Onomatopoeia, all hoping to wow the crowd with their fancy footwork. One more character will be unmasked at the end of the show – but which famous face will be inside?
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★★★★★ SP
The Voice UK, 8 pm, ITV
Sir Tom, will.i.am, Anne-Marie and Olly Murs continue their search for the country’s most gifted vocalists with tonight’s fourth blind auditions. Emma Willis hosts as a new batch of brave wannabe-singers keep everything crossed that one of the judges' chairs will turn for their pitch perfect vocals.
★★★ JL
Dynasty, season 5, Netflix
The reboot of the iconic soap opera charting the ups and downs of the Carrington family returns for a final season. The drama begins where season 4 ended as we discover whether Fallon, who was shot by her evil, husband-stealing assistant Eva, survived the attack. A host of familiar faces return for the final series including Grant Shaw as Blake Carrington, Elizabeth Gillies as Fallon Carrington, Sam Underwood as Adam Carrington, Elaine Hendrix as Alexis Carrington and Daniella Alonso as Cristal Jennings Carrington. Also watch out for a new member of the family as British actress Eliza Bennet joins the show as a regular character called Amanda, a long-lost relative who was born and raised Europe who brings some serious baggage with her!
★★★ JL
Diana Dors: Britain's Blonde Bombshell, 9 pm, Channel 5
She was Britain’s answer to Marilyn Monroe, a ‘blonde bombshell’ who started her film career in the late 1940s. This film tracks the many ups and downs of Diana Dors, a queen of reinvention, which was usually forced on her by financial troubles. She was married three times, and her first husband, Dennis Hamilton, controlled her money and career, which left her penniless and disgraced just as Hollywood beckoned. Diana died at the age of just 52, from ovarian cancer. Now, the people who knew her best talk about the woman behind the headlines.
★★★ JL
Kylie at the BBC, 9.10 pm, BBC Two
Kylie Minogue holds the Guinness World Record for "Most Consecutive Decades with a No 1 on the UK Album Charts (Female)", pop pickers, so if anyone deserves the archive compilation treatment for an enduring career, it’s her. Step back in time from the chart-bothering 1980s Stock Aitken Waterman hits on Top of the Pops to a triumphant 2019 Glastonbury Legends set, via an indie 1990s and a disco-hotpants millennium. There are also her duets, with Nick Cave, Robbie Williams and Jason Donovan (Especially for You reached the top of the vinyl charts just last month following the pair’s Neighbours return). Reel Stories (10.10 pm) and a 2018 performance Live in Hyde Park (10.40 pm) follow.
★★★★ NT
Blankety Blank, 9.10 pm, BBC One
Bradley Walsh (and his cheque book and pen of course!) returns to host the popular quiz, with actor and presenter Denise Van Outen, former Paralympic swimmer (and Strictly contestant) Ellie Simmonds, comedian Frank Skinner, former boxer Chris Eubank, presenter Vick Hope and reality TV star Joey Essex among the first celebrity contestants.
★★★ JL
Best box set to watch on TV tonight
Crossfire, BBC iPlayer
Keeley Hawes takes on dangerous masked gunmen in this intense three-part action thriller, which is so nail-biting that you may need a pillow to hide behind! She stars as mum Jo, who’s on a luxury Canary Islands holiday with her kids, husband Jason and their best friends when shots ring out by the resort’s pool, turning their world upside down. As ex-copper Jo bravely decides to take on the snipers, it transpires that she’s also hiding a terrible secret, which is set to tear the lives of her loved ones apart. The top cast also includes The A Word’s Lee Ingleby, The Bay’s Daniel Ryan and Line of Duty’s Anneika Rose, but don’t expect all their characters to survive…
Best film to watch on TV tonight
Bill & Ted Face the Music, Prime Video
Proving it’s never too late for a threequel, after nearly 30 years Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter return as the world’s dimmest time-travelling dudes. To save the world from imminent destruction, Bill and Ted are forced into travelling the space-time continuum in an attempt to write a rock song that will unite the universe. Along for the ride (and giving the film a much needed boost) are their daughters, played by the totally non-heinous Kristen Schaal and Samara Weaving. It’s all quite amiable rather than side-splitting, although Keanu and Alex remain most excellent company.
Live Sport
- Women's Super League, Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur, 1.15pm (k-o 1.30 pm), BBC One
- Super League Grand Final, St Helens vs Leeds Rhinos, 5 pm (k-o 6 pm), Sky Sports Main Event/NOW
If you watch just one thing on TV tonight…
Don't miss Strictly Come Dancing on TV tonight — the fake tan is done, the sparkles are everywhere but have the stars learnt how to dance? Find out tonight as the first live show gets underway…
Not found anything you want to watch on TV tonight? Check out our TV Guide.
Happy viewing!
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.