TV Guide UK Tonight: Sat 2 May 2026 – The Count of Monte Cristo, Women’s Champions League & Beast

Updated: 10 June 2026

Saturday 2 May 2026. Big night for BBC Four: a new French four-part Count of Monte Cristo lands with two back-to-back episodes from 9pm, Pierre Niney as Dantès. Earlier in the day, Arsenal are in Lyon for the Women’s Champions League semi-final second leg, free on BBC Two from 1:30pm. Beast (Channel 4, 9pm) brings Idris Elba and a rogue lion. Casualty on BBC One at 8:45pm, Blankety Blank at 6:25pm.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• The Count of Monte Cristo ⭐ — BBC Four, 9pm — New French adaptation. Pierre Niney. Two episodes tonight. Don’t miss it
• Women’s Champions League: Lyon v Arsenal — BBC Two, 1:30pm — Semi-final second leg. Free on Freeview. Kick-off 2pm
• Beast — Channel 4, 9pm — Idris Elba vs a rogue lion. Efficient 15-rated thriller
• Blankety Blank — BBC One, 6:25pm — Sue Perkins, Trevor Nelson, Tasha Ghouri. Bradley Walsh hosts
• Secret Africa: Into the Wild — Channel 4, 7pm — Series finale. Lions circling the camp at night
• Dazed and Confused — Film4, 10:55pm — Linklater’s 1993 classic. First Freeview showing in a decade

Sport

Football: Women’s Champions League – Lyon v Arsenal – BBC Two, 1:30pm (k/o 2pm)

Arsenal travel to Lyon for the second leg of the semi-final. Lyon at home is always a serious afternoon’s work, but this is the kind of fixture you tune in for whether you’re an Arsenal supporter or not. Free on BBC Two from 1:30pm, kick-off 2pm. Also BBC iPlayer.

Football: Premier League – Arsenal v Fulham – Sky Sports, 5pm (k/o 5:30pm)

Arsenal again, back home, three hours later. Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League from 5pm.

Snooker: World Championship Semi-Finals – BBC Two, from 10am

Semi-finals at the Crucible. BBC Two at 10am and 7pm, BBC One from 2:15pm, TNT Sports 3 and TNT Sports 1. Every frame on BBC iPlayer.

Early Evening

Father Brown – Rewind TV, 4:15pm

The 1974 ITV version with Kenneth More. Thirteen episodes only, sticks much closer to GK Chesterton’s original stories, and feels a long way from the cosier Mark Williams version on BBC One. Half the fun is the supporting cast: a young Alun Armstrong and Anna Wing, the latter later EastEnders’ Lou Beale. Freeview Play.

From Here to Eternity – Talking Pictures TV, 4:35pm

Five stars, PG, 1953. Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in Hawaii before Pearl Harbor. The Halona Cove beach scene alone is worth setting two hours aside for, and Kerr is using it to prise herself out of every “ladylike” role she’d been doing up to that point. TPTV Encore.

Blankety Blank – BBC One, 6:25pm

Bradley Walsh hosts a six-strong panel: Joe Marler, Sue Perkins, Trevor Nelson, Josh Pugh, Tasha Ghouri and Sara Barron. That’s enough comedy talent in the room to keep the format going for another half-hour. BBC iPlayer.

Prime Time

Secret Africa: Into the Wild – Channel 4, 7pm (LAST IN SERIES)

The closing 50km. Lucy Shepherd and her guide Julius Ndaaya enter the Serengeti with lions audibly circling the camp at night. After charging elephants and unpredictable hippos earlier in the series, this final stretch is the most exposed they’ve been. C4 streaming.

World’s Most Secret Hotels – Channel 4, 8pm

Julie Walters narrates. A haunted Victorian jail in Cornwall, a lighthouse on a Swedish island, hotels tucked into rainforests and cave networks. Decent pre-9pm company if you’re not interested in either of the big drama options that follow. C4 streaming.

Casualty – BBC One, 8:45pm

Another flash-forward cold open: this week, a clear scene of violence and a blood-smeared security lanyard belonging to someone we know. The device is wearing a bit thin after the funeral-coffin one earlier in the run, but the character work still holds the episode together. BBC iPlayer.

9pm: The Main Event

The Count of Monte Cristo ⭐ – BBC Four, 9pm

Pierre Niney plays Edmond Dantès, the sailor wrongly imprisoned for treason who reinvents himself as a count and spends years patiently dismantling the men who put him there. Dumas’s novel is one of the great revenge stories, and the French tend to be very good at adapting their own classics. This is a four-parter, in French with subtitles, and BBC Four are giving it the proper double-bill premiere it deserves.

Two episodes tonight: 9pm and 9:45pm. Both on BBC iPlayer.

Beast – Channel 4, 9pm

Idris Elba and his family caught on a South African game reserve when a rogue lion starts hunting them. Baltasar Kormákur directs. Elba carries it on screen presence and the CG lion is better than it has any right to be. It’s a tight 90-odd minutes — three stars rather than four because there’s not much under the surface, but a fine 9pm option if Monte Cristo isn’t your thing. Rated 15. C4 streaming.

Late Night

It’ll Be Alright on the Night – ITV1, 9pm

Tom Allen hosts blooper clips from Ant and Dec, Jill Scott, Ricky Tomlinson and Prue Leith. ITVX.

Saturday Night Live UK – Sky One, 10pm

Aimee Lou Wood hosts. Meek Mill performs.

Dazed and Confused – Film4, 10:55pm

Back on Freeview for the first time in a decade. Linklater’s 1993 high-school hangout movie. Texas, summer of ’76, no plot to speak of, just a sprawling cast of teenagers on the last afternoon of term, and Matthew McConaughey’s Wooderson hanging around the school car park as if his life depended on it. “All right, all right, all right.” Four stars. Rated 15. C4 streaming.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

BBC iPlayer: The Count of Monte Cristo, Women’s Champions League, Snooker World Championship, Casualty
C4 streaming: Beast, Secret Africa, World’s Most Secret Hotels, Dazed and Confused (Film4)
ITVX: Dermot’s Taste of Ireland, It’ll Be Alright on the Night
5 streaming: The Royal Popularity List 2026
Sky Sports / TNT Sports: Arsenal v Fulham, Snooker semi-finals (subscription required)

Frequently Asked Questions

What time is The Count of Monte Cristo on BBC Four tonight (Saturday 2 May 2026)?

The Count of Monte Cristo premieres on BBC Four with Episode 1 at 9pm and Episode 2 at 9:45pm. Pierre Niney stars as Edmond Dantès in this new four-part French adaptation. Both episodes are available on BBC iPlayer.

Is EastEnders on TV tonight (Saturday 2 May 2026)?

No. EastEnders doesn’t air on Saturdays — it runs Monday to Friday on BBC One. Catch up via BBC iPlayer. EastEnders is back on Monday.

What time is the Women’s Champions League on TV today (Saturday 2 May 2026)?

Lyon v Arsenal is live on BBC Two from 1:30pm today (Saturday 2 May 2026), kick-off 2pm. Free on Freeview and BBC iPlayer.

What time is Beast on Channel 4 tonight?

Beast (2022) is on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight (Saturday 2 May 2026). Idris Elba vs a rogue lion in South Africa. Rated 15. C4 streaming.

What time is Casualty on BBC One tonight?

Casualty is on BBC One at 8:45pm tonight (Saturday 2 May 2026). Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight (Saturday 2 May 2026)?

The Count of Monte Cristo on BBC Four at 9pm — two episodes of the new French Dumas adaptation with Pierre Niney. For sport, Women’s Champions League Lyon v Arsenal is free on BBC Two from 1:30pm. Beast on Channel 4 at 9pm for a solid thriller alternative. Late night: Dazed and Confused on Film4 at 10:55pm.

Final Verdict

The Count of Monte Cristo on BBC Four at 9pm is the one. Two episodes back-to-back, Pierre Niney in the lead, free, no subscription. This is exactly what BBC Four is for.

If the afternoon’s already gone on football, you’ve had a good one of those too: Women’s Champions League Lyon v Arsenal free on BBC Two at 1:30pm and Arsenal v Fulham in the Premier League at 5:30pm, plus Snooker at the Crucible running all day on the BBC.

Not in the mood for subtitles at 9pm? Beast on Channel 4 is a perfectly serviceable Idris Elba thriller. Stay up for Dazed and Confused on Film4 at 10:55pm — first time it’s been on Freeview in years.

Related: What’s On TV Tonight Saturday | What’s On TV Tonight Fri 1 May 2026 | What’s On TV Tonight Sun 3 May 2026