TV Tonight: Our highlights for Thursday, January 12

Marie Antoinette, starring Emilia Schule, is a highlight on BBC2 for Christmas 2022.
(Image credit: BBC)

On TV tonight, Marie Antoinette brings us more royal drama, The Madame Blanc Mysteries continue, In the Footsteps of Killers returns for a second season and Alan Sugar fires someone new in The Apprentice. Here's what you shouldn't miss on TV Tonight.

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

Marie Antoinette, 9 pm, BBC Two

As the royal family head to Fontainebleau for a holiday, the feud between Marie Antoinette (Emilia Schüle) and Madame du Barry (Gaïa Weiss) is reaching fever pitch, with the King caught in the middle . Madame du Barry persuades the Dauphin’s brother Provence to choose a wife and invite her along to Fontainebleau in the hope that he’ll produce an heir before Marie Antoinette and the Daulphin, who are still failing to form a connection. 

But with the King siding with his mistress and Marie Antoinette’s position in Versailles hanging by a thread, she finds an unexpected ally. 

★★★★★ NH

The Madame Blanc Mysteries, 9 pm, Channel 5

Jean White (Sally Lindsay) stands in front of a majestic chateau, holding a magnifying glass with police tape reflected in it

(Image credit: Channel 5)

It’s hard to believe so much treachery happens in the beautiful French village of Sainte Victoire, but at least it keeps super-sleuth Jean White (Sally Lindsay) busy! There’s a double murder to solve this week, when Vivienne (Julia Brown) asks Jean to investigate the death of her mother, Genevieve, an actor killed in Sainte Victoire’s theatre in 1974. 

The only clue to her murder is an inscription on Genevieve’s script revealing some treasure hidden in the theatre – prompting another thespian murder that suggests someone else is after the treasure. Can Jean solve a decades-old mystery and get justice from beyond the grave?

★★★★ RF

In the Footsteps of Killers, 10 pm, Channel 4

David Wilson and Emilia Fox

(Image credit: Channel 4)

Silent Witness star Emilia Fox returns for a second run of her true crime series and will be joined by ex-detective Graham Hill and criminologist Professor David Wilson to investigate cold cases. In the first of six cases they look into the 1979 murder of 18-year-old Carol Lanne, whose strangled body was found in the Templeton Woods near Dundee. 

Less than a year later the body of 20-year-old Elizabeth McCabe was discovered in the same area. Can the team uncover new evidence that will identify the perpetrator and finally bring closure for the victims’ families? 

★★★★ NH 

The Apprentice, 9 pm, BBC One

Lord Sugar stands in front of The Apprentice 2023 contestants gathered in two groups.

(Image credit: BBC/Fremantle Media/Ray Burmiston)

Lord Sugar summons the candidates to the northern Chinese restaurant Hutong at The Shard in London. There he tasks the candidates to make and sell bao buns, a traditional Chinese steamed bap. The teams must then sell savoury bao buns to the public, and also produce a bespoke sweet version wholesale to a corporate client. 

Expect bun fights (sorry!) a kitchen explosion and a terrible maths mishap which all equates to lost dough. But who will Lord Sugar fire? You're Fired continues on BBC2 at 10pm. 

★★★ MC 

Best box set on TV tonight

The RigPrime Video

Martin Compston in a boiler suit in The Rig

(Image credit: Amazon Studios)

An atmospheric supernatural thriller starring Line of Duty’s Martin Compston, Mark Bonnar and Iain Glen. The crew of the Kinloch Bravo rig are ready for danger, but not for the terrifying, unexplained events that start to unfold after a sudden power failure. As the rig is shaken by massive tremors, all communication to the outside world is lost and a mysterious thick fog rolls in. Then one of the crew is badly injured in an accident while other disturbing occurrences quickly follow…. 

★★★★ JE 

Best film on TV tonight

Legend, 10 pm, BBC Three

Legend Tom Hardy.jpg

(Image credit: Studio Canal)

Biopic of the Kray brothers, exploring their rise to power in the London underworld and conflicts with rival gangs from the point of view of Reggie's wife Frances, who remains devoted to her husband even as he remains equally bound to his brutal, unstable sibling. Starring Tom Hardy as both twins, with Emily Browning, Christopher Eccleston and David Thewlis.

LB

Soaps

Live Sport

  • Live Snooker: The Masters, from 1 pm, BBC Two

If you watch just one thing on TV tonight…

Don't miss the gripping period drama Marie Antoinette on TV tonight.

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

Happy viewing!

Lucy Buglass
Senior Staff Writer

Lucy joined the WhatToWatch.com team in 2021, where she writes series guides for must-watch programmes, reviews and the latest TV news. Originally from Northumberland, she graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Film Studies and moved to London to begin a career writing about entertainment.


She is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic and has a huge passion for cinema. She especially loves horror, thriller and anything crime-related. Her favourite TV programmes include Inside No 9, American Horror Story, Stranger Things and Black Mirror but she is also partial to a quiz show or a bit of Say Yes to the Dress