TV Tonight: our highlights for Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021

The Howards share their stunning home. (Image credit: C4)

On TV tonight, join in the festive preparations on C4 with Christmas at Castle Howard, Kirstie and Phil are battling for another move or improve decision as a new series of Love It or List It begins also on C4 and over on Alibi crime series The Gulf returns for a second series. 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

Christmas at Castle Howard, 9pm, C4

TV tonight The beautiful Castle Howard. — The beautiful Castle Howard in North Yorkshire. (Image credit: C4)

In North Yorkshire is one of the nation’s most iconic stately homes, Castle Howard, and at Christmas, it looks even more spectacular. In the first episode of this lovely peep at festive preparations in some of our finest buildings, Nicholas and Victoria Howard, the baroque mansion’s owners, and creative director Charlotte Lloyd Webber aim to create ‘Christmas in Narnia’. While hanging hand-decorated ornaments in all the rooms is impressive, the pièce de résistance is a 30ft frozen Christmas tree complete with more than 2,500 baubles.

★★★★ CC

Kirstie and Phil's Love It or List it, 8pm, C4

TV tonight The property experts are in Poole — The property experts are in Poole. (Image credit: C4)

The lockdown has meant a change in house-hunting habits, but somehow Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer’s renovate-or-relocate model still has traction. In the first of a new run, they are in ‘one of Britain’s swankiest towns’, Poole in Dorset, helping Sue and Roy decide if they want to stay in their four-bedroom chalet bungalow – with a swimming pool! Sue wants to enjoy retirement elsewhere, but Roy wants to continue in the space he’s spent 20 years not quite doing up. Will the demands of the property experts finally spur him into action?

★★★ NT

The Gulf, 9pm, Alibi

TV tonight The troubled NZ cops are back on the case — The troubled NZ cops are back on the case. (Image credit: UKTV)

New Zealand cops Jess Savage (Kate Elliott) and Justin Harding (Ido Drent) tackle a new case when they investigate the brutal abduction of a man from his home on Waiheke Island. However, their police work isn’t the only thing keeping them awake. Both detectives are struggling with huge personal problems, not least Jess, who, after recovering from amnesia, has remembered she killed her abusive husband. As season two begins, Jess is being blackmailed about her role in Alex’s death, while Justin attempts to reconnect with his prison inmate father. This is a top-class police procedural as much about the characters as the cases they investigate.

★★★ RMC

Best box set to watch on TV tonight

Welcome to Earth, season 1, Disney+

TV tonight Will Smith stars. — Will Smith embarks on a spectacular journey. (Image credit: Disney+)

“We think we know our planet but there is still a secret world to be discovered if you go to the right place with the right guide,” says Hollywood superstar Will Smith as he embarks on a global tour of some of the most exciting and breath-taking places on our planet. From towering volcanoes, to deep underwater, caves and savannahs, Will and an elite group of modern day explorers go where very few people will ever step foot. Will admits he’s never climbed a mountain or swam in a lake and it’s about time he pushed himself to explore and understand our planet like never before.

Best film to watch on TV tonight

Let Me In, 9pm, Horror Channel

TV tonight A boy finds solace with a strange new friend — A boy finds solace with a strange new friend. (Image credit: Horror Channel)

Hollywood remakes of successful foreign films don’t always hit the mark, but this 2010 reworking of Swedish movie Let the Right One In is excellent in every department. Kodi Smit-McPhee (tipped to be Oscar-nominated for his role in Netflix’s acclaimed The Power of the Dog) is a lonely, bullied young boy who develops a relationship with his neighbour, Chloë Grace Moretz. She seems about his age and equally alone, only appearing at night and apparently impervious to the cold… a beautiful horror tale that’s ultimately a tragic, moving love story.

Live Sport

Premier League, Arsenal v West Ham United, 7pm (k-o 8pm), BT Sport 1

Soaps on TV tonight

Emmerdale, 7pm, ITV
Coronation Street, 7.30pm, ITV
Hollyoaks, 6.30pm, C4

If you watch just one thing on TV tonight…

Don't miss Christmas at Castle Howard on TV tonight – a beautiful house, especially during the festive period.

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.