TV Guide UK Tonight: Sat 15 Aug 2026 – Kabul, Dictator: The Hitler Interviews & The Staircase

Saturday 15 August 2026. BBC Four launches a new six-part drama tonight with Kabul, tracking the scramble to escape Afghanistan’s capital as the Taliban close in. Channel 4 wraps up two running series, Dictator: The Hitler Interviews and Bettany Hughes’s Anatolia tour, before a sobering Concorde documentary at 10pm. ITV1 keeps The Staircase grinding towards its verdict, BBC Two pairs a Paul Simon Proms tribute with a 2003 nostalgia trip, BBC One sticks with its usual quiz-show Saturday, Channel 5 tours the Sussex coast, and More4 sends Griff Rhys Jones round Canada. EastEnders, as ever on a Saturday, is nowhere to be seen.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• Kabul ⭐ BBC Four, 9pm. A new six-part drama following the fall of Kabul in 2021.
• The Staircase ITV1, 11pm. The case edges closer to a verdict.
• Dictator: The Hitler Interviews Channel 4, 9pm. The last in the series, built around two eyewitnesses.
• Concorde Crash: Days That Shocked the World Channel 4, 10pm. Revisiting the 2000 disaster.
• Athletics: European Championships BBC One, from 10am. Day six from Birmingham.
• EastEnders isn’t on tonight. Weekends are always a break from Walford.

Early Evening

The Hit List – BBC One, 5:45pm

Rochelle and Marvin Humes swap last week’s celebrities for civilians: best friends Sophie and Lauren, Jam obsessive Glen, son-in-law Rob, and karaoke regulars Ashleigh and Jack, whose go at Ice Ice Baby needs to be heard, not described. BBC iPlayer.

Alan Carr’s Picture Slam – BBC One, 6:30pm

A Stoke-on-Trent trio, a group of London friends and a Leeds team shout out guesses as Alan Carr’s hidden image slowly comes into focus.

Over on Channel 5 at 7pm, Sussex: Jewel of the South Coast visits Brighton’s Royal Pavilion, where restorers have rebuilt a piano once housed there, worth roughly £200,000 today. Elsewhere, Bognor Regis diver Eric campaigns for marine conservation, and hopeful East Sussex dolphin-spotters get seagulls instead. My5.

BBC Proms – BBC Two, 7:30pm

A late Royal Albert Hall concert marking 40 years since Paul Simon’s Graceland, recorded on 5 August. Simon isn’t there, but Ladysmith Black Mambazo are, alongside Laura Mvula and James Bay covering vocals through The Boy in the Bubble, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes and You Can Call Me Al. BBC iPlayer.

Prime Time

Bettany Hughes’s Lost Worlds: Dawn of Civilisations – Channel 4, 8pm

The historian wraps up her two-parter on the land between the Tigris and Euphrates, where the “cradle of civilisation” tag has been rewritten by the megalithic finds at Karahantepe and Göbeklitepe, which predate farming, let alone the Pyramids. She also traces Midas and Croesus to their Anatolian roots. Channel 4 streaming.

Griff’s Canadian Adventure – More4, 8pm

Griff Rhys Jones sets off across Canada, starting in Newfoundland and Labrador, a repeat of his Channel 4 travelogue.

Top of the Pops: Big Hits of 2003 – BBC Two, 8:30pm

Beyoncé stepping out solo, Madonna’s Che Guevara routine, S Club 7 calling it a day, and the only time the warring Libertines shared the show’s studio floor. Busted’s Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson, plus Girls Aloud’s Kimberley Walsh, look back on a chaotic year in pop. The Story of 2003 follows at 9:30pm, on how the programme was rebuilt to stay relevant. BBC iPlayer.

Ghosts US – BBC Three, from 8:40pm

Season five of the US remake opens with Jay, played by Utkarsh Ambudkar, accidentally selling his soul to a devil played by Veep’s Matt Walsh. By 9:20pm a mummy’s spirit is loose in the house, and the run closes at 9:40pm with ghost Trevor persuading Sam to tell her daughter about her ghost-seeing ability. BBC iPlayer.

Kabul – BBC Four, 9pm & 9:50pm ⭐

BBC Four’s new six-parter drops straight into Kabul in August 2021, as the Taliban tighten their grip and very different people scramble to get out: a lawyer who once prosecuted Taliban fighters, his hospital-doctor daughter, his soldier son, an Italian embassy clerk, and a German officer trying to save the man who once saved his life. Inspired by true events, and the opening double bill wastes no time. BBC iPlayer.

Dictator: The Hitler Interviews – Channel 4, 9pm

The final episode leans on two threads running through the series: Hitler ignoring good advice when it mattered (General Johann Von Kielmansegg recalls him tuning out anyone who wasn’t upbeat before the push on Stalingrad, a call that cost half a million troops), and senior Nazis, questioned decades later, insisting they’d known nothing about the Holocaust. Channel 4 streaming.

Late Night

Concorde Crash: Days That Shocked the World – Channel 4, 10pm

Three years before Concorde stopped flying for good, Air France Flight 4590 went down just over a minute after leaving Charles de Gaulle Airport, killing everyone on board and four more on the ground. Veteran pilot John Hutchinson once called it one of the safest aircraft he’d flown, which makes investigators’ conclusion land even harder: a freak accident meeting a manufacturing flaw nobody expected. Flight engineer Gilles Jardinaud was among the 109 who died, not long before he was due to retire. Channel 4 streaming.

The Staircase – ITV1, 11pm

Last week’s bombshell about Sophie hangs over an episode spent largely inside the edit suite of the French documentary crew covering the case. Michael, played by Colin Firth, is behind bars and visibly bruised, while Toni Collette’s Kathleen resurfaces in flashback. ITVX.

Schitt’s Creek – BBC Three, from midnight

Six season-three episodes run back to back, with Johnny searching for a new sense of purpose and Moira wading into small-town politics.

Sport

Day six of the European Athletics Championships runs from Birmingham most of the day, mornings on TNT Sports 3 and BBC One, then an evening block from 7:15pm on BBC One. Zagreb hosts the penultimate day of the Gymnastics European Championships, live on BBC Two from 1:30pm. And Sheffield United host Birmingham City at Bramall Lane, kicking off at 5:30pm on Sky Sports.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

• BBC iPlayer: The Hit List, Alan Carr’s Picture Slam, BBC Proms, Top of the Pops: Big Hits of 2003, Ghosts US, Kabul, Schitt’s Creek
• ITVX: The Staircase
• Channel 4 streaming: Bettany Hughes’s Lost Worlds, Dictator: The Hitler Interviews, Concorde Crash: Days That Shocked the World, Griff’s Canadian Adventure
• My5: Sussex: Jewel of the South Coast

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EastEnders on tonight (Saturday 15 August 2026)?

No. EastEnders is a Monday-to-Thursday show on BBC One and never airs at the weekend, so there’s nothing new tonight. Catch up on iPlayer, or wait for Monday’s return.

What time is Kabul on BBC Four tonight, and what’s it about?

Kabul opens with a double bill at 9pm and 9:50pm on BBC Four. The new six-part drama follows embassy staff, soldiers and civilians trying to escape as the Taliban advance in August 2021.

Is Dictator: The Hitler Interviews the last episode?

Yes. Tonight’s 9pm episode on Channel 4 is the final one, focusing on Hitler ignoring military advice and senior Nazis’ later denials about the Holocaust.

What live sport is on TV tonight: Saturday 15 August 2026?

Day six of the European Athletics Championships runs from Birmingham, with evening coverage from 7:15pm on BBC One. Gymnastics continues from Zagreb on BBC Two from 1:30pm, and Sheffield United host Birmingham City from 5:30pm on Sky Sports.

What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight (Saturday 15 August 2026)?

Kabul on BBC Four from 9pm is the pick, launching a new drama with real urgency. Dictator’s finale and The Staircase at 11pm are close behind.

Final Verdict

BBC Four takes Saturday 15 August with Kabul ⭐, a new drama that puts its opening double bill under pressure fast. Dictator: The Hitler Interviews signs off in style, and The Staircase keeps grinding towards its verdict. Channel 4’s evening is worth building around, with Bettany Hughes’s Anatolia finale and the sobering Concorde Crash either side. Sport fills the daylight hours, from Athletics to Gymnastics to the Championship. No EastEnders, same as every Saturday.

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