From potential glory for England in the Women’s Rugby World Cup final, to the return of the Bafta-winning drama Blue Lights, plus the new series How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge), and Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home, here’s what to look forward to, and catch up on, this week.
What’s on TV tonight?
How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge)
BBC One, 9.30pm; all episodes will be available on iPlayer
The tortuous title is a good indication of what to expect from another masterpiece from Steve Coogan and the Gibbons brothers – “Britain’s first ever documentary about mental health”, no less. Deploying every trope of the genre (confessional pieces to camera, infographics, meeting others “suffering from mental health”), Alan Partridge explains his reasons behind ditching the security of a job voicing radio adverts and taking such a revolutionary step (fainting during a corporate gig and dealing with the fallout of it going viral) before engaging with the great Norfolk public through vox pops in the streets, charity work at a soup kitchen and hijacking a focus group about ready meals.
Along with the welcome returns of Tim Key’s Sidekick Simon, who is still coping with the consequences to his own well-being of flying so close to the Partridge supernova, and Felicity Montagu’s endlessly enabling PA Lynn, the callbacks are discreet but delicious. They also inadvertently track the evolution of the one-time sports reporter over his 34 years in the public eye, confirming Partridge as the single most complex and rewarding comic creation in the history of British television.
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The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy
Apple TV+
The professional curmudgeon finds his carapace cracking as today’s episode brings an encounter with Prince William. The Schitt’s Creek star explores the UK’s royal heritage during a trip around London and Windsor, guided in part by the heir to the throne himself.
Monster: the Ed Gein Story
Netflix
Yet another serial-killer drama from Ryan Murphy, doubtless bringing his sense of restraint to the story of a grave-robbing psychopath whose remote Wisconsin farm disguised crimes so appalling that they resonated in American culture for decades. Charlie Hunnam leads a starry cast including Lesley Manville and Tom Hollander.
DIY SOS
BBC One/iPlayer, 8pm
A new series of the reliably tearjerking series finds Nick Knowles and the gang in Leicester to reconfigure the home of a seven-year-old girl with a rare genetic condition.
Borderline
ITV1, 9pm; all episodes will be available on ITVX
This solid policier pairs two cops from either side of the Irish border: Amy De Bhrún’s DI Regan of the Garda is brash, smart and careless, while PSNI DCI Boyd (Eoin Macken) is quiet, devout and long suffering. Each case is a well-paced, diverting double bill, nudged along by the leads’ chemistry. The first involves a woman believed to have been murdered in the Republic but whose body washes up on a beach north of the border.
The Graham Norton Show
BBC One/iPlayer, 10.40pm
Graham Norton welcomes two megastars: Taylor Swift (whose new album is imminent) and Cillian Murphy (whose school drama Steve is out now). Joining them are actors Domhall Gleeson (plugging sitcom The Paper) and Greta Lee and Jodie Turner Smith (talking about their Tron reboot). Good luck to Lewis Capaldi, who has to somehow squeeze in a performance of his latest single. GT
What’s on TV this week?
Sunday 28 September
Channel 4
The Disappearance of Jay Slater
Channel 4, 9pm
In the summer of 2024, a 19-year-old Brit named Jay Slater went missing while on holiday in Tenerife. The mysterious circumstances of his disappearance – he had last been seen travelling to an Airbnb in the north of the island with two men he had met at a nightclub – fuelled a cascade of online conspiracy theories. Was Slater being held hostage after falling foul of drug traffickers? Had he been kidnapped after stealing a Rolex watch? Even after Slater’s body was found, keyboard detectives speculated that the remains were not his.
This extraordinary documentary follows the Slater family as they attempt to tell the true story of Jay’s death. At first, it resembles any other true crime retrospective: establishing the facts, seeding the mystery, splicing in interviews with family. But the more deranged the conspiracy theories become, the more intimate the access. Take the shocking segment in which cameras are allowed to film Slater’s postmortem (his body is not shown); or the upsetting scenes from inside his funeral. At an inquest, a coroner ruled that Slater died after accidentally falling down a Tenerife mountain. It is hoped that the verdict, combined with this definitive documentary, will quiet the noise. It is, however, unlikely.
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World Road Cycling Championships
BBC Two/iPlayer, 2.25pm
JJ Chalmers presents this afternoon’s coverage of the men’s elite road race, a 267.5km route that starts and finishes at Kigali Convention Centre in Rwanda. Plus, a chance to catch highlights from yesterday’s women’s road race.
Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain
BBC Two/iPlayer, 8.20pm
Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria returns to her Spanish roots in this spirited eight-part travelogue, an acquisition from American network CNN. The earnest Longoria is sugary company, but knows her stuff when it comes to food. A knowledge that shines in tonight’s exploration of Catalonian cuisine.
Coldwater
ITV1, 9pm; all episodes are already available on ITVX
Sad sack John (Andrew Lincoln) and wife Fiona (Indira Varma) are finally on the same page. Tonight’s episode of the schlocky thriller sees them unite to take down the psychopathic Tommy (Ewen Bremner). As they learn in tomorrow’s finale, however, the real threat is the Lady Macbeth-like Rebecca (Eve Myles).
King & Conqueror
BBC One, 9.15pm; all episodes are already available on iPlayer
Tonight’s penultimate episode of the dreary historical drama sets the stage for The Battle of Hastings. Harold (James Norton) heads north to fight Viking invader Hardrader (Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson). While in Normandy, William (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) attempts to raise a fleet for his fateful invasion of England.
Big Brother: Launch
ITV1/ITV2, 10.15pm
Twenty-five years ago, Big Brother changed the face of reality television. Tonight’s launch of the civilian version, hosted by AJ Odudu and Will Best, will mark the anniversary with an eclectic host of housemates and a special extended seven-week series. Build-up to tonight’s premiere begins at 9pm on ITV2. The channel will also air the series from now on, including every evening this week. SK
Monday 29 September
Siân Brooke stars as Grace Ellis in Blue Lights – BBC/Two Cities Television
Blue Lights
BBC One, 9pm; all episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer
A welcome third series for Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson’s Bafta-winning cop drama set in Belfast, an entertaining mix of police procedural and gritty soap – not to mention a large dollop of wry humour. We’re back in the fictional Blackthorn police station, where the rookie officers we first met in the opening series are celebrating being fully qualified “peelers” in the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
As another long-form storyline begins, the seemingly routine arrest of a drug dealer proves to be anything but, and it starts to expose a criminal conspiracy that involves every level of Belfast society. The case also creates tension between station commander Helen McNally (Joanne Crawford) and Paul Collins (Michael Smiley), an intelligence officer who takes a close interest in the arrest. On the front line, officers Stevie and Grace (Martin McCann and Sian Brooke) are still partners at home and work, and Grace’s past life as a social worker collides with her present when she comes across a former client, vulnerable teenager Lindsay (Aoife Hughes). By-the-book Tommy (Nathan Braniff), meanwhile, is concerned that squad-car partner Shane’s (Frank Blake) efforts to impress his superiors may land them both in trouble.
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Richard Osman’s House of Games
BBC Two/iPlayer, 6pm
A new series of the lo-fi but entertaining quiz in which four celebrities are tested on general knowledge and trivia. This week’s guests are New Zealand stand-up Melanie Bracewell, actress Ruth Madeley, presenter Jenny Powell and comic Mark Steel.
Strictly: It Takes Two
BBC Two/iPlayer, 6.30pm
A new series of the Strictly Come Dancing fanzine presented by Janette Manrara and Fleur East delivers the backstage gossip and news from Saturday’s first live show.
Lucy Letby: Murder or Mistake
Channel 4, 9pm & 10.05pm
Is the nurse a serial child killer, or the victim of a shocking miscarriage of justice? Daniel Bogado’s probing two-part documentary follows the campaign to have her case sent to the Court of Appeal and detectives, journalists and experts are interviewed; but as one contributor reminds us, behind all the babies she is convicted of harming lie grieving parents.
Secrets of the Brain
BBC Two/iPlayer, 9pm
The human brain is an astonishing organ – it’s the most complex structure in the known universe – and in this fascinating two-part documentary theoretical physicist Jim Al-Khalili explores its evolution over 600 million years. He makes a complicated tale involving neuroscience, physics and zoology easy to understand.
Will & Ralf Should Know Better
U&Dave, 10pm; all episodes will be available on U
More bants and soul-baring as bezzie mates Will Mellor and Ralf Little – or a “pair of massive, noisy kids” as they admit – compete against each other in silly or scary challenges. The dares in the first of three episodes are driving a tank, competing in wheelchair basketball and taking part in a simulated disaster rescue mission with emergency personnel. VL
Tuesday 30 September
Glen Powell stars as an aspiring football player who takes on a new identity – Zac Popik/Disney
Chad Powers
Disney+
With shades of Ted Lasso and Eastbound and Down, this by turns raucous and soppy comedy is another underdog story with a wonderful star turn (bizarrely inspired by a viral video made by one Eli Manning for ESPN). This time, it is man of the moment Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick, Twisters) as the fallen sports hero seeking redemption: gifted college quarterback Russ Holliday. When one high-profile blunder at the national championship triggers a personal and professional meltdown, Holliday is reduced to sinking shots at clubs, crashing on his dad’s sofa and promulgating conspiracy theories about Diana.
A last, unexpected shot at glory comes courtesy of tryouts with a faltering local team, but, given his rock-bottom reputation and inspired by Mrs Doubtfire, he dons prosthetics to go undercover as enigmatic goofball Chad Powers. The moments of farce – Chad’s understandable aversion to water and a series of increasingly outrageous lies and cover stories – are brilliantly handled in this opening double bill, the sentimentality not excessive. A relatively low-profile cast provides steady support for Powell’s all-guns-blazing performance (even Steve Zahn dials down his customary mania) in what feels like the definition of dumb fun.
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True Crime Presents: Murder – a Fight for Justice
ITV1/ITVX, 9pm
Journalist Satish Sekar recounts his successful efforts to overturn the convictions of the so-called Cardiff Three, imprisoned for life for the murder of Lynette White in 1988 – a quest that brought to justice the real perpetrator, although not those officers whose failures led to an egregious miscarriage of justice.
Michael Palin in Venezuela
Channel 5, 9pm
Michael Palin spends the last leg of his journey in one of the most dangerous areas of Venezuela, long impacted by gang violence, later travelling to a mostly deserted city which was once the hub of the oil industry. On a more frivolous note, he also tries some world-beating chocolate and attends the Caracas carnival. Long may he roam.
Art’s Most… Erotic
Sky Arts/NOW, 9pm
Content warnings a-go-go in Waldemar Januszczak’s engrossing and typically opinionated three-part survey of extremes in art (horror and devilry follow), which begins with trips to see the explicit art of Japan and India.
Taylor
Channel 4, 9.15pm & 10.15pm
PRs, producers and Swifties are among the contributors to this two-part profile, tracing Taylor Swift’s career from country music hopeful to the biggest star in music. Karaoke renditions of her hits notwithstanding, it’s a peppy, thoughtful affair engaging with the controversies as willingly as her triumphs in an industry still transparently blighted by misogyny.
Holding Liat: Storyville
BBC Four/iPlayer, 10pm
With no end in sight for the conflict in Gaza, this is a timely and powerful account of one family’s long wait for the release of their daughter and her husband, taken hostage by Hamas during the October 7 attacks, and their exploitation by those wishing to use their pain for their own ends. GT
Wednesday 1 October
Kevin McCloud meets Sarah in Durham – Channel 4
Grand Designs
Channel 4, 9pm
The format has hardly changed in 26 years; only the twinkle in Kevin McCloud’s eye and his hunger for evermore jeopardy on the road to architectural perfection seems to have increased. There’s plenty of that in tonight’s opening episode of a new run as, after 40 years living in the south, artist Sarah returns to her roots in the northeast of England with big plans for a three-acre plot she’s bought in the Durham Dales. She wants to build a radical creative hub combining home, studio space and art gallery. But, of course, once she mentions her tight £330,000 budget and intention to build using a sustainable yet fairly untested material – hempcrete (made from the stem of the cannabis plant mixed with lime and water) – you know there will be trouble ahead.
If that’s not enough, there’s a new follow-on show Grand Designs: Deconstructed on More4 (10pm), a “visualised podcast” in which McCloud finally gets to vocalise all those knowing smirks, gleeful snorts and raised eyebrows as he discusses the highs and lows of the build with the ever-entertaining Greg James. Plus, there’s a new run of the shamefully overlooked Grand Designs Australia (10.35pm) immediately afterwards.
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The Repair Shop
BBC One/iPlayer, 8pm
The restorers’ skills are put to the test by a water-damaged photo of US president John F Kennedy’s children with their English nanny, a precious tiny drum-kit clock, a melted wax statuette and a Venezuelan musical instrument.
Portrait Artist of the Year 2025
Sky Arts/NOW, 8pm
Another impressive line-up of celebrities graces this year’s competition, with Dame Mary Berry poised to pose for the semi-final and actor Brian Cox for the final. First, though, the artists must make it through the heats, starting with portraits of presenter Alex Jones, popstar Yungblud, and actress Kyla Harris.
Panorama: Undercover in the Police
BBC One/iPlayer, 9pm
Two weeks ago, the Metropolitan Police suspended eight officers and referred itself to the police watchdog following this undercover investigation by Panorama. The programme reveals, through secret filming, evidence of racism, misogyny and homophobia at Charing Cross police station.
The Hack
ITV1, 9pm; all episodes already available on ITVX
Tonight’s episode of Jack Thorne’s audacious drama about the phone-hacking scandal takes us down an entirely different route from last week’s opener. Robert Carlyle plays a senior cop tasked with solving a cold-case murder, until his investigation uncovers worrying links to, and prompts a sinister retaliation from, the News of the World.
Perfect Pub Walks with Alexander Armstrong
More4, 9pm
Taking over from Bill Bailey for the new run, the first fellow-man-of-a-certain-age Alexander Armstrong tries to draw out over the course of walks in the countryside and pints in scenic pubs is James May, who joins him for a leisurely yomp in Yorkshire.
Bhasker Patel Remembers… Brothers in Trouble
BBC Four/iPlayer, 10pm
Emmerdale actor Bhasker Patel looks back on his early role in director Udayan Prasad’s 1995 debut for the BBC, Brothers in Trouble. The film, about a group of illegal immigrants from Pakistan living and working in the Midlands, follows at 10.15pm. GO
Thursday 2 October
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne – Ruaridh Connellan/BBC
Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home
BBC One/iPlayer, 9pm
“When I was 20 I used to say I’d be dead before 40,” muses Ozzy Osbourne, who died in July at the age of 76, “and that was alright before I was 39-and-a-half”. The late rock legend is in characteristically colourful form in this intimate fly-on-the-wall documentary, which makes it all the more poignant. Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home follows the final three years of Ozzy’s life, in which he and wife Sharon made preparations to move from their adopted Los Angeles to their country house in Buckinghamshire. The move was originally set to be charted with a 10-part BBC series – a spiritual sequel to noughties reality hit The Osbournes. But that footage has now been repurposed into a moving hour-long tribute, which airs tonight after being pulled from the schedules in August at the wishes of the family.
The Osbournes’ objection of it being too soon was likely correct. There is a tragedy to its portrayal of an Ozzy who, although in poor health, was excited to start a new life in England with the devoted Sharon. “It’s our last chapter,” she says, speaking days after Ozzy’s farewell concert in Birmingham, weeks before his death. “My life without him just isn’t my life”.
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Dragons’ Den
BBC One/iPlayer, 8pm
First in the Den this week is an impressive serial inventor whose AI-powered hob and stove monitor could prevent kitchen fires. A potential necessity for care homes. Elsewhere, the Dragons sample a zesty alternative to alcohol; and there’s a fruity pitch for banana-shaped shoe deodorisers.
George Clarke’s Homes In the Wild
Channel 4, 8pm
Ardent architect George Clarke travels to New Zealand and Australia for a six-part exploration of some of the world’s most remote homes. In tonight’s opener, he visits the rugged Great Barrier Island, off the coast of New Zealand, where he marvels at a one-of-a-kind solar-powered Irish pub.
Long Lost Family
ITV1/ITVX, 9pm
Sixty-year-old Jayne’s late mother once confessed to giving up a son for adoption when she was young. In this week’s moving edition of the foundling favourite, Jayne hopes to finally track down her long-lost brother. We also meet Kevin, who is trying to find his eldest daughter.
All Creatures Great and Small
Channel 5, 9pm
Not even the cosy warmth of 1940s Yorkshire can escape the future: in tonight’s episode, Nicholas Ralph’s James is persuaded to buy an X-ray machine. The unimpressed Siegfried (Samuel West) has doubts. But of course, that’s before they meet a dog with something in its stomach…
Gillian Anderson: This Cultural Life
BBC Four/iPlayer, 10.30pm
Esteemed actor Gillian Anderson sits down with John Wilson to discuss the influences that have shaped her career. In a wide-ranging interview, she talks about being caught between her British and American heritage; the phenomenal impact of The X Files and why Meryl Streep is her acting hero. SK
Television previewers
Stephen Kelly (SK), Veronica Lee (VL), Gerard O’Donovan (GO), Vicki Power (VP) and Gabriel Tate (GT)
