From the return of I’m a Celebrity… South Africa, Twenty Twenty Six, The Assembly and Malcolm in the Middle to David Attenborough’s latest series and Dan Levy’s new comedy Big Mistakes, here’s the rundown of what to look forward to and catch up on this week.
What’s on TV tonight?
Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair
Disney+
One of the great – and most likeable – US family sitcoms returns after a lay-up of 20 years and, yes, we can honestly say it has been worth the wait. The producers have gone to exceptional trouble to make this work, reuniting the core original cast, including Frankie Muniz as a now late-thirties Malcolm, Bryan Cranston (a miracle given the stratospheric fame he has enjoyed in the intervening years) as his dad Hal, Jane Kaczmarek as mother Lois, and Christopher Masterson and Justin Berfield as older brothers Francis and Reese. But that would be for nothing if it weren’t an absolute zinger of a script, which crackles with delightful levels of absurdity and lashings of envelope-pushing wit.
We open with Malcom enjoying previously unimaginable levels of contentment, living a stress-free life as a senior charity manager, the lone-parent father of teenage daughter Leah (Keeley Karsten) and in a loving relationship with new girlfriend Tristan (Kiana Madeira). The reason for his happiness: he has moved a long, long way from home and he has managed to keep his madcap family at arm’s length for over a decade. That, though, is all about to change.
Greatest Gardens with Diarmuid Gavin and Carol Klein
BBC Two, 7pm; already available on iPlayer
The TV gardeners are joined by former Great British Bake-Off host Prue Leith for the first show in a series exploring gardens in Northern Ireland (where it has previously aired). First up, they visit three relatively new horticultural idylls, the owners of which have poured their hearts into creating from scratch.
Beyond Paradise
BBC One/iPlayer, 8pm
When a performer is attacked at a masked Morris Dancing event, the team’s focus quickly turns to allergies and his relationship with a married couple of fellow dancers. Also, Humphrey (Kris Marshall) and Martha (Sally Bretton) take another big step towards acquiring their dream home.
Have I Got News for You
BBC One/iPlayer, 9pm
Genial gardening guru Monty Don is the only one making a debut on tonight’s show, though he’s been hosting Gardeners’ World almost as long as Ian Hislop and Paul Merton have been on this one (well, 23 years to their 36). Comedian Chris McCausland and journalist Helen Lewis are the guests, with 19 previous appearances between them.
The Assembly
ITV1/ITVX, 10pm
Nicola Sturgeon, who stepped down from her role as First Minister of Scotland three years ago in still not entirely translucent circumstances, is tonight’s interviewee. Can the slick politician cope with a star chamber of autistic and learning-disabled inquisitors asking direct questions about her arrest, her least favourite politician, and not being invited to Alex Salmond’s funeral?
The Claudia Winkleman Show
BBC One/iPlayer, 10.40pm
Jamie Dornan’s description of his craving for fatty, wet South African biltong was a recent memorable moment; can tonight’s guests rise to equal heights? They are: stars of stage and screen, Ralph Fiennes, Anna Faris and Olivia Cooke, plus comedian Michelle de Swarte. GO
What’s on TV this week?
Saturday 4 April
The Boat Race
Channel 4, 1.30pm
The BBC had long been considered the home of the annual Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. It was first broadcast by the corporation in 1938 and has aired every year apart from 2005-2008, when the rights were briefly held by ITV. Last year, however, it was announced that they had lost the Boat Race to Channel 4. The five-year deal came after Telegraph Sport reported that Alex Kay-Jelski, the BBC’s director of sport, showed “very little enthusiasm” during negotiations. He is alleged to have viewed the event as “elitist”, while insiders insisted that the BBC’s failure to renew was based on concerns over a return on investment.
Either way, Channel 4’s inaugural live coverage of the men’s and women’s races is anchored today by the dependable Clare Balding. She is joined by former Paralympian Ade Adepitan and reality TV star Jamie Laing – an authority on all things posh. The race itself will take place along 4.25 miles of the River Thames, from Putney to Mortlake. Cambridge currently leads Oxford in both the men’s and women’s races, but tens of thousands of spectators will line the banks today to see if Oxford can pull ahead for the first time since 2022.
MOTD Live: Chelsea v Port Vale & Southampton v Arsenal
BBC One/iPlayer, 5pm & 7.30pm
A double-bill of FA Cup quarter-final action. Chelsea host League One side Port Vale at Stamford Bridge, kicking off at 5.15pm. The David versus Goliath bout is followed by Championship hopefuls Southampton taking on Arsenal (kick-off 8pm) at St Mary’s Stadium.
Live Boxing: Lauren Price v Stephanie Piñeiro
BBC Two/iPlayer, 8pm
Unified world champion Lauren Price defends her four welterweight titles tonight against Puerto Rican challenger Stephanie Piñeiro, live from Utilita Arena Cardiff. Welsh boxer Price is undefeated in nine professional fights, but Piñeiro also boasts an unblemished record from 10 unbeaten bouts.
Bill Bailey’s Vietnam
Channel 4, 9pm
Bill Bailey concludes his charming Vietnam travelogue by sailing a junk boat through the beautiful scenery of Ha Long Bay, which is said to have been made by a dragon. At 10pm, you can also catch the comedian’s 2025 stand-up show Thoughtifier, in which he muses on Elon Musk and polar bear raves.
Saturday Night Live
Sky One/NOW, 10pm
Last week’s superb Jools Holland sketch – in which he was recast as the boogie woogie bogeyman of changing your clocks – suggests that SNL UK could be something special. Tonight’s episode is hosted by Riz Ahmed, star of the new James Bond-themed comedy Bait, and features music from Kasabian.
Hidden Assets
BBC Four, 9.35pm/10.25pm; all episodes are already on iPlayer
The continental Irish crime drama continues with another slow-burning double-bill. Tonight’s opening episode centres around the revelation that the late Adama (Paul Kiza Amani) had uncovered a criminal conspiracy while interviewing migrants. Could this be connected to the murder of reporter Olatz Alzola (Nagore González) in Bilbao? SK
Sunday 5 April
David Attenborough takes a peek behind our garden gates – BBC
Secret Garden
BBC One, 6pm; all episodes will be available today on iPlayer
David Attenborough presents this fascinating new five-part series, conceived as part of his 100th birthday celebration, which falls next month. Over five episodes, he shows us the hidden natural world of our gardens, no matter how big or small, urban or rural, and how they can be surprisingly rich in flora and fauna – from otters in Oxfordshire, pine martens in the Western Highlands to blue tits in Bristol, dormice in South Wales and swallows in the Lake District. Some gardens are “almost as diverse as a tropical rainforest”, Attenborough informs us.
The first episode focuses on the garden of a thousand-year-old mill house in Oxfordshire. The building is surrounded by water and the garden is lovingly tended by owners Henry and Sara, who have allowed much of it to go wild, creating a haven for wildlife. Attenborough describes how the garden’s inhabitants come and go over the seasons: a male kingfisher looking for a mate, a bank vole evading grass snakes, otters, bats and red kites patrolling the area they all regard as their territory. Doris, the garden’s resident mallard, meanwhile, must protect her nine ducklings from any number of predators.
Landward
BBC Two/iPlayer, 9am
This special episode (previously shown on BBC Scotland) celebrates the Scottish rural affairs programme’s 50th anniversary. Dougie Vipond revisits stories from the archives, providing a fascinating snapshot of a changing countryside, while past presenters recall high and lows – including Ross Muir’s memory of a guinea fowl that “evacuated its bowels over my suit”.
Easter Day Service: Live from Ripon Cathedral
BBC One/iPlayer, 10am
The Very Revd John Dobson, the Dean of Ripon, leads the Eucharist service of prayers and music, while the Bishop of Ripon, the Rt Revd Anna Eltringham, delivers the sermon. The programme is followed by Urbi et Orbi at 11am, when Pope Leo XIV delivers his first Eastertide “to the city and to the world” address to 1.4 billion Catholics.
Live Snooker: Tour Championship
Channel 5, 12.30pm & 6.30pm
Katie Shanahan presents coverage of the two sessions of the final at Manchester Central, where the first player to reach 10 frames will be crowned champion, win £150,000 and take over the title from John Higgins – who won in a memorable comeback against Mark Selby last year.
The Other Bennet Sister
BBC One, 8pm & 8.30pm; all episodes are already on iPlayer
This delightful adaptation continues with Mary (Ella Bruccoleri) considering Mr Ryder’s (Laurie Davidson) audacious – and potentially ruinous – offer.
Pilgrimage: The Road to Holy Island
BBC Two, 9pm; all episodes will be available today on iPlayer
This often illuminating programme returns as seven new celebrities – of many faiths and none – walk through Northumberland to Lindisfarne, one of Britain’s most historic pilgrimage sites. They are Diversity’s Ashley Banjo, actresses Hermione Norris and Patsy Kensit, reality star Tasha Ghouri; stand-ups Hasan Al-Habib and Ashley Blaker and broadcaster Jayne Middlemiss. Continues tomorrow and Tuesday. VL
Monday 6 April
Former contestants assemble in South Africa – ITV
I’m a Celebrity South Africa
ITV1/ITVX, 9pm
In turbulent times for the television industry, there are few ratings bankers left for the traditional broadcaster; despite conceptually looking a little old hat in the wake of The Celebrity Traitors, I’m a Celebrity remains one of those for ITV. Three years on from Myleene Klass’s pipping Ashley Banjo to the title in 2023’s first returning-contestants event (in reality, it has only been two years, as this series was recorded last year), Ant and Dec are back to challenge a dozen more fading famous faces to eat terrible things and endure unpleasant experiences for our delectation. It will, they promise, be “tougher than ever”.
The campmates comprise the usual clutch of sportspeople (Mo Farah, David Haye, Jimmy Bullard, Harry Redknapp), singers (Ashley Roberts, Sinitta), actors (Beverley Callard, Adam Thomas), funnnymen (Craig Charles, Seann Walsh) and reality TV stars (Scarlett Moffatt, Gemma Collins), only this time it comes with a twist: the public will vote for the winner as the finalists (and their vanquished opponents) reunite for a live final in London. Will we see the MoBot? Or could the GC triumph?
Chateau DIY
Channel 4, 5pm
The hit teatime show returns for a sixth series, with three couples taking on a trio of very different French renovations: a dilapidated church, a tower suite and the potentially glorious gardens of a six-turreted extravagance.
Ronan Keating’s Wild Atlantic
BBC Two, 6.30pm; all episodes will be available today on iPlayer
A voyage of rediscovery for the Boyzone singer in an unremarkable Irish coastal travelogue running across this week. Beginning in Cork, he hooks up with his nephew for a game of road bowling, forages for edible plants and visits a Buddhist Temple.
Babies
BBC One, 9pm; all episodes are already on iPlayer
Stefan Golaszewski’s latest is just as wittily idiosyncratic and heartbreakingly true as its predecessors, Marriage, Mum and Him & Her, and this third episode continues its deft, forensic exploration of the specificities of grief through a flashback to the first encounter between Stephen (Paapa Essiedu) and Lisa (Siobhan Cullen).
China with Ben Fogle
Channel 5, 9pm
Ben Fogle’s stated aim of going beyond the stereotypes to discover the real China starts with him on that niche attraction, the Great Wall. This first of three parts then follows him to Beijing and Shanghai to learn about daily life and do some guerrilla filming around Tiananmen Square. When he leaves the bold claims behind and gets chatting to normal people, however, his affable curiosity pays real dividends. Continues tomorrow.
Caroline Walker: Women’s Work
BBC Four, 10pm; already available on iPlayer
A painter of great empathy, sensitivity and insight, Scotland’s Caroline Walker has long championed the unseen and ignored. This thoughtful BBC Scotland documentary follows the four-year process behind new paintings celebrating women working in nurseries and nail bars, as carers and mothers, as well as digging into Walker’s past and present. GT
Tuesday 7 April
Keith Brymer Jones returns for more chapel renovations – Channel 4
Our Welsh Chapel Dream
Channel 4, 8pm
We’re back in the lovely North Wales coastal town of Pwllheli, where, in 2022, the Great Pottery Throw Down host Keith Brymer Jones and his partner Marj Hogarth bought a rundown Presbyterian chapel in the centre of the town, intending to renovate it as their new home. At the time, it looked like the pair had bitten off more than any couple could reasonably chew: Capel Salem was built in 1862 on an epic scale, encompassing not only a galleried meeting hall capable of accommodating hundreds, but also a connected two-storey house and Sunday school – all in a shocking state of disrepair.
Three series in, the pair have already worked wonders (not least in rallying the local community to their cause) by transforming part of the school into their new, flamboyantly decorated living quarters. Now they’re ready to move on to the second phase of their plan to make the rest of the building into a working pottery studio, community hub and art space. First, though, a clear-out of years of joint accumulations is needed, meaning Keith must sell some pottery and Marj must sell off a portion of her extensive clothes collection.
Untold: Chessmates
Netflix
If you’re a chess fan, you’ll know all about the cheating controversy involving Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen and his US rival Hans Niemann. This documentary examines Carlsen’s motives for accusing Niemann, and Niemann’s legal battle to clear his name.
André is an Idiot: Storyville
BBC Four/iPlayer, 9pm
It’s gallows humour all the way as Californian force-of-nature André Ricciardi records his quest to pass away with humour and defiance over the three years between his terminal bowel cancer diagnosis and death. Intended as a clarion call to everyone over 50 to have a colonoscopy, it’s a remarkable account of a life lived colourfully to the last.
Ligas
Sky Atlantic/NOW, 9pm & 10pm
Sky’s very entertaining Italian legal drama focuses on Lorenzo Ligas (Luca Argentero), a brilliant lawyer with a penchant for showmanship and a complicated personal life. In the opening episodes, we find him getting in way over his head defending a pop star accused of murder.
Britain’s Murder Map with Vicky McClure
Sky History, 9pm
The Line of Duty and Trigger Point star and her husband Jonny Owen take a fresh look at historic UK murder cases. First up, they’re in Edinburgh to dispel some myths surrounding the city’s notorious 19th-century body snatchers Burke and Hare, revealing, for starters, that they weren’t body snatchers at all, but serial murderers.
Francis Bourgeois & Chris Harris: We Saved a Train
Quest, 9pm
The TikTok trainspotter and Top Gear petrolhead team up for an odd-couple adventure, setting out in their engineered-inept fashion to restore a locomotive – a British Rail Class 37 diesel-electric built in 1961– and get it, quite literally, back on the rails. GO
Wednesday 8 April
Hugh Bonneville is back as Ian Fletcher, and this time he’s in the US – BBC
Twenty Twenty Six
BBC Two, 10pm; all episodes will be available today on iPlayer
Hugh Bonneville’s fusty manager Ian Fletcher has had quite the career. In the Olympics satire Twenty Twelve, he was Head of Deliverance of the Olympic Deliverance Commission, the team in charge of delivering the 2012 London Games. Sequel W1A, meanwhile, made him the BBC’s nebulous Head of Values. Now, nine years later, his LinkedIn page has had another update. As David Tennant’s droll narrator explains, Fletcher has travelled to Miami to become the Director of Integrity for this year’s Fifa World Cup. Although all mentions of the tournament here are bleeped “for legal reasons”.
Creator John Morton has long mastered the comic absurdity of corporate manager-speak. The twist in this six-part follow-up is how Fletcher’s Britishisms (“right, yes”) rub up against the peppy aggression of American work culture. Tonight, he must corral his fractured team into making a decision on which American, Canadian or Mexican city should host the World Cup semi-finals. Although the announcement is soon overshadowed by a new social media campaign called The Power of Poop, about the tournament’s sustainability initiative based around human waste. Plus, the arrival of Fletcher’s bumbling BBC assistant Will Humphries (Hugh Skinner), who is, of course, the show’s highlight.
The Boys
Amazon Prime Video
The merciless superhero satire returns for its fifth and final series. Today’s opening two episodes pick up in a world dominated by Antony Starr’s seemingly invincible super-villain Homelander. The only way to beat him could potentially wipe out all of the world’s “supes” – even the good ones.
The Testaments
Disney+
Bleak dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale ended last year after six punishing series. The first three episodes of this absorbing 10-part sequel, adapted from Margaret Atwood’s 2019 novel, follow a teenage girl called Agnes (Chase Infiniti) as she navigates a brutal school run by Ann Dowd’s formidable Aunt Lydia.
Trust Me: the False Prophet
Netflix
This disturbing four-part documentary chronicles the rise of Samuel Bateman, an American polygamous religious leader whose 20 “wives” included 10 underage girls. Much of the sinister footage here is captured by a couple who infiltrated his inner circle in the hopes of saving women in thrall to a false prophet.
Michael Jackson: An American Tragedy
BBC Two, 9pm; all episodes will be available today on iPlayer
Seventeen years after his death, Michael Jackson remains one of the most controversial figures in pop music. This dramatic three-part profile recontextualises Jackson’s divisive career, beginning tonight with his origins as a child prodigy. Sister La Toya, interviewed here, insists that no one knew the real Michael Jackson. SK
Thursday 9 April
Elizabeth Banks and Matthew Macfadyen star – Peacock
The Miniature Wife
Sky Atlantic, 9pm; all episodes will be available today on Sky/NOW
Matthew Macfadyen and Elizabeth Banks make an impressively toxic pairing in this odd but intriguing 10-part comedy-drama, playing Les, a scientist working on a solution to global hunger and Lindy, a bestselling author. We join them at a post-therapy dinner date, declaring their desire for a relationship reset to work on narcissistic tendencies (him) and accountability issues (her). This laudable goal is derailed by Lindy’s secret lover’s ill-considered decision to send her latest short story to the New Yorker – a story which, it transpires, she didn’t actually write. Les, meanwhile, is scrambling for funding to develop a molecular ray which can currently shrink foodstuff but not yet restore it to normal size.
You may be able to guess from the title where this is going, and sure enough, Les, jealous and resentful, is goaded into the fateful push of a button. Having diligently laid out the emotional stakes and introduced a fine ensemble including Sian Clifford and O-T Fagbenle, it is only at the end of this sour, snarky opener that the promised transformation takes place and the fun really begins as the practical implications of the unanticipated transformation are explored.
Big Mistakes
Netflix
Dan Levy has co-created (alongside rising star Rachel Sennott) and stars (alongside comedian Taylor Ortega) in this comic caper, one of Netflix’s splashy, noisy, slightly shallow ones saved by the leads’ ill-tempered chemistry. The pair play siblings – he, a Christian pastor and she his sister, whose rash moment of light-fingered madness brings them into the orbit of organised crime, where they prove unexpectedly valuable.
ITV Racing: Grand National Festival
ITV1/ITVX, 1.30pm
The long weekend at Aintree gets underway with the Aintree Bowl at 2.55pm and the Aintree Hurdle at 4.05pm, with ITV’s substantial on-site team including AP McCoy, Ruby Walsh and Richard Hoiles.
Paul Merton: Driving Amazing Trains
Channel 4, 8pm
Paul Merton inherited a passion for locomotives from a dad who drove trains for London Underground, and spends this amiable six-part series in drivers’ cabs along some glorious railway lines ranging from north Wales to Colditz, learning about local history as he goes. He begins on the Isle of Wight, where he helps a cow to calve and learns about the island’s role in D-Day.
Inside Barlinnie
BBC Two, 9pm; already available on iPlayer
A welcome second series for this bleakly insightful documentary at Scotland’s largest prison, where 1,400 inmates are squeezed into five halls. There are tales of addiction, violence and depression where cycles prove hard to break, but also the occasional ray of hope and moments of clarity.
Taskmaster
Channel 4, 9pm
The 21st competition boasts an appropriately stellar line-up, as Armando Iannucci, Joanna Page, Joel Dommett, Amy Gledhill and actor Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley, The Big Sick) are set deeply silly challenges by Greg Davies and Alex Horne. Tonight: hunting small creatures, catching a T-shirt and serving up fruit and veg. GT
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