TV Guide UK Tonight: Fri 26 Jun 2026 – Norway v France, Madonna & Graham Norton & Aardman Night

Published: 21 June 2026

Friday 26 June 2026. It is the kind of Friday that asks quite a lot of you. France — former world champions, favourites for this tournament — take on an attacking Norway side at 8pm on ITV1, free on Freeview, which is the clear main event. Before the football, Aardman Animations turns 50 and BBC Three marks it with a triple bill from 7:05pm. After the final whistle, Madonna sits down with Graham Norton in Camden for a conversation that has all the makings of a memorable Friday night on BBC One. This is what’s on TV tonight.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• Norway v France ITV1, 7pm (kick-off 8pm). World Cup group stage. Former champions. Free. ⭐
• Madonna and Graham BBC One, 10:40pm. Graham Norton, KoKo, one-on-one. Proper event television.
• Aardman Night BBC Three, from 7:05pm. Three films. 50 years of Nick Park. A Matter of Loaf and Death at 8:35pm.
• Ludwig BBC Three, 9:05pm. David Mitchell. Series one repeat. Smarter than it looks.
• Death in Paradise BBC One, 9pm. Golf course. Tamzin Outhwaite. Not Wales.
• My Tiger Family BBC Two, 9pm. Ranthambhore. Decades of conservation. Worth your time.

Sport

Cricket: Men’s Test – England v New Zealand – Sky Sports, 10:15am

Day two of the third Test, live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Cricket from 10:15am. Subscription required. If you are not a Sky customer, free highlights land on BBC Two at 7pm.

FIFA World Cup 2026: Norway v France – ITV1, 7pm (kick-off 8pm) ⭐

The match of the night, and comfortably one of the better free-to-air fixtures of this World Cup so far. France come in as former champions and one of the genuine heavyweights of the tournament — the kind of squad that carries quality across every position. Norway, though, are not here to make up the numbers. They carry real attacking menace and the ability to hurt teams on the break in ways that will test even France’s defensive organisation. With no home nation in action tonight, this is the tie the Freeview TV guide is built around. Coverage from 7pm on ITV1 and ITVX, kick-off 8pm. No subscription needed.

Golf: Women’s PGA Championship – Sky Sports Golf, 5pm

From Minnesota, live on Sky Sports Golf from 5pm with coverage also on Sky Sports Main Event from 11pm. Subscription required.

Early Evening

Aardman Night – BBC Three, from 7:05pm

Nick Park’s Aardman Animations turns 50, and BBC Three marks the occasion with a triple bill that starts at 7:05pm and runs into the night. First up is Early Man, the 2018 feature film in which a Stone Age tribe has to challenge a more technically advanced, bronze-era civilisation to a football match for the right to keep their valley. It is funnier and gentler than its premise sounds. At 8:20pm comes a 15-minute special, Shaun the Sheep: The Shirleyverse, before the evening reaches its obvious highlight at 8:35pm with A Matter of Loaf and Death — the 2008 Wallace and Gromit short in which a serial killer is targeting bakers, and Wallace falls for Piella Bakewell (Sally Lindsay) and her poodle Fluffles. The late Peter Sallis voices Wallace for the final time here, and it remains a tiny, near-perfect piece of animation. All three on BBC iPlayer.

What Happened at the Somme? – BBC One, 7:30pm

A documentary that earned its place in the schedule. BBC World Service reporter Jordan Dunbar travels back to the Somme battlefields, meeting relatives of those who served in the 1916 campaign and exploring a collection of letters and photographs discovered in a London attic that trace one man’s experience of the fighting. What lifts this above straightforward commemoration is the thread running to the present: the trench warfare in eastern Ukraine that has given the Somme’s geography an uncomfortable new resonance. BBC iPlayer.

Gardeners’ World – BBC Two, 8pm

Monty Don turns his attention to the summer borders, refreshing plantings — penstemons get a moment — to keep the garden earning its keep through the hottest months. Arit Anderson visits a south-east London community garden project that has taken over a formerly derelict site and made it into something genuinely alive. BBC iPlayer.

Prime Time

Death in Paradise – BBC One, 9pm

A 2022 repeat, but Death in Paradise in repeat is a perfectly decent Friday night programme and this is a good episode. A body turns up on a golf course at Saint Marie, killed — neatly enough — with a golf club. The course belongs to a pair of dubious characters played by Tamzin Outhwaite and Jason Done, the suspect pool is thin, and DI Neville Parker has to work for it. BBC iPlayer. Not shown in Wales.

My Tiger Family – BBC Two, 9pm

Filmmaker Valmik Thapar has spent his career in the forests around the ruined fort of Ranthambhore in north-west India, tracking generations of tigers and documenting the long, unglamorous battle to keep them alive in the face of poaching pressure since the 1980s. The dynasty he has filmed is extraordinary. The programme around it is calm, patient, and quietly compelling. BBC iPlayer.

Ludwig – BBC Three, 9:05pm

A repeat of the first series, and worth catching if you missed it first time. David Mitchell plays John “Ludwig” Taylor — a reclusive, puzzle-obsessed man who ends up passing himself off as his missing twin brother, a detective, at the local police station. He solves the cases while quietly trying to work out where his brother has gone. The writing is drier and sharper than the format suggests, and Mitchell is exactly right in the role. BBC iPlayer.

The Sommerdahl Murders – More4, 9pm

Danish crime drama that earns its place in the tv guide listings tonight. Detective Dan Sommerdahl is called to a stable where a racehorse owner has been found stabbed with a pitchfork; the Derby favourite is also missing. The investigation pulls in doping, money laundering, and illegal gambling before it is done, while Sommerdahl’s personal life refuses to stay out of the way. Channel 4 streaming.

Late Night

Madonna and Graham – BBC One, 10:40pm

Graham Norton and Madonna, one-on-one, recorded at KoKo in Camden — the north London venue where she played her first UK show back in 1983. The programme takes in her early years in New York, her long relationship with this country, and a new album she is billing as a sequel to 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor. Long-time producer Stuart Price is among those who appear. Norton is at his best when he strips back the sofa and the format, and this has the look of the kind of late-night BBC One programme people will still be talking about at the weekend. BBC iPlayer.

TFI Unplugged – Channel 4, 11:05pm

Chris Evans brings back the spirit of TFI Friday in a new format. Interviews and live music from hit acts and bands. Channel 4 streaming.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

• ITVX: Norway v France (live, 7pm), Uruguay v Spain (live, 12:15am)
• BBC iPlayer: What Happened at the Somme?, Aardman Night triple bill, Gardeners’ World, Death in Paradise, My Tiger Family, Ludwig, Madonna and Graham, New Zealand v Belgium (live, 3:50am)
• Channel 4 streaming: The Sommerdahl Murders (More4), TFI Unplugged

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EastEnders on Friday 26 June 2026?

No — EastEnders is not on tonight. EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday only, and there is no Friday episode. Head to BBC iPlayer to catch up on this week’s episodes at any time; the next new episode is on Monday.

What time is Norway v France and what channel?

Norway v France is on ITV1, with coverage from 7pm and kick-off at 8pm UK time. It is free on ITV1 and available to stream live on ITVX. No subscription required.

What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight (Friday 26 June 2026)?

Norway v France on ITV1 (coverage 7pm, kick-off 8pm) is the standout — former world champions France against an attacking Norway, free on the Freeview TV guide with no subscription needed. If you want an alternative to football: Madonna’s one-on-one with Graham Norton on BBC One at 10:40pm is must-watch late-night television, while Aardman’s 50th anniversary triple bill on BBC Three from 7:05pm is the best thing on before 9pm. Ludwig on BBC Three at 9:05pm and My Tiger Family on BBC Two at 9pm are both worth your Friday night.

What is Aardman Night on BBC Three?

Aardman Night is a triple bill celebrating Nick Park’s Aardman Animations turning 50, starting on BBC Three at 7:05pm. It begins with Early Man (2018), moves on to the short Shaun the Sheep: The Shirleyverse at 8:20pm, and concludes at 8:35pm with Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008), in which Wallace falls for a former pin-up named Piella Bakewell (Sally Lindsay) while a baker-targeting killer stalks Saint Marie. Voiced by the late Peter Sallis, it remains one of Aardman’s finest half-hours. All three on BBC iPlayer.

What is Ludwig on BBC Three tonight?

Ludwig is a BBC comedy drama in which David Mitchell plays John “Ludwig” Taylor, a reclusive puzzle-setter who is pressed into impersonating his missing detective twin brother at a police station — solving cases while searching for his sibling. Tonight’s BBC Three repeat at 9:05pm is from series one. The full series is on BBC iPlayer.

Final Verdict

Norway v France on ITV1 (coverage 7pm, kick-off 8pm) is tonight’s main event — free on Freeview, former champions, genuine contest. Madonna and Graham on BBC One at 10:40pm is the late-night highlight: Graham Norton and Madonna, one-on-one, at the venue where she first played London. Aardman Night on BBC Three from 7:05pm is the warmest thing on television tonight, and A Matter of Loaf and Death holds up brilliantly forty years into Aardman’s existence. What’s on TV tonight? More than enough.

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