On TV tonight, let's get the royal party started with a live concert from Windsor Castle, The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Celebration, is on ITV with a whole host of famous names taking part including Tom Cruise! Drama Conversations with Friends arrives on BBC Three, Gentleman Jack continues on BBC One, new Welsh drama Y Golau is on S4C and BBC iPlayer, German series Das Boot returns to Sky Atlantic and it's the second episode of the beautiful Eden: Untamed Planet on BBC Two. 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 Queen's Platinum Jubilee Celebration, 8pm, ITV
Get ready for a royal night to remember as the Queen’s Jubilee festivities begin in glorious fashion with this glittering live event from the grounds of Windsor Castle. Julie Etchingham and Phillip Schofield oversee proceedings as 1,300 performers take to the stage, including Tom Cruise, Alan Titchmarsh, David Jason and Ant and Dec. While the horse-loving monarch will be thrilled at the sight of 500 animals participating in equestrian displays, Omid Djalili presents a journey through the past, which sees Helen Mirren giving a powerful speech as Queen Elizabeth I. One for the history books!
★★★★★ CC
Conversations with Friends, 10pm, BBC Three
Prepare to become totally obsessed with this long-awaited adaptation of Normal People author Sally Rooney’s equally addictive debut novel. Charting the affair between self-effacing young student Frances (an impressive first TV appearance from Alison Oliver) and older actor Nick (Joe Alwyn), the 12-part drama is full of charged looks, endearing awkwardness and frenzied text messages as they try to work out their feelings and gradually emerge from the shadows of their dominant other halves – Nick’s wife Melissa (Jemima Kirke) and Frances’ best friend and ex-girlfriend Bobbi (Sasha Lane). Continues tomorrow.
★★★★ CC
Gentleman Jack, season 2, 9pm, BBC One
It’s hugely entertaining – as well as mind-boggling! – watching Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) whizzing at breakneck speed between her numerous business interests as she oversees the goings-on at her umpteen coal mines while also making property development plans, which are becoming ever more ambitious! There’s trouble on the home front, too. Ann Walker is still fretting over the fake marriage announcement that someone placed in the papers. A nasty anonymous letter does little to settle her and neither does a revelation about her sister Elizabeth and scheming brother-in-law Captain Sutherland.
★★★★ CC
Y Golau, 9pm, S4C & BBC iPlayer
From the team behind Keeping Faith, this compelling psychological thriller (in Welsh with English subtitles) stars Alexandra Roach as Cat, a journalist seeking answers about the murder of her school friend, Ela, 18 years ago. Game of Thrones villain Iwan Rheon is Ela’s killer, Pritchard, who has dissociative amnesia, meaning he has no memory of the murder. As news of Pritchard’s prison release reaches Ela’s mother, Sharon (Joanna Scanlan), everything spins out of control.
★★★★ HD
Das Boot, season 3, 9pm, Sky Atlantic/NOW
The battle for control of the Atlantic in World War Two is as deadly as ever as the hit German drama returns for its third series. The young U-boat crew, under the command of Robert Ehrenberg (Franz Dinda), are sent on a risky mission to the southern hemisphere, while vengeful British commander Jack Swinburne joins the raging sea battle in command of HMS Perseverance.
★★★★★ NC
Eden: Untamed Planet, 7.10pm, BBC Two
Don’t be fooled by the Namib’s arid plains and unforgiving dunes. Even though the desert sees temperatures of 50C and annual rainfall of just five millimetres, it also hides some incredible water sources – if you know where to look! While a giraffe can get all the moisture it needs from leaves drenched by a dawn fog that rolls in for a few hours a day, elephants rely on the fruit of the ana tree, whose vast roots are some of the largest in the world. Helena Bonham Carter narrates this visually stunning second episode.
★★★ HD
Best box set to watch on TV tonight
The Lincoln Lawyer, season 1, Netflix
The Undoing and Big Little Lies’ creator David E Kelley is behind this drama series starring Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as attorney Mickey Haller, who runs his Los Angeles law practice out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car. It’s based on the novel The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly (slightly confusingly, the 2011 movie The Lincoln Lawyer starring Matthew McConaughey as Haller was adapted from Connelly’s novel of the same name). The series also stars Scream’s Neve Campbell as Mickey’s first ex-wife, Maggie, who’s the Deputy District Attorney, and Ugly Betty’s Becki Newton as Lorna, Mickey’s second ex-wife, who works as his office manager.
Best film to watch on TV tonight
Ordinary Love, 10pm, BBC Two
Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville star in this intimate Belfast-set drama. They play Tom and Joan, who have been married a long time and have made the most of their suburban life together, despite a past tragedy. Their comfortable relationship is put to the test when Joan is diagnosed with breast cancer, enabling these two actors at the peak of their powers to give some incredibly moving performances.
Live Sport
- Women's FA Cup Final, Chelsea vs Manchester City, 1.50pm (k-o 2.30pm), BBC One
If you watch just one thing on TV tonight…
Don't miss The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Celebration on TV tonight – let the festivities begin to mark Her Majesty's 70 years on the throne.
Not found anything you want to watch on TV tonight? Check out our TV Guide.
Happy viewing!
