TV Guide UK Tonight: Sat 11 Apr 2026 – Grand National, McCartney’s Lost Bass & Casualty
Saturday 11 April and there’s only one place to start. The Grand National runs at Aintree this afternoon — ITV1 from 12:45pm, race at 4pm — and with forty horses heading towards Becher’s Brook it’s the kind of afternoon where the sofa becomes non-negotiable. In the evening, McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost Bass on BBC Two at 7:45pm is the documentary of the weekend: the story of a stolen guitar that’s been missing for over fifty years and the obsessive search to find it. Casualty returns to BBC One at 8:30pm for its penultimate episode, and the CQC inspection the show has been building to for weeks finally arrives. Celebrity Sabotage fills the ITV1 slot at 8:15pm and Hidden Assets continues on BBC Four at 9pm.
Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best
- The Grand National — ITV1, 12:45pm (race 4pm) — Forty horses, thirty fences. The one race everyone watches
- McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost Bass — BBC Two, 7:45pm — Fifty years missing. Beatles history, actual detective work
- Casualty — BBC One, 8:30pm — The CQC inspection crisis. Penultimate episode of Learning Curve
- Celebrity Bridge of Lies — BBC One, 7pm — Ross Kemp hosts. Pop icons on the bridge this week
- Celebrity Sabotage — ITV1, 8:15pm — Joel Dommett’s hidden-camera chaos continues
- The Masters Round 3 — Sky Sports Golf, 5pm — Augusta shapes up for Sunday’s final round
The Grand National
The Grand National – ITV1, 12:45pm (race 4pm)
The Grand National is probably the only sporting event in Britain where people who couldn’t name a single horse on any other day of the year will sit down and watch the whole thing. Four and a quarter miles, thirty fences, forty runners. Careers have ended here. Legends have been made. And the finishes — honestly, you couldn’t script some of them.
This year’s field heads to Aintree in decent form with several runners generating serious market interest in the weeks leading up to the race. The fences do their own editing. Becher’s Brook, the Canal Turn, and the Chair between them tend to decide the shape of the race before the turn for home. Nick Luck presents throughout ITV1’s coverage, which starts at 12:45pm and builds through the card before the feature race at 4pm.
No horse has won back-to-back since Tiger Roll in 2018 and 2019, which puts the achievement in some context. Whoever wins this afternoon goes into a very short list. Put the kettle on and settle in. Catch up via ITVX.
Early Evening
Celebrity Bridge of Lies – BBC One, 7pm
Ross Kemp hosts as this week’s celebrity team attempt to cross the bridge by telling true statements from false ones — the format is simpler than it sounds and works better than it should. This week the theme is pop royalty: Sinitta, Ian H Watkins, Ritchie Neville and Una Healy take on the bridge. Whether a group of pop stars from different eras of the charts can coordinate well enough to get across cleanly is, experience suggests, a lot less certain than they’d expect. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.
McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost Bass ⭐ – BBC Two, 7:45pm
In 1961, Paul McCartney bought a left-handed Hofner 500/1 violin bass for around thirty pounds in Hamburg. He played it on the Ed Sullivan Show. He played it at Shea Stadium. He played it on Please Please Me, She Loves You, Twist and Shout, and most of the early Beatles catalogue. You’d struggle to name a more famous bass. In 1972, it was nicked from a recording studio and nobody’s seen it since.
This documentary — directed by Arthur Cary and made with McCartney’s full cooperation — follows the Lost Bass Project, a group of researchers and journalists who spent years following every plausible lead. The investigation is methodical in a way that the subject matter doesn’t always invite: there’s an insurance claim filed after the theft, there are people who remember seeing it, and there are people who probably know where it is and aren’t saying. McCartney himself contributes testimony, and Elvis Costello and Klaus Voormann — who knew the instrument as well as almost anyone outside the band — add context.
The best bit is how wide open the possibilities still are. It could be in someone’s loft. It could be at the bottom of the Thames. Rumours have placed it in Germany, America, you name it. Nobody knows. The documentary takes that seriously rather than playing it for laughs, which is why it works. If you care even slightly about the Beatles, this is the one to watch tonight. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.
Prime Time
Celebrity Sabotage – ITV1, 8:15pm
Joel Dommett continues to run what is, structurally, a pleasingly daft premise: a team of celebrities installed inside a completely fabricated TV show, tasked with sabotaging it from within while the real contestants believe they’re on something genuine. The public participants arrive convinced they’ve been selected for a brand-new ITV series. They have not. What happens when the saboteurs go off-script varies week to week, which keeps it from becoming too predictable. Good Saturday night filler. Catch up via ITVX.
Casualty – BBC One, 8:30pm
The penultimate episode of the Learning Curve boxset, and the one everything has been building towards. The ED is facing a make-or-break CQC inspection — the third in a sequence of events that started when Dr Matty, on his first shift, made an anonymous call to the Care Quality Commission. The inspection is now happening, the cover-up is fracturing, and Kim is running out of road.
When Casualty gets it right, it’s about good people caught inside a system that’s failing them. Do you cover for it? Blow the whistle? Just keep your head down? The Learning Curve run has been one of the better recent stretches — the stakes feel properly medical rather than soapy, and the boxset format gave the cast more room than usual. The finale lands next week. Tonight should set it up well. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.
Late Night
Hidden Assets – BBC Four, 9pm
Series 3 of the Irish-Belgian crime co-production continues. The Criminal Assets Bureau investigation at the heart of the show has expanded outward in the way these things tend to, and DS Claire Wallace (Nora-Jane Noone) is managing the increasingly complicated overlap between a professional investigation and a personal life that’s been under strain since the first series. What lifts it above the average Saturday night drama is that it actually cares about how financial crime works rather than just whodunit. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.
Sport
The Masters – Round 3 – Sky Sports Golf/Main Event, 5pm
Round three at Augusta, and by Saturday evening the Masters leaderboard has usually sorted itself into something approaching its final shape. Featured Holes and Amen Corner streams are available from mid-afternoon on Sky Sports+, with full uninterrupted coverage arriving on Sky Sports Golf and Main Event from 5pm. The final round is Sunday afternoon. A Sky Sports subscription is required.
The Viewing Schedule
| Time | Channel | Programme |
|---|---|---|
| 12:45pm | ITV1 | The Grand National (coverage) |
| 4:00pm | ITV1 | The Grand National (race) |
| 5:00pm | Sky Sports Golf/Main Event | The Masters – Round 3 |
| 7:00pm | BBC One | Celebrity Bridge of Lies |
| 7:45pm | BBC Two | McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost Bass |
| 8:15pm | ITV1 | Celebrity Sabotage |
| 8:30pm | BBC One | Casualty (Learning Curve, penultimate episode) |
| 9:00pm | BBC Four | Hidden Assets (Series 3) |
What’s On Streaming
BBC iPlayer: McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost Bass, Casualty, Celebrity Bridge of Lies, Hidden Assets
ITVX: The Grand National, Celebrity Sabotage
Sky Sports: The Masters Round 3 (live, subscription required)
Frequently Asked Questions
What time is the Grand National on ITV1 today (Saturday 11 April 2026)?
ITV1 coverage of the Grand National 2026 starts at 12:45pm on Saturday 11 April. The race itself is scheduled for approximately 4pm from Aintree Racecourse. Nick Luck presents throughout. Catch up via ITVX.
Is EastEnders on TV tonight (Saturday 11 April 2026)?
No, EastEnders does not air on Saturdays. The soap runs Monday to Friday on BBC One. If you’ve missed any episodes this week, catch up on BBC iPlayer.
What time is Casualty on BBC One tonight?
Casualty is on BBC One at 8:30pm tonight (Saturday 11 April 2026). It’s the penultimate episode of the Learning Curve boxset, with the ED facing a make-or-break CQC inspection as Dr Matty’s anonymous tip-off finally comes to a head. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.
What time is McCartney The Hunt for the Lost Bass on BBC Two?
McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost Bass is on BBC Two at 7:45pm tonight (Saturday 11 April 2026). The documentary follows the Lost Bass Project’s search for Paul McCartney’s original 1961 Hofner bass, stolen in 1972 and missing ever since. McCartney, Elvis Costello and Klaus Voormann all appear. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.
What time is The Masters Round 3 on TV today?
Round three of The Masters 2026 at Augusta National is live on Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event from 5pm on Saturday 11 April. Full coverage runs through the evening. A Sky Sports subscription is required.
What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight (Saturday 11 April 2026)?
The Grand National on ITV1 owns the afternoon — live from Aintree with the race at 4pm. Come evening, McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost Bass on BBC Two at 7:45pm is a proper detective story about a missing guitar that’s been gone fifty years. McCartney himself is involved, which tells you something. For drama, Casualty on BBC One at 8:30pm finally delivers the CQC crisis the Learning Curve run has been building towards for weeks.
Final Verdict
The Grand National from 12:45pm on ITV1 is the afternoon. It always is. Forty horses at Aintree on a Saturday in April is one of those fixtures where the rest of the schedule effectively stands aside.
McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost Bass on BBC Two at 7:45pm is the evening pick. Someone nicked Paul McCartney’s bass in 1972 and it’s still out there somewhere. The documentary treats that properly — no fluff, actual investigation — and McCartney being directly involved gives it the weight it needs.
Casualty at 8:30pm on BBC One lands its penultimate episode at exactly the right moment. The CQC inspection has been the series’ backbone, and tonight should pay it off properly ahead of the finale next week.
Related: What’s On TV Tonight Saturday | What’s On TV Tonight Fri 10 Apr 2026 | What’s On TV Tonight Sun 12 Apr 2026
