TV Guide UK Tonight: Sat 22 Aug 2026 – The Voice UK, Doctor Strange & Paddington

Saturday 22 August 2026. ITV1 spins the red chairs again as The Voice UK begins a new run at 7pm with Kelly Rowland added to the panel. BBC One goes family-first with Paddington before Match of the Day, Channel 4 hands its 8pm slot to Doctor Strange, and BBC Two gives the Proms over to Marvin Gaye. EastEnders is off, as it always is on a Saturday.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• The Voice UK ITV1, 7pm. New series, and Kelly Rowland takes a chair.
• Doctor Strange Channel 4, 8pm. Back on free-to-air after a long streaming exile.
• BBC Proms: Marvin Gaye BBC Two, 8pm. Orchestral takes on the Motown catalogue.
• Kabul BBC Four, 9pm. Double bill of the evacuation drama.
• EastEnders isn’t on tonight. Saturdays never carry it — Monday’s the next episode.

Early Evening

The Hit List – BBC One, 5.45pm

Marvin and Rochelle Humes put three pairs through the song-identification rounds. Among tonight’s contenders are Claire and Lois, a mother and daughter who thought enough of one chart singer to name the family cat after him, and married couple Liam and Chris, who turn out to hold irreconcilable views on Celine Dion. Sam and Lauren are also chasing the final chart rundown, which makes for a tighter finish than usual.

Sussex: Jewel of the South Coast – Channel 5, 6pm

Channel 5 closes its coastal series in Brighton, tracing the town’s rise as a Georgian sea-bathing destination and looking at what has replaced it — namely the cluster of wood-fired sauna huts now parked near the pier, some converted from horse boxes. One of the operators reckons the sauna is doing what the pub used to do. He may have a point.

Deal or No Deal: Celebrity Special – ITV1, 6pm

Katherine Ryan takes on the Banker for charity. The format hasn’t changed and doesn’t need to: it’s still 22 boxes and one person slowly losing their nerve.

Midsomer Murders – ITV3, 6.20pm

ITV3 does what ITV3 does on a Saturday: two feature-length village murders back to back, the second starting at 8.15pm, with Vera at 10.10pm for anyone still awake. Nobody has ever needed to know which episode it is.

Alan Carr’s Picture Slam – BBC One, 6.30pm

Carr fronts enough television now that his own back catalogue keeps wandering into shot. Tonight a contestant turns out to be an Interior Design Masters obsessive, and Paloma Faith, whom he saw off in The Celebrity Traitors, appears inside one of the clues. There’s £10,000 on the table. As ever, the contestants are quicker on confectionery than on anyone with a Wikipedia page.

Prime Time

The Voice UK – ITV1, 7pm ⭐

Emma Willis returns to a panel that has quietly become an odd little social experiment. She now spends her Strictly Come Dancing life among BBC people while fronting an ITV show alongside will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones and McFly’s Danny Jones and Tom Fletcher. The new arrival is Kelly Rowland, and she’s the reason to tune in for the blind auditions. The other four tend to shout their way through a recruitment pitch. Rowland does almost nothing and still gets the singer, and she can hold a duet with Tom Jones, which narrows the field considerably.

Paddington – BBC One, 7.15pm

The 2014 film that nobody expected to work and which then worked completely. Michael Bond’s bear leaves Peru, ends up at a London station and attaches himself to the Brown family, with marmalade consequences. Bond himself pops up as a diner in a restaurant scene, raising a glass as Paddington passes in a taxi. He gave an interview shortly before release describing where the character came from: wartime evacuees moving through London with labels round their necks and a small case of everything they still owned. It’s worth knowing that before you watch it again.

Doctor Strange – Channel 4, 8pm

Seven years of Disney+ exclusivity ended, and here it is on a Saturday night on terrestrial telly. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the arrogant surgeon who loses the use of his hands and goes looking for a fix in Kathmandu. He was well suited to the mysticism, having taught English at a Buddhist monastery in Darjeeling as a young man, and the finger-twisting spell gestures were choreographed by dancer JayFunk, who turns up on screen briefly. The city-folding sequences still look extraordinary.

BBC Proms: Marvin Gaye – BBC Two, 8pm

Marvin Gaye’s music has outlived him by decades — he was shot by his father in 1984, the day before his 45th birthday — and tonight the Royal Albert Hall gives it the full orchestral treatment. The BBC Concert Orchestra plays under Edwin Outwater with guest vocalists working through Ain’t Nothing like the Real Thing, What’s Going On and the Tammi Terrell duets including Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. Andi Oliver hosts and is good on the protest and spirituality running underneath the love songs. Greatest Hits – Live in Amsterdam 1976 follows at 9.30pm.

Kabul – BBC Four, 9pm

Two episodes back to back of a European co-production set inside the French and Italian embassies as the Afghan capital fell. It follows diplomatic staff trying to move desperate crowds through checkpoints and onto aircraft while the security situation gives way around them. It’s grim viewing and it doesn’t offer easy wins — small victories cost a great deal and often unravel by the next scene. BBC Four has the full series on iPlayer.

The 1% Club – ITV1, 8.15pm

Lee Mack’s quiz still has the best structure on television: no general knowledge, just logic problems that get harder as the money builds, and a final question almost nobody in the country gets. ITV1 slots it straight after The Voice, which is a strong two hours.

The Weakest Link – BBC One, 8.40pm

Romesh Ranganathan is a better fit for this than anyone expected. The questions are incidental; the show is really about how long a celebrity can hold their composure while being told what the host thinks of them.

Celebrity Gogglebox – E4, 9pm

E4 runs the famous sofas at 9pm and the civilian original at 10pm, which is the wrong way round and always has been.

Batman Begins – ITV2, 9pm

Nolan’s 2005 reboot arrived when the character was commercially dead, and it worked by treating Gotham as a real city with a real crime problem rather than a set. Christian Bale is better here than in either sequel. ITV2 has it at 9pm, and it runs to well past 11.30.

The Hound of the Baskervilles – Talking Pictures TV, 9.05pm

The 2002 television version, with Richard Roxburgh as Holmes and Ian Hart as a Watson who actually does something. Talking Pictures TV is the right home for it. Elsewhere at 8pm, More4 sends Griff Rhys Jones round Quebec.

Late Night

Nigel Farage: Where Does the Money Come From? – Channel 5, 9.30pm

Reform UK’s funding has had a rough summer, with newspaper reporting on donations from backers whose declarations didn’t stack up — among them a convicted fraudster and a crypto businessman. The party’s line was that no rules were broken and Farage insisted the coverage wouldn’t hurt him. Polling since suggests otherwise. This documentary works through the allegations of covert gifts and who knew what, with the parliamentary standards inquiry paused because of the Clacton by-election.

LA Confidential – Film4, 9pm

Film4 offers the best film of the night if you can commit to two and three quarter hours. Curtis Hanson’s 1997 James Ellroy adaptation still has the tightest plotting of any modern noir, and Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe and Kevin Spacey pick at the same corruption from three incompatible angles.

How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge) – BBC One, 9.30pm

Half an hour of Steve Coogan’s Norfolk broadcaster, still the most reliably excruciating comic creation Britain has produced. Last of the series.

Spectre – ITV1, 9.35pm

Craig’s fourth Bond, and the one that goes back and retro-fits a single organisation behind everything that happened in the previous three. It doesn’t entirely hold together, but the Rome car chase and the pre-titles Day of the Dead sequence are among the best things in the run.

Match of the Day – BBC One, 10.20pm

Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan and Kelly Cates lead the BBC’s football coverage this season, and tonight’s programme carries all five Saturday top-flight games plus Friday’s opener between holders Arsenal and newly promoted Coventry City.

Everything Everywhere All at Once – Channel 4, 10.15pm

Channel 4 follows Doctor Strange with a much stranger film about the same idea. Michelle Yeoh runs a laundromat, gets audited, and is then asked to save every version of reality at once. It won seven Oscars and still feels like something that escaped rather than got made. Two and a half hours, and worth every one.

Sport

Half the Premier League is out today. Newly promoted Hull City host Manchester United at the MKM Stadium from 11am on TNT Sports 1 (kick-off 12.30pm), and Spurs travel across London to Brentford from 5pm on Sky Sports Main Event (kick-off 5.30pm). Final Score keeps up with Everton v Crystal Palace, Ipswich v Sunderland and Nottingham Forest v Leeds from 3.45pm on BBC One. In Scotland the Dundee derby is the pick at 5.45pm on Premier Sports 1, with Sportscene rounding up at 7.15pm on BBC Scotland and again at 11.40pm on BBC One Scotland. Day four of the first England v Pakistan Test at Headingley starts at 10.15am on Sky Sports Cricket, with highlights on BBC Two at 7pm, and La Vuelta gets under way with a 9km time trial in Monaco from 3.15pm on TNT Sports 1.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

• BBC iPlayer: The Hit List, Alan Carr’s Picture Slam, Paddington, BBC Proms: Marvin Gaye, Kabul (full series), Match of the Day
• ITVX: Deal or No Deal: Celebrity Special, The Voice UK, The 1% Club
• Channel 4 streaming: Doctor Strange, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Griff’s Canadian Adventure
• 5: Sussex: Jewel of the South Coast, Nigel Farage: Where Does the Money Come From?

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EastEnders on tonight (Saturday 22 August 2026)?

No. EastEnders doesn’t air on Saturdays. BBC One’s evening runs The Hit List at 5.45pm, Alan Carr’s Picture Slam at 6.30pm and Paddington at 7.15pm instead. The soap returns to its usual weekday slot on Monday.

What time is The Voice UK on tonight?

The Voice UK starts a new series on ITV1 at 7pm. Kelly Rowland joins will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones and McFly’s Danny Jones and Tom Fletcher as a coach, with Emma Willis hosting the blind auditions.

What film is on Channel 4 tonight?

Doctor Strange is on Channel 4 at 8pm, the 2016 Marvel film starring Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s followed by Everything Everywhere All at Once at 10.15pm.

What live sport is on TV tonight: Saturday 22 August 2026?

Hull City host Manchester United from 11am on TNT Sports 1 (kick-off 12.30pm) and Brentford face Spurs from 5pm on Sky Sports (kick-off 5.30pm). Day four of the England v Pakistan Test at Headingley starts at 10.15am on Sky Sports Cricket, and La Vuelta opens with a time trial in Monaco from 3.15pm on TNT Sports 1.

What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight (Saturday 22 August 2026)?

The Voice UK on ITV1 at 7pm is the pick, mainly for Kelly Rowland’s first outing in the chairs. Doctor Strange on Channel 4 and the Marvin Gaye Prom on BBC Two are the strong alternatives.

What time is Match of the Day on tonight?

Match of the Day is on BBC One at 10.20pm, running 80 minutes. It covers all five of Saturday’s Premier League games plus Friday night’s opener between Arsenal and Coventry City. Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan and Kelly Cates front the BBC’s football coverage this season.

What’s on ITV1 tonight?

ITV1 runs Deal or No Deal: Celebrity Special at 6pm, a new series of The Voice UK at 7pm, The 1% Club at 8.15pm and the Bond film Spectre at 9.35pm.

What time is Paddington on BBC One tonight?

Paddington is on BBC One at 7.15pm and runs 85 minutes. It’s the 2014 original, rated PG, and it’s on iPlayer afterwards.

Is there any Midsomer Murders on tonight?

Yes. ITV3 runs a Midsomer Murders double bill, starting at 6.20pm with a second feature-length case at 8.15pm, then Vera at 10.10pm.

Final Verdict

Saturday 22 August is a proper old-fashioned Saturday night. The Voice UK takes it, with Kelly Rowland worth the ticket alone. Doctor Strange finally comes back to free-to-air, Paddington covers the family slot, and the Marvin Gaye Prom is the one to record if you’re out. Kabul is the serious option, LA Confidential the late one. Football runs from lunchtime to Match of the Day. And no, there’s no EastEnders — never is on a Saturday.

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