TV Guide UK Tonight: Sun 5 Apr 2026 – Secret Garden, The Capture & Grace

Published: 2 April 2026

It’s Easter Sunday, which means two things: chocolate eggs you’re already regretting, and the best Sunday schedule of the year so far. Sir David Attenborough opens a new nature series at 6pm on BBC One, arriving less than five weeks before his 100th birthday. The Capture returns at 9pm with revelations that have been under embargo all week. The Other Bennet Sister gets a double bill from 8pm, and there’s a proper big-screen treat late with The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes at 10:30pm on BBC One. No EastEnders today — it doesn’t air on Sundays.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• Secret Garden ⭐ — BBC One, 6pm — New Attenborough nature series. He turns 100 in May. This is essential
• The Capture — BBC One, 9pm — Returns with a heavily embargoed episode and some long-awaited answers
• The Other Bennet Sister — BBC One, 8pm and 8:30pm — A double bill of quietly brilliant Sunday drama
• Grace — ITV1, 8pm — Solid original-script episode with a well-chosen university stalking premise
• Pilgrimage: The Road to Holy Island — BBC Two, 9pm — New series, damp and honest and rather good
• The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes — BBC One, 10:30pm — 2023 prequel film, worth staying up for

Morning and Afternoon

Easter Service and Urbi et Orbi – BBC One, 10am and 11am

For those who mark Easter beyond the confectionery, BBC One begins the day with religious coverage from 10am. The first programme is a jubilant Easter service from the gothic interior of Ripon Cathedral in North Yorkshire — music, prayers, and a celebration of the resurrection. At 11am, the focus shifts to Rome for Pope Leo’s first Urbi et Orbi blessing, the address to the city and the world that has been a fixture of Easter for centuries. His predecessor last year called for peace and stability; it’s reasonable to expect similar themes. Songs of Praise follows at 1:30pm, with Pam Rhodes joining the community of Redruth in Cornwall for the raising of the Carn Brea Cross. All available on BBC iPlayer.

Crookhaven – BBC One, 3:05pm and 3:50pm

A double bill of the CBBC drama that does the young adult heist-school format better than most. The Harry Potter parallels are hard to ignore — the loyal Penelope has clear Hermione energy, and the villainous blonde Edgar could be Draco with a slightly different wardrobe. What the show does well is physical stakes: Gabriel finally gets into a proper confrontation with the Nameless, who function like a slightly less theatrical version of Voldemort’s inner circle. Fun, fast, and more watchable than you might expect from the slot. Full series on iPlayer. Also repeated on CBBC at 5:25pm and 6:10pm.

Early Evening

Secret Garden – BBC One, 6pm ⭐

Here’s the headline. Sir David Attenborough turns 100 on 8 May 2026, and this new series — launching tonight on Easter Sunday — is his most personal in years. Rather than distant rainforests or ocean trenches, Secret Garden stays close to home. The first episode is built around the garden of a mill-house on the River Thame in Oxfordshire, and what the camera crew has found there is remarkable.

A kingfisher catches a fish and brings it, with some ceremony, to the female he’s trying to impress. Later, you see the nest inside the riverbank, the resulting brood of chicks pushing for space in the burrow. There’s a litter of vole pups — described as “smaller than a jelly baby and completely blind” — and an otter hunting ducks on the mill stream with the purposeful efficiency of something much larger. The filming is extraordinary. Close, patient, beautifully lit.

Attenborough’s voice is the one constant of British nature television, and at 99 it remains exactly that. But this series isn’t trading on legacy — the material earns the attention it’s asking for. If you have any kind of garden, even a window box, you’ll watch this and think differently about what’s going on out there. Full series via BBC iPlayer.

The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer – Channel 4, 7:40pm

The charity Bake Off returns with another group of celebrities who may or may not be able to bake. The signature challenge produces decorated mini rolls, and Paul Hollywood’s approach to judging them — setting his expectations on the floor before tasting — tells you everything about where the bar is set. Cherish Finden’s reaction to Sam Thompson’s efforts is apparently self-explanatory.

The showstopper is a choux pastry challenge, with Noel Fielding obligingly pointing out the spelling distinction between “choux” and “shoe” before the contestants produce Nativity figures, a jungle crown, and a dinosaur out of choux pastry. Vicky Pattison jokes that she’d trade her grandmother for a Hollywood handshake. The fun stuff is fun, but there’s a film in the middle that puts all of it in perspective — a reminder that Stand Up to Cancer is the reason everyone’s here. Catch up via Channel 4 streaming.

Prime Time

Grace – ITV1, 8pm

A slightly unusual episode this, in that it’s not drawn from any of Peter James’s existing Detective Superintendent Grace novels. The production team has written an original story, though James has signed off on it, and his fingerprints are clearly on the themes: psychological menace, stalking, and the kind of crime that damages people slowly before anything violent happens. The setting is a university campus where women are increasingly unsettled after a sinister incident, and Grace’s team start picking at what turns out to be a wider problem.

It’s a timely subject — stalking on campuses is consistently under-reported, and the show handles it without turning the whole thing into a lurid exercise in threat. More restrained than the series can sometimes be. Catch up via ITVX.

The Other Bennet Sister – BBC One, 8pm and 8:30pm

A double bill of the Pride and Prejudice adaptation that gives Mary Bennet the interior life Austen largely denied her. This pair of episodes is good — Mr Collins, usually one of literature’s more disposable comedic figures, gets an unexpected moment of grace: still obsequious, still socially awkward, but also self-aware enough to pass on advice that Mary actually finds useful.

The Lake District sequence is the standout. Two potential suitors end up thoroughly soaked in what amounts to a deliberate nod to the Colin Firth wet-shirt scene from the 1995 BBC adaptation. The show is well aware of its source material and knows when to play with it. Two episodes back to back makes for a satisfying chunk of Sunday evening. Full series on BBC iPlayer.

The Capture – BBC One, 9pm

The details of tonight’s episode are under tight embargo, which in itself tells you something about what’s in it. What can be said: the episode goes back a year to the events around the late Home Secretary’s deep fake television interview — how it was engineered, what it was for — and it fills in substantial background on Noah Pierson, including who he actually is and what that heart implant means. Pierson tells Rachel that he’s “a cog in a machine” whose fellow cogs don’t know each other, which is either an honest admission or the most sophisticated kind of misdirection. Given the series, assume the latter until proven wrong. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

Pilgrimage – The Road to Holy Island – BBC Two, 9pm

Previous series of Pilgrimage sent celebrities walking sunny routes through Spain and Italy, which had the unfortunate side effect of making the whole thing look like a package holiday with prayer. This series corrects that entirely: twelve rainy days, 200 miles, from Whitby to Lindisfarne. Nobody’s getting a tan.

The cast includes comedians Hasan Al-Habib, an observant Muslim, and Ashley Blaker, who comes from an orthodox Jewish background and still holds strict Jewish beliefs. Their perspectives on faith, observance, and doubt make for better television than any amount of vague spiritual seeking. There are laughs, there’s proper conversation, and there is, inevitably, quite a lot of huffing and puffing. Continues tomorrow. Full series via BBC iPlayer.

Late Night

Harry Secombe: Welsh Greats – BBC Four, 9pm

Twenty-five years since Sir Harry Secombe died, and BBC Four marks the occasion with a double bill of commemorative programming. The first is a Welsh Greats profile that tracks his journey from a Swansea upbringing to one of the most recognisable entertainers in the country. Secombe had the kind of personality that made people warm to him immediately, but the documentary doesn’t dodge the harder chapters — his wartime experiences and the serious illness he later faced. The genial exterior, it turns out, took effort. Followed by a 1989 Wogan appearance alongside Spike Milligan, which should be watched by anyone who wants to be reminded how good those two were together. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – BBC One, 10:30pm (12)

The 2023 prequel, based on Suzanne Collins’s 2020 novel that had a first print run of 2.5 million copies. British actor Tom Blyth plays the young Coriolanus Snow — the man Donald Sutherland would eventually inhabit in the original trilogy — and the film is more interested in asking how someone becomes that kind of villain than in simply showing you that they do. It’s longer than it needed to be, but the question at its centre is a good one, and Blyth is compelling. A sequel to this film is heading to cinemas in November 2026. Rated 12. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

Also Worth Noting

Harry Wild (U&Drama, 8pm) — Jane Seymour and Rohan Nedd are back for series four with a serial killer case. If you’ve been watching, it picks up with no warm-up needed. If you haven’t, now’s as good a time as any.

Inside Classical: Stravinsky’s Firebird (BBC Four, 7:30pm) — Georgia Mann presents the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican. Proper concert television, not a documentary about a concert. Available on iPlayer.

The Hunt: Prey v Predator (Channel 4, 10pm) — The sixth hunt is under way, with a first-time Predator who apparently knows what they’re doing. Available on Channel 4 streaming.

Sport

Football: FA Cup — West Ham v Leeds is the final quarter-final, on TNT Sports 1 from 3:30pm (kick-off 4:30pm). Winner goes to Wembley.

Football: Scottish Premiership — Livingston v Hearts on Sky Sports at 1pm (k/o 2pm). Dundee v Celtic from 4:15pm (k/o 4:30pm), also on Sky Sports Main Event and Football.

Boxing: Caroline Dubois v Terri Harper — Sky Sports Action, 7pm. The WBC and WBO World Lightweight titles on the line in an all-British clash. Dubois is one of the most watchable fighters in the country right now.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

BBC iPlayer: Secret Garden, The Capture, The Other Bennet Sister, Pilgrimage, Harry Secombe: Welsh Greats, Inside Classical, The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Easter services and Songs of Praise
ITVX: Grace
Channel 4 streaming: Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer, The Hunt: Prey v Predator
Sky Sports / TNT Sports: FA Cup (West Ham v Leeds), Scottish Premiership football, Caroline Dubois v Terri Harper boxing

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EastEnders on tonight (Sunday 5 April 2026)?

No, EastEnders doesn’t air on Sundays. It runs Monday to Thursday on BBC One. If you’re behind, the full run is on BBC iPlayer.

What time is Secret Garden on BBC One tonight?

Secret Garden starts at 6pm on BBC One tonight, Easter Sunday 5 April 2026. It’s the first episode of David Attenborough’s new nature series, set in an Oxfordshire mill-house garden. The full series is on BBC iPlayer.

What time is The Capture on BBC One tonight?

The Capture is on BBC One at 9pm tonight (Sunday 5 April 2026). This episode fills in the backstory on Noah Pierson and goes back a year to explain the Home Secretary’s deep fake interview. Catch up on BBC iPlayer.

What time is Grace on ITV1 tonight?

Grace is on ITV1 at 8pm tonight (Sunday 5 April 2026). This is an original storyline — not based on an existing Peter James novel — dealing with a stalking case at a university. Catch up via ITVX.

What time is Celebrity Bake Off on Channel 4 tonight?

The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer is on Channel 4 at 7:40pm tonight. Sam Thompson, Vicky Pattison and Noel Fielding are among the celebrities. Catch up via Channel 4 streaming.

What time does The Hunger Games prequel film start on BBC One tonight?

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes starts at 10:30pm on BBC One tonight (11:30pm in Scotland). It’s the 2023 prequel film rated 12, with Tom Blyth as the young Coriolanus Snow. Available to catch up on BBC iPlayer.

Is there anything on TV for Easter Sunday?

Yes — BBC One has religious programming from 10am (Easter service from Ripon Cathedral) and Pope Leo’s Urbi et Orbi at 11am. Songs of Praise is at 1:30pm. In the evening, the 6pm Secret Garden with Attenborough is arguably the best thing on any channel tonight. All available on BBC iPlayer.

Final Verdict

Secret Garden is the clear pick of Easter Sunday. A new Attenborough series launching a month before his centenary is not a small thing, and the first episode delivers what the best nature television always does: footage that looks impossible to have captured, and a voice that makes you feel like you’re being let in on something. The Oxfordshire garden setting is a deliberate choice — this isn’t about remote wilderness, it’s about what’s happening in the place you probably have, or can see from your window.

The Capture at 9pm is the must-see drama of the night, particularly if you’ve been following the deep fake thread all series. The embargoed nature of the episode is a fairly reliable sign that the payoff is substantial.

The Other Bennet Sister double bill from 8pm on BBC One deserves more attention than it seems to get. This is a well-written Sunday drama that’s been quietly impressive all series, and back-to-back episodes make for a proper evening in.

Late on, The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is worth staying up for if the prequel premise appeals — Blyth is good, and the film is more thoughtful than the title suggests.

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