TV tonight: Our highlights for Wednesday, August 30
DIY SOS Strictly Special is just one of the gems on TV tonight.
On TV tonight, DIY SOS teams up with some Strictly legends, Annika season 2 continues, Channel 4 prison drama Screw returns and there's a documentary about Gemma Atkinson and Gorka Márquez. 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
DIY SOS Strictly Special, 9 pm, BBC One
The team always rely on kind volunteers for their transformations, but this time they turn to Strictly for help. Judge Anton Du Beke and dancers Katya Jones and Graziano Di Prima are quickstepping over to Newcastle to help build a dance studio for a performing arts charity.
True Colours Theatre provides lessons for young people with additional needs and disabilities, and they have been given a new hall. But with no heating, electricity or ramps, it’s going to take hard graft to make it suitable. Let’s see if Anton’s wallpapering skills match his waltzing!
★★★★ EB
Annika season 2, 9 pm, Alibi
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This show is pulling out all the stops to treat us to new locations this year: a fortnight ago, Annika (Nicola Walker) and the team went to Edinburgh, and this week, they’re on the islands of Islay and Jura (cue some stunning panoramic shots that will have you rushing to the internet to search ‘Hebridean estate agents’).
The case involves a local japester who froze to death inside a block of ice, and as the team – including DC Harper Weston (Varada Sethu) from the Edinburgh case, now a permanent member – investigate, it’s obvious that some on the islands had definitely stopped finding him funny.
★★★★★ SP
Screw season 2, 9 pm, Channel 4
Senior officer Leigh (Last Tango in Halifax’s Nina Sosanya) wants to be a more approachable boss in the return of the darkly comic prison drama for series two. But her suggestion of a group outing to the pub may not do much in the face of increasing tensions among the inmates on C Wing following rumours that one of them is actually an undercover police officer.
Meanwhile, Rose (Derry Girls’ Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) returns to work after her compassionate leave, hoping for a fresh start. And new prisoner Patrick (The A Word’s Lee Ingleby) struggles to find his feet at Long Marsh. A fittingly riotous return! Continues tomorrow.
★★★★ SP
Gemma and Gorka: Life Behind the Lens, 8 pm, W
Former Emmerdale actor- turned-radio-DJ Gemma Atkinson met Gorka Márquez when they both took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2017. The couple had their first baby, Mia, in 2019, and now their little girl is very excited about the arrival of a baby brother, whom she wants to name Barbie or Harold!
In this three-part series on free-to-air channel W, Gemma and Gorka share the ups and downs of their second pregnancy, which is deemed high-risk, due to complications during Mia’s delivery. This time round, Gemma is hoping for a natural birth and, with Gorka potentially still on tour, has mum Sandra on standby for the big day.
★★★ MC
Best box set on TV tonight
Who Is Erin Carter? is an excellent question – and you’ll want to stick with this action-packed thriller to find out the answer! Erin (Evin Ahmad) is a Brit abroad, working as a teacher in Barcelona. But after Erin and her daughter Harper (Indica Watson) get caught up in a robbery in the supermarket and Erin expertly disarms one of the robbers with just the groceries she can lay her hands on, it’s clear she’s more than just a teacher.
As word of her heroism spreads, people start asking awkward questions – and Erin gets deeper into trouble. The star-spangled cast also includes Douglas Henshall, Denise Gough, Susannah Fielding and Jamie Bamber.
★★★★★ SP
Best film on TV tonight
Secret Headquarters, 6:55 pm, Film4
This family action adventure stars Owen Wilson as IT consultant Jack, who also happens to have an alternate identity as the world’s most powerful superhero. His secret is uncovered when his son Charlie (Walker Scobell, aka Percy Jackson) invites friends over and they stumble across his dad’s hidden superhero lair in the basement – complete with hi-tech weapons and vehicles.
But they soon find themselves up against some dangerous villains who want the gadgets. Will the friends be able to defend the secret HQ and save the world?
★★★ RMC
Soaps
- EastEnders, 7.30 pm, BBC One
- Emmerdale, 7.30 pm, ITV1
- Coronation Street, 8 pm, ITV1
- Hollyoaks, 6.30 pm, Channel 4
- Home and Away, 6 pm, 5Star
Live Sport
- EFL Cup: Doncaster Rovers v Everton (Kick-off 8 pm), Sky Sports Main Event
If you watch just one thing on TV tonight…
Don't miss DIY SOS Strictly Special on TV tonight.
Not found anything you want to watch on TV tonight? Check out our TV Guide.
Happy viewing!
Lucy joined the WhatToWatch.com team in 2021, where she writes series guides for must-watch programmes, reviews and the latest TV news. Now she works for our sister site TechRadar in the same role. 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!