TV Tonight: our highlights for Tuesday, Oct. 26

By Joanne Lowles
published

'Autumnwatch' is just one of the gems on TV tonight.

Chris Packham hosts from Norfolk.
Chris Packham hosts from Norfolk. (Image credit: BBC)

On TV tonight, sit back and enjoy the calming effect of nature as Autumnwatch returns to BBC2, former footballer turned presenter Alex Scott discovers more about her family history in Who Do You Think You Are? on BBC1 and on C4 it's the tricky Pastry Week in the tent as The Great British Bake Off continues on C4. 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

Autumnwatch, 8pm, BBC2

TV tonight Michaela Strachan.

Michaela Strachan celebrate the best of the season. (Image credit: BBC)

The pandemic has brought many people closer to nature and that special relationship is being celebrated in this year’s series with its theme of ‘a vision for the future’. Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan will be at Wild Ken Hill in Norfolk, home to six species of deer. Gillian Burke will be at Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, and Megan McCubbin (Chris’ stepdaughter) will be on the Isle of Mull to spot otters and eagles, while the red deer rut is always a highlight of the autumn calendar. Continues week nights. 

★★★★ JF

Who Do You Think You Are? 9pm, BBC1

TV tonight Alex Scott.

Alex makes a discovery in Jamaica. (Image credit: BBC)

By her own admission, presenter and former England footballer Alex Scott doesn’t know a huge amount about her roots, so she’s in for some big surprises as she delves into her Jewish maternal ancestry. Her pride is clear to see when she learns that, in 1936, her great-grandad fought against fascism at the Battle of Cable Street in London’s East End. Meanwhile, as she makes her first trip to Jamaica to explore the line of her beloved paternal grandmother Philicita, Alex is visibly moved when she unearths a story of hardship, and further back, a shocking link to slavery...

★★★★ CC

The Great British Bake Off, 8pm, C4

TV tonight the judges and hosts of the baking show.

Tension rises, as do the pies, in the tent. (Image credit: C4)

There’s rolling, kneading, folding and glazing as Pastry Week arrives. To begin with, the bakers have to make tricky choux pastry doughnuts for a signature. ‘If I went to hell, this is what my hell would be,’ declares one baker. Then it’s a complicated technical that stuns even Prue, before rustling up a savoury pie for the showstopper. But who will find it ‘easy as pie’ and win Star Baker? 

★★★★ CC

Best box set to watch on TV tonight

Squid Game, season 1, Netflix

TV tonight Jung-jae Lee as lead character Seong Gi-hun.

 Jung-jae Lee as lead character Seong Gi-hun. (Image credit: netflix)

Currently the most watched show on Netflix in the UK and US, this South Korean drama is causing quite a global storm. The nine-part series is based on a group of 456 people in dire need of money. They take part in a game show in a secret location and have to compete against each other playing traditional Korean children’s games to win a huge cash prize – 45.6 billion Korean Won or about £28 million in sterling. But the contest turns out to be a brutal and deadly game of survival in this gripping, addictive and very violent thriller. 

Best film to watch on TV tonight

Dark Waters, Netflix

In 1998, corporate lawyer Rob Bilott (Mark Ruffalo) is approached by an angry West Virginia farmer, Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp), who has lost 190 of his cows and thinks chemical company DuPont is poisoning his land. Bilott eventually decides to help – and is still fighting almost 20 years later... The story of an ordinary person taking on a mighty corporation may be familiar but this true-story drama is utterly engrossing, revealing Bilott's painstaking investigation as his hunt for the truth takes over his life. Ruffalo is brilliantly cast and gets great support from Camp, Anne Hathaway as his wife and Tim Robbins and Bill Pullman as fellow lawyers.

Live Sport

  • Women's World Cup, Latvia v England, 6pm (k-o 6.30pm), ITV4
  • EFL, Arsenal v Leeds United, 7pm (k-o 7.45pm), Sky Sports Main Event/NOW

Soaps on TV tonight

If you watch just one thing on TV tonight…

Don't miss Autumnwatch on TV tonight – a beautiful celebration of the changing season.

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

Happy viewing!

Joanne Lowles
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.