On TV tonight, best known as the quiz champs from The Chase, Shaun Wallace and Anne Hegarty take on a very different challenge in ITV's DNA Journey, intriguing drama Deadline kicks off on Channel 5, looks who's back in the tent in The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer on C4, the Paralympian swimmer presents a powerful documentary, Ellie Simmonds: A World Without Dwarfism? on BBC One and Irish crime drama Smother, season 2, returns to Alibi. Here’s what you shouldn’t miss on TV tonight.
- Our hand selected recommendations for what's on TV tonight include five 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
DNA Journey, 9pm, ITV
Chasers Anne Hegerty and Shaun Wallace are the first celebrity pairing to explore their family trees as the popular history show returns tonight. Guided by genealogists and historians, they follow their bloodlines on an adventure all the way to Jamaica, where Shaun traces his ancestors back to the early 1700s and the horrors of the slave trade. Meanwhile, Anne discovers her great-grandmother’s cousin was the deputy chief engineer on RMS Lusitania, the famous ocean liner torpedoed by a German U-boat during World War One. Most heartwarming of all is the depth of the famous quizzers’ friendship which emerges during their road trip together.
★★★★ HD
Deadline, 9pm, Channel 5
James Alden (Broadchurch’s James D’Arcy) was once an esteemed investigative journalist, but with his reputation now in tatters, he’s making trashy true-crime documentaries. His latest subject is Natalie Varga (Peaky Blinders’ Charlie Murphy), who’s accused of murdering her wealthy husband – like most of the public, James thinks she did it. When elusive Natalie offers him an exclusive interview in exchange for finding her husband’s real killer, James is intrigued – is there more to the femme fatale than meets the eye? This four-part thriller gets off to a compelling start and closes on a tantalising cliffhanger. Continues until Friday.
★★★★ SP
The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer, 8pm, C4
After two years in the tent, co-host Matt Lucas has witnessed the good, the bad and everything in between, but he never expected to be baking himself! When one of the famous faces withdraws at the last minute, a shell-shocked Matt steps up to the oven – and out of his comfort zone! – to compete against DJ Annie Mac, comic Ed Gamble and rapper Elliot Gleave, aka Example. As he tackles stained-glass biscuits for the Signature, a jammy Technical and a Showstopper cake highlighting his life before he was famous, can he impress?
★★★★ CC
Ellie Simmonds: A World Without Dwarfism? 9pm, BBC One
The Paralympic swimmer investigates a new drug that promises to help children born with achondroplasia (the most common type of dwarfism) to increase their rate of growth. She meets families embarking on the trial and also opens up about her own experiences. The documentary poses the difficult question: if cutting-edge drugs can prevent disability, should we use them?
★★★★ HD
Smother, season 2, 9pm, Alibi
With plenty of cliffhangers from the first series, this twisty Irish thriller returns with a suspenseful start. It’s one year since Denis’ death, and Val strives to contain the cover-up of her husband’s murder, but the arrival of her scheming spouse’s secret son, Finn, threatens to tear her dysfunctional family apart. Dervla Kirwan is in her element as rattled but calculating Val, while Corrie's Dean Fagan is a welcome addition as the possibly sinister Finn.
★★★★ ER
Best box set to watch on TV tonight
Hacks, season 1, Prime Video
If you like The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, you shouldn’t miss this new series starring Mare of Easttown’s Jean Smart as a Joan Rivers-style comedian, Deborah Vance. After the veteran stand-up finds her career on the slide when her Las Vegas residency comes under threat, her manager teams her with reluctant young comedy writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) who’s just been cancelled after a tasteless tweet went viral. Originally on HBO Max in the US it’s already been renewed for a second season and won three Emmys, including outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for Jean Smart.
Best film to watch on TV tonight
The Beach Bum, 11.20pm, Film4
At times intoxicating, at others exasperating, this rambling tale of a perma-baked poet living a bong-and-booze-soaked existence in Florida is held together by star Matthew McConaughey, whose laid-back charm somehow gets us onside with a pretty reprehensible character. He howls, stumbles, and wheeze-laughs through sequences of excess, which are undercut with a bittersweet, end-of-the-party vibe.
Live Sport
- EFL, Preston North End vs Blackpool, 7.30pm (k-o 7.45pm), Sky Sports Main Event/Now
Soaps on TV tonight
- EastEnders, 7.30pm, BBC One
- Doctors, 7pm, BBC Two
- Emmerdale, 7.30pm, ITV
- Hollyoaks, 6.30pm, C4
- Neighbours, 6pm, Channel 5
- Home and Away, 6pm & 6.30pm, 5Star
If you watch just one thing on TV tonight…
Don't miss DNA Journey on TV tonight – the obvious and very sweet friendship between Shaun and Anne makes this show all the more enjoyable.
Not found anything you want to watch on TV tonight? Check out our TV Guide.
Happy viewing!
