TV tonight: our highlights for Saturday 15th May

Iain Dean helps a couple celebrate their anniversary in Casualty

(Image credit: BBC)

Casualty is just one of the gems on today...

There's new romance in Casualty tonight, a look back at the life of John Lennon in A Life in Ten Pictures and Ewan McGregor plays American fashion designer Roy Halston Frowick in Netflix drama Halston. 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
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

Casualty, 9.20pm, BBC1

Iain gets his flirt on with Faith tonight! And she's smiling! But then he mansplains nursing… Oh no. Regardless, they band together to help an Alzheimer's patient and her husband (real life couple Emma and Rupert Vansittart) celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in the ED. This touching, romantic experience prompts Iain to pop the big question. 'Wanna go for a drink?'. From new romance to bad romance – cracks deepen in Jacob and Tina's relationship and elsewhere Rash does a lot of running around when he gets a blast from the past!

★★★★ ER

John Lennon: A Life in Ten Pictures, 9pm, BBC2

At the height of Beatlemania, when screaming fans often drowned out the iconic sound of the fab four, John Lennon was also a husband and new father. In one of the more intimate pictures featured in this film, which looks back at the life of the ex-Beatle, John is with his first wife Cynthia and their young son Julian, a moment of domestic bliss in the madness of being in the most famous band in the world. It also explores his life after the band, his relationship with Yoko Ono and his untimely death at the hands of a fan outside his New York home.

★★★★ JL

Halston, Netflix

Ewan McGregor as American fashion designer Halston (Pic Credit. Atsushi Nishijima/NETFLIX © 2021) (Image credit: ATSUSHI NISHIJIMA/NETFLIX)

Ewan McGregor stars as 1970s American fashion designer Halston, credited with designing the pillbox hat made famous in the 1960s by US First Lady Jackie Kennedy. The series follows Halston as he creates his fashion empire that became synonymous with fame and notoriety, while battling to save his most precious asset - his brand name - from hostile takeovers. Famous faces crop up throughout the five-parter - Krysta Rodriguez as Halston’s close friend Liza Minnelli, and Rory Culkin as film director Joel Schumacher. This takes us on a trip through the more glam side of the 1970s and is definitely one to savour!

★★★★ NC

Best box set to watch

The Nest, seasons one to five, BBC iPlayer/BritBox

Martin Compson, Sophie Rundle and Mirren Mack in The Nest — Martin Compston as Dan, Sophie Rundle as Emily and Mirren Mack as Kaya (Pic Credit Studio Lambert - Photographer: Mark Mainz) (Image credit: BBC / Studio Lambert / Mark Mainz)

Line of Duty's Martin Compston (using his natural Scottish accent) and Sophie Rundle play a wealthy couple unable to conceive, who ask an 18-year-old stranger to carry a baby for them. But can they trust her? A twisty, smartly scripted Glasgow-set thriller.

Best film to watch on TV tonight

Sicario, 11.10pm, C4

Emily Blunt as FBI Agent Kate Macer in tense thriller Sicario (Credit © Lionsgate) (Image credit: © Lionsgate)

A stunning peak into the grisly war on drugs between Mexico and the USA, made by one of the finest film-makers working today, Denis Villeneuve. He throws straight-as-an-arrow FBI agent Emily Blunt into the morass and follows her as she learns up is down and right is wrong, through the political machinations of fellow agent Josh Brolin and shady 'fixer' Benicio del Toro. The movie has a breathless grip on proceedings, culminating in a terrifying night raid in the tunnels beneath the border, with Blunt giving one of her best performances. A superb thriller.

★★★★ NP

Live sport

FA Cup Final: Chelsea v Leicester City 4.15pm (k-o 5.15pm), BBC1
Premier League Football: Southampton v Fulham 2.45pm (k-o 3pm), Sky Sports Main Event/Sky Sports Premier League/NOW
Premier League Football: Brighton and Hove Albion v West Ham 7.30pm (k-o 8pm), Sky Sports Main Event/Sky Sports Premier League/NOW

If you watch just one thing on TV tonight…

Don't miss John Lennon: A Life in Ten Pictures on TV tonight – a fabulous trip down memory lane.

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.