TV Guide UK Tonight: Fri 4 Sept 2026 – Live from The Lycett Arms, Gogglebox & The Marlow Murder Club

Updated: 30 August 2026

Friday 4 September 2026. Channel 4 has the night: Gogglebox opens a twenty-eighth series at 9pm and Joe Lycett takes over a real pub for an hour of live television at 10pm. BBC Two brings back The Marlow Murder Club and ITV1 starts a John Grisham adaptation, both at 9pm. EastEnders doesn’t air on Fridays.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• Live from The Lycett Arms Channel 4, 10pm. Live, in a working pub, for one hour only.
• Gogglebox Channel 4, 9pm. Series 28, and still the best record of what Britain watches.
• The Marlow Murder Club BBC Two, 9pm. The concluding half of the case.
• The Rainmaker ITV1, 9pm. New Grisham adaptation, full series on ITVX.
• EastEnders is not on tonight — it returns Monday at 7.30pm.

Early Evening

Sister Boniface Mysteries – BBC One, 2pm

An afternoon repeat, and this week’s puzzle is close to a nursery rhyme: a doll turns up at a crime scene holding a bloodstained knife. It is the 1960s, so this is no Chucky in dungarees but a groovy Twiggy-styled creation called Harmony with unnervingly fixed eyes, and the owner of Salem Dolls is dead. The suspect with pediophobia has the worst afternoon of anyone. Lorna Watson keeps the whole thing on the right side of silly, and the full series is on iPlayer.

BBC Proms – BBC Four, 7pm

Marin Alsop picks over her own Proms history, including the Last Night she conducted in 2013 as the first woman to do it, and her account of the reaction at the time is the best thing in it. Her favourite of this year’s season is Yunchan Lim’s opener. Forty minutes, with Rhapsody in Blue at the Proms following at 7.40pm and BBC Four then giving the rest of the night to Top of the Pops repeats and, from 10pm, the Bee Gees. BBC Four at 7pm.

The Travelling Auctioneers – BBC One, 7.30pm

Izzie turns up old jewellery and a few instruments, JJ takes on a renovation considerably bigger than he bargained for, and the owner — a pharmacist turned comic — is trying to downsize.

Celebrity MasterChef – BBC One, 8pm

Four celebrities left and the Service Is Up challenge, which puts them in pairs on a three-course classic French menu for Grace Dent and Giorgio Locatelli. The steak tartare needs prime beef hand-minced into even cubes; the duck breast has to come out of a dual-temperature roast with crisp skin and succulent flesh, balanced against an orange sauce that is neither sweet nor bitter. Then comes the île flottante, which is where this all falls apart — a collapsed meringue, a curdled crème anglaise and a caramel that has crystallised are three separate disasters available to anyone who rushes.

Emmerdale – ITV1, 8pm

The village in its usual Friday slot, with Coronation Street following at 8.30pm at the end of a week that has put the Street through a death and a departure.

Gardeners’ World – BBC Two, 8pm

Monty Don on a genuinely good summer for soft fruit, and Carol Klein on what a leaf is actually doing while you are not looking at it.

Jimmy Doherty’s Big Bear Rescue – Channel 4, 8pm

A large new enclosure for a group of wolves with nowhere else to go, which requires the wolves to settle their differences first, and polar bear Ewa gains two companions in Flocke and Tala. Channel 4 at 8pm.

You’re Killing Me – U&Drama, 8pm

An uncomfortable number of people are dying in the orbit of the writer Allison (Brooke Shields), and somebody has started re-staging murders from her own back catalogue. She goes looking for answers from her most devoted reader, Norman Baights, who — unlike the similarly named man in Psycho — has no skeleton in the basement, but does know her work well enough to be very useful and very frightening at once.

Luca: Seeing Red – Sky Documentaries, 8pm

Luca di Montezemolo is a genuine legend in Formula One, and this film sends Chris Harris round Italy with him. He ran Ferrari through the Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher years, organised the 1990 World Cup and had a hand in launching a high-speed rail network — a career it is hard to believe belonged to one person.

Prime Time

Gogglebox – Channel 4, 9pm

There is a decent argument that communal television is finished. The exceptions are shrinking — a World Cup, a Strictly final, a Traitors finale — and the rest of the time everybody is on a different platform, or on none, scrolling something else entirely. Which is exactly why this programme still earns its place: it preserves a version of the shared living room that has largely disappeared. Nobody discusses last night’s drama in the office any more because nobody has seen it. Series 28 starts tonight, and the families are still funnier about television than most people are paid to be.

The Marlow Murder Club – BBC Two, 9pm

Three female detectives given real agency is rarer in crime drama than it ought to be, and Robert Thorogood’s series has always known that is its strongest card. Judith Potts (Samantha Bond) is quietly atoning for things she has done, Becks Starling (Cara Horgan) is escaping the tedium of being a vicar’s wife, and Suzie Harris (Jo Martin) is working out what to do with an empty house. This is the second and concluding half of the story, and the three of them are now formally attached to the police investigation rather than working round it. The early running is a series of mild scrapes that seem harmless enough; only in the final act does it pull tight, cleverly and without getting convoluted. The full series is on iPlayer.

The Rainmaker – ITV1, 9pm

Rudy Baylor is a rookie lawyer and not remotely comfortable with what his firm considers normal. Tonight he and Deck Shifflet have a tense encounter with a witness and come away with a discovery about their own client that reframes the case they thought they were building. Milo Callaghan plays the discomfort well and PJ Byrne supplies most of the laughs, of which there are more than the source novel would suggest. Rudy is learning to be cunning, which is the making of him and the ruin of his private life. Full series on ITVX.

Would I Lie to You? – BBC One, 9pm

John Cooper Clarke, Lucia Keskin, Kadiff Kirwan and Sara Pascoe line up behind Lee Mack and David Mitchell, with Rob Brydon refereeing. Cooper Clarke on this format is worth the half-hour by himself. Mrs Brown’s Boys follows at 9.30pm, in which Agnes takes badly to Cathy booking surgery to impress a boyfriend.

New Zealand Spy – Sky One, 9pm

Two episodes of an espionage spoof written by and starring Rose Matafeo, with Paul Williams, Joe Thomas and Bret McKenzie.

Diabolical: the Epstein Files – Quest Red, 9pm

On how money and political access made Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse possible for as long as it was.

Late Night

Live from The Lycett Arms – Channel 4, 10pm ⭐

Al Murray has had the field to himself for thirty years, and Joe Lycett has decided to take him on properly: he did the licensee course, took over a boozer in Hoxton, east London, and now opens it for exactly one hour a week while the cameras are live. Six weeks of that.

The format is best described as a condensed pub — anything that could plausibly happen in a real one, compressed into an hour. Celebrity guests take a trial shift behind the bar, there are darts, there is gossip, and there is a standing possibility of glass-breaking chaos. The regulars are on television whether they intended to be or not, and can commiserate afterwards over pork scratchings. Anyone who watched Late Night Lycett in 2023 and 2024 will spot the family resemblance, and the live element is the entire point: it is the one thing that cannot be edited into safety. Watch it live.

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK – BBC One, 10.40pm

BBC One picks up the series opener a night after BBC Three had it. A new cast enter the werkroom, and Thandiwe Newton takes a seat on the panel beside Michelle Visage and Alan Carr.

Harvest – BBC Two, 11.05pm

Athina Rachel Tsangari’s first film in nearly a decade, adapted from Jim Crace’s 2013 novel and shot in rural Scotland, though the setting is deliberately unplaceable. She has called it a nihilist western, which is as good a description as any for something this resistant to categories: a remote village, a group of outsiders arriving, a hazy atmosphere and sudden bursts of violence. Caleb Landry Jones is remarkable as a villager who was himself once an incomer. Tsangari worked with Yorgos Lanthimos for years before he went to Hollywood, and the Greek Weird Wave sensibility they built together is all over this.

Sport

The Women’s Super League season begins tonight with London City Lionesses against Manchester United at the CopperJax Community Stadium, kick-off 7pm, live on Sky Mix, Sky One and Sky Sports Football and Mix. Alexia Putellas makes her London City debut and Mary Earps faces a former club. In the Premier League, Ipswich Town host Liverpool at Portman Road, kick-off 8pm on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League. Day six of the US Open at Flushing Meadows is on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Tennis from 3.30pm.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

• BBC iPlayer: The Marlow Murder Club (full series), Sister Boniface Mysteries, Celebrity MasterChef, Gardeners’ World, BBC Proms
• ITVX: The Rainmaker (full series), Emmerdale, Coronation Street
• Channel 4 streaming: Gogglebox, Live from The Lycett Arms
• NOW: Luca: Seeing Red, New Zealand Spy
• U: You’re Killing Me

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EastEnders on tonight (Friday 4 September 2026)?

No. EastEnders does not air on Fridays. It runs Monday to Thursday on BBC One at 7.30pm, so yesterday’s was the last of the week and the next is Monday 7 September. All four of this week’s episodes are on iPlayer as a boxset.

What is Live from The Lycett Arms?

A new six-part live series on Channel 4 at 10pm. Joe Lycett has taken a licensee course and taken over a pub in Hoxton, east London, which opens for exactly one hour a week while the show is on air. Celebrity guests do a trial shift behind the bar alongside the regulars, with darts, gossip and whatever else live television produces.

What time is Gogglebox on tonight?

Gogglebox returns to Channel 4 at 9pm for a twenty-eighth series, with new episodes every Friday. It’s free on Channel 4 streaming afterwards.

Is The Marlow Murder Club back tonight?

Yes. The Marlow Murder Club returns to BBC Two at 9pm, with Samantha Bond as Judith Potts, Jo Martin as Suzie Harris and Cara Horgan as Becks Starling. The full series is on iPlayer from tonight.

What live sport is on TV tonight: Friday 4 September 2026?

The Women’s Super League season opens with London City Lionesses v Manchester United, kick-off 7pm on Sky Mix, Sky One and Sky Sports Football and Mix. Ipswich Town host Liverpool in the Premier League at Portman Road, kick-off 8pm on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League. Day six of the US Open is on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Tennis from 3.30pm.

What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight (Friday 4 September 2026)?

Live from The Lycett Arms on Channel 4 at 10pm, and watch it live — that’s the whole point of it. Earlier, Gogglebox returns at 9pm against The Marlow Murder Club on BBC Two, though the Marlow series is on iPlayer in full if you would rather binge it.

What is The Rainmaker on ITV1 about?

The Rainmaker is on ITV1 at 9pm, adapted from the John Grisham novel. Rookie lawyer Rudy Baylor (Milo Callaghan) is uneasy about the ambulance chasing his firm expects, and finds something far worse while snooping around an ex-nurse’s motel room. The full series is on ITVX.

What’s on the Proms tonight?

BBC Four has a Proms concert at 7pm, with Marin Alsop back at the Royal Albert Hall for a selection of her own festival favourites, including Yunchan Lim playing Ravel’s Piano Concerto. Recorded on 24 August.

Who is left on Celebrity MasterChef?

Four celebrities go into the Service Is Up challenge on BBC One at 8pm, working in pairs on a three-course classic French menu for Grace Dent and Giorgio Locatelli: steak tartare, a dual-temperature roast duck breast with orange sauce, and an île flottante.

Final Verdict

Live from The Lycett Arms is the reason to stay up — an hour of genuinely live television from a working pub is a risk nobody else is taking on a Friday night, and it deserves an audience watching it as it happens. Before that, Gogglebox comes back on form and The Marlow Murder Club gives BBC Two its best Friday drama slot of the autumn, with The Rainmaker a decent alternative on ITV1. Harvest at 11.05pm is the film of the week if you are still up. EastEnders returns on Monday at 7.30pm.

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