Wednesday night delivers a packed schedule with The Traitors approaching its climax, three Champions League matches including Liverpool’s trip to Marseille, and a cracking film on Film4. Grantchester takes Alphy back to his childhood orphanage for some spooky goings-on, while Digging for Britain unearths treasures from Nelson’s navy to the Roman era. Plus EastEnders continues its Chrissie Watts saga if you’ve been following along.
Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best
- The Traitors – BBC One, 8pm – Entering the final stretch with a shock revelation
- Marseille v Liverpool – TNT Sports 1, 8pm – Champions League league phase football
- Polite Society – Film4, 9pm – British martial arts comedy that’s an absolute blast
- Grantchester – ITV1, 9pm – Alphy investigates occult activity at his old orphanage
Early Evening (6pm – 8pm)
EastEnders – BBC One, 7:30pm
Yes, EastEnders is on tonight. The Chrissie Watts storyline rumbles on, though it’s starting to feel like it’s going in circles. Jasmine has been caught out in yet another lie – this time a particularly nasty one about Max – and is now planning to scarper from Walford while her mother Zoe sits in prison accused of murder.
The whole Square seems to be waiting for Chrissie to reappear and exact revenge, which might actually inject some energy into proceedings. Tracy-Ann Oberman returning for a proper stint could be exactly what this plot needs. There’s also the lingering question of why Chrissie targeted Zoe when it was Sam Mitchell who dug up Den’s body all those years ago. Perhaps we’ll get some answers. Perhaps we’ll get more circles.
Deal or No Deal: Banker’s Best Battles – ITV1, 7:30pm
Stephen Mulhern presents a compilation of the most memorable confrontations between contestants and the mysterious Banker. If you’ve ever wondered what drives someone to reject £50,000 in pursuit of a quarter million, this retrospective offers plenty of examples. The format’s brilliance lies in watching ordinary people wrestle with life-changing decisions in real time – and occasionally getting it spectacularly wrong.
Prime Time (8pm onwards)
The Traitors – BBC One, 8pm ⭐
The essential watch. We’re now in the final stretch and tonight’s episode promises a breakfast scene that apparently catches everyone off guard. At this stage, alliances have formed and shattered multiple times, suspicions point in every direction, and the remaining Faithfuls are running out of time to identify the Traitors among them.
Claudia Winkleman continues to preside over the paranoia with theatrical relish, all meaningful pauses and arched eyebrows. The format remains brilliant in its simplicity – people lying to each other’s faces while everyone tries to read tells that may or may not exist. If you’re not watching, you’re missing out on one of the few remaining shared TV experiences. Uncloaked follows at 9pm with Ed Gamble dissecting the drama.
Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It – Channel 4, 8pm
Tonight’s challenge is a proper head-scratcher. Kirstie must somehow transform a boxy 1990s house with a garage conversion into something resembling a Dubai villa. The couple, Richard and Bridget, have spent a decade in the UAE and want their Cambridgeshire home to evoke that lifestyle. They’ve got £150,000 to play with, which sounds generous until you factor in how much they’re asking for.
Apparently there’s a twist that throws everything into chaos mid-renovation – because there’s always a twist. The interest lies less in whether they achieve Dubai vibes in the Fens (they won’t, not really) and more in watching Kirstie navigate increasingly unrealistic expectations with professional patience.
Landscape Artist of the Year – Sky Arts, 8pm
The competition relocates to St James’s Park on what turns out to be one of summer’s hottest days. Eight artists must capture the view with Buckingham Palace as their backdrop – or as Stephen Mangan puts it with typical dad-joke energy, they need to “put the oils into royals.”
The approaches range from impressionistic to Warholian, with one contestant even incorporating AI elements into their work, which proves controversial with the judges. New judge Eva Langret, director of Frieze London, advises contestants to “reinvent the familiar” – advice that’s easier said than done when you’re painting one of the most photographed buildings in Britain. The geese wandering past the easels add some unscripted comedy.
Football: Champions League – TNT Sports, 8pm
A busy night of European football. The pick of the matches is Marseille v Liverpool on TNT Sports 1, with Arne Slot’s side looking to secure their place in the knockout rounds. The Stade Vélodrome is always an intimidating venue, though Liverpool’s form suggests they’re more than capable of handling the atmosphere.
Newcastle travel to Eindhoven for their meeting with PSV on TNT Sports 2, while Chelsea face Pafos on TNT Sports 3 in what should be a more straightforward assignment. Coverage starts at 7pm across the channels.
Grantchester – ITV1, 9pm
This week’s investigation brings an unexpected personal connection for Alphy. The setting is a gloomy orphanage where children appear to spend their time gathered around Ouija boards and engaging in ritualistic activities. Naturally, the occult elements turn out to be misdirection – this is a Church of England detective drama, after all, not The Exorcist.
What makes the episode interesting is that Alphy grew up at this very institution. His return forces him to confront memories he’d rather leave buried, and when an old friend becomes a suspect, professional detachment becomes difficult to maintain. Rishi Nair has settled into the role nicely, bringing genuine warmth to a character caught between progressive instincts and institutional constraints.
Patience – Channel 4, 9pm
The neurodivergent detective tackles an academic mystery. A young archaeologist collapses and dies moments after beginning a lecture about a Viking rune discovered by his former tutor. As Patience and DI Monroe investigate, suspicion falls on whether the rune itself is genuine.
The episode strays quite far from its French source material, Astrid: Murder in Paris, but maintains the core appeal: watching Patience’s unconventional thinking cut through what others miss. There’s also movement on the personal front that apparently won’t make viewers happy. More follows tomorrow at 9pm if tonight’s hooks you.
Digging for Britain – BBC Two, 9pm
Alice Roberts brings her trademark enthusiasm to another batch of archaeological discoveries. At Buckler’s Hard in the New Forest, excavators have uncovered the slipway where HMS Agamemnon was built – that’s Nelson’s favourite ship, which saw action at the Battle of the Nile.
Elsewhere, a burial ground in Kent reveals details about an Anglo-Saxon community, while a dig at Trinity College, Oxford produces remarkable artefacts. The standout find, though, is a mysterious box discovered in what archaeologists call a “deviant grave” – a Roman burial site in the Cotswolds where someone was clearly interred under unusual circumstances. Near Herne Bay, micro-analysis of an Iron Age settlement reveals how people lived 2,500 years ago with remarkable precision.
Polite Society – Film4, 9pm
If you want something completely different, this 2023 action comedy from Nida Manzoor is tremendous fun. Priya Kansara plays Ria, a British-Pakistani teenager with martial arts ambitions who becomes convinced her sister’s arranged marriage is somehow sinister. What follows is a genre-blending mashup of family drama, high-school comedy, and action thriller.
Manzoor, who also created the sitcom We Are Lady Parts, had the script ready for years but couldn’t get it funded until her TV success. Kansara described the finished film as “bonkers” and frankly that’s accurate – it veers from heartfelt sister dynamics to elaborate fight sequences without ever losing its footing. The kind of original, energetic filmmaking that deserves a wider audience.
Can You Keep a Secret? – BBC One, 9:30pm
Dawn French’s dark sitcom continues. Debbie has been desperately maintaining the fiction that her husband William is dead, but he’s been getting careless. A late-night snack run to the petrol station has now exposed him to daughter-in-law Neha – who happens to be a police officer.
The question of whether Neha will keep the secret or shop her in-laws provides tonight’s central tension. The strongest material comes from the bickering between Debbie and William, where the writing finds genuine insight into long marriages. The broader comic elements are less consistent, but French and Mark Heap remain watchable.
Smiley’s People – BBC Four, 10pm and 11pm
Double bill of the 1982 John le Carré adaptation. More than four decades on, modern viewers might find the pace glacial compared to the recent Night Manager, but there’s something mesmerising about Alec Guinness’s weary, watchful George Smiley methodically constructing a plan to bring down his Soviet nemesis Karla (Patrick Stewart).
The story was apparently so complex that Terry Wogan ran a competition during its original broadcast challenging listeners to figure out what was happening. Stick with it and the payoff is considerable – this is spy fiction that treats its audience as intelligent adults.
Sport
Football: Champions League – Marseille v Liverpool, TNT Sports 1 from 7pm (kick-off 8pm). Newcastle v PSV Eindhoven on TNT Sports 2, Chelsea v Pafos on TNT Sports 3. All kick off at 8pm.
Football: Championship – Stoke City v Middlesbrough, Sky Sports Main Event/Football from 7:30pm (kick-off 8pm).
Tennis: Australian Open – Day four continues from 7am on TNT Sports, with overnight coverage of day five from 12:30am.
The Viewing Schedule
| Time | Channel | Programme |
|---|---|---|
| 7:00am | TNT Sports | Tennis: Australian Open |
| 7:30pm | BBC One | EastEnders |
| 7:30pm | ITV1 | Deal or No Deal: Banker’s Best Battles |
| 8:00pm | BBC One | The Traitors |
| 8:00pm | Channel 4 | Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It |
| 8:00pm | Sky Arts | Landscape Artist of the Year |
| 8:00pm | TNT Sports 1 | Marseille v Liverpool |
| 8:00pm | Sky Sports | Stoke City v Middlesbrough |
| 9:00pm | BBC One | Uncloaked |
| 9:00pm | ITV1 | Grantchester |
| 9:00pm | Channel 4 | Patience |
| 9:00pm | BBC Two | Digging for Britain |
| 9:00pm | Sky Witness | Matlock |
| 9:00pm | Film4 | Polite Society |
| 9:30pm | BBC One | Can You Keep a Secret? |
| 10:00pm | BBC Four | Smiley’s People |
| 11:00pm | BBC Two | Unspun World with John Simpson |
What’s On Streaming
BBC iPlayer: EastEnders (from 6am), The Traitors, Uncloaked, Digging for Britain, Can You Keep a Secret?
ITVX: Deal or No Deal, Grantchester
Channel 4 streaming: Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It, Patience (full series)
NOW/Sky Go: Landscape Artist of the Year, Matlock
TNT Sports app: Champions League matches
Frequently Asked Questions
What time is The Traitors on tonight?
The Traitors is on BBC One at 8pm tonight (Wednesday 21st January 2026), followed by Uncloaked with Ed Gamble at 9pm analysing the latest twists.
What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight?
Our top pick is The Traitors on BBC One at 8pm – as the competition enters its final stretch, tonight promises a revelation that catches everyone by surprise.
What time is EastEnders on tonight?
EastEnders is on BBC One at 7:30pm tonight (Wednesday 21st January 2026). Jasmine prepares to flee Walford while Zoe remains in prison, and residents brace for Chrissie Watts’s potential return. Available on iPlayer from 6am.
What time is Liverpool playing tonight?
Marseille v Liverpool kicks off at 8pm on TNT Sports 1 tonight (Wednesday 21st January 2026), with coverage starting from 7pm. It’s a Champions League league phase match at the Stade Vélodrome.
What’s on ITV1 tonight?
ITV1’s highlights include Deal or No Deal: Banker’s Best Battles at 7:30pm and Grantchester at 9pm, where Alphy returns to his childhood orphanage to investigate mysterious occult activities.
Final Verdict
The Traitors remains the unmissable watch as we approach the finale – expect more paranoia and accusations. Football fans have excellent Champions League coverage with Liverpool at Marseille the headline fixture. Polite Society on Film4 is the evening’s hidden gem – a genuinely fun British action comedy that deserves your attention. Grantchester offers a personal episode for Alphy, while Digging for Britain delivers for archaeology enthusiasts. And yes, EastEnders is on at 7:30pm with the Chrissie Watts saga continuing.
