TV Guide UK Tonight: Sun 8 Mar 2026 – Call the Midwife Finale, The Capture & Gone

Sunday delivers a genuinely stacked evening, with two huge moments on BBC One back to back. Call the Midwife reaches its series finale at 8pm as Rosalind and Cyril’s wedding day finally arrives — but joy and loss are never far apart in Poplar, and this one will not leave you unmoved. Then at 9pm, The Capture returns for a new series with Holliday Grainger and Paapa Essiedu in what is shaping up to be the smartest surveillance thriller on British television. Over on ITV1 at the same time, Gone premieres with Eve Myles and David Morrissey in a new detective drama built around a missing person who may not be missing at all. The Great Pottery Throw Down finale on Channel 4 at 9pm brings this year’s competition to a close, and MasterChef: The Professionals has its quarter-final at 7pm on BBC One, moved from its usual Friday slot. There is also Werner Herzog directing a documentary about elephants in Angola, a five-star Cold War thriller on Sky Arts, and the first F1 race of the 2026 season in the early hours. No EastEnders tonight — it is Sunday — but there is more than enough to justify staying on the sofa.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• Call the Midwife — BBC One, 8pm — SERIES FINALE: Rosalind and Cyril’s wedding, Sister Monica Joan’s heartbreaking decision ⭐
• The Capture — BBC One, 9pm — NEW SERIES 3: Holliday Grainger, Paapa Essiedu, deepfake surveillance thriller
• Gone — ITV1, 9pm — NEW SERIES: Eve Myles, David Morrissey, a missing wife who may not be missing
• The Great Pottery Throw Down — Channel 4, 9pm — SERIES FINALE: three potters, one winner announced
• MasterChef: The Professionals — BBC One, 7pm — Quarter-final, moved from Friday
• Ghost Elephants — National Geographic WILD, 8pm — Werner Herzog in Angola
• The Manchurian Candidate — Sky Arts, 9pm — Five-star 1962 Cold War classic
• Crufts — Channel 4, from 3:30pm — Best in Show from 7pm

Early Evening

MasterChef The Professionals — BBC One, 7pm

The quarter-final arrives on a Sunday rather than a Friday because the Winter Olympics has been disrupting the usual schedule. Four chefs face the mince round first — always a more demanding test than it sounds, mince being one of those ingredients where there is nowhere to hide — before serving a two-course meal to guest critic April Jackson, the chef who launched London’s first Caribbean tapas restaurant, alongside William Sitwell and Tom Parker Bowles. Monica Galetti, Marcus Wareing and Matt Tebbutt then make their decisions. Thirteen chefs will go through to Knockout Week on Tuesday. The quarter-final delivers.

Antiques Roadshow — BBC One, 7pm

This edition comes from Pitzhanger Manor in London, the former home of the architect John Soane, though it was first broadcast in 2024. The finds are a mixed bag of the extraordinary and the quietly historical: a programme from a screening of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, a suffragette’s medal, a pair of vintage trainers, an 18th-century flip book for children, and a doll found in storage that turns out to be worth considerably more than whoever found it in the attic was probably expecting. Bunny Campione apparently becomes most animated of all the experts tonight, which is usually a reliable sign that something genuinely unusual has come through the door. Fiona Bruce hosts as always, keeping the temperature even when the finds are anything but.

Murdoch Mysteries — U&Alibi, 7pm

A Christmas special from the Canadian detective drama, which aired in Canada some months before tonight’s UK transmission. A diamond-encrusted tiara disappears during a festive event at a Toronto department store, and Detective Murdoch has a case to solve. Simultaneously, Higgins is on a separate but equally urgent mission: tracking down a Rinkinkin doll for his daughter before the city’s stock runs out. The two plots sit comfortably alongside each other in the way that Murdoch Mysteries always manages. Catch up via Now if you miss it.

Britain’s Best Mattress: How to Sleep Better — Channel 5, 7pm

Sleep experts go through the science of rest and offer guidance on mattress selection, which is less dry than it sounds given how many people lie awake at night in genuine discomfort from an unsuitable bed. Channel 5 has found that this kind of practical lifestyle programming does solid business on a Sunday evening. If you have been meaning to do something about your mattress, here is your prompt.

Prime Time

Ghost Elephants — National Geographic WILD, 8pm

Werner Herzog directing a nature documentary sounds like an unusual arrangement, and Ghost Elephants is precisely as unusual as that billing suggests. The film begins in Namibia with San Bushmen trackers, whose culture is described as possibly the oldest on Earth, following rumours of giant elephants on the remote highland plateau of Angola — a region so isolated that the animals living there may have evolved differently from their counterparts elsewhere on the continent.

Herzog brings his characteristic philosophical weight to the material. There are heart-stopping sequences and glimmers of ancient folklore, and the all-night elephant dance observed among the San Bushmen is unlike anything else you will see on television this week. The first half of the film is as much a portrait of the trackers as it is a wildlife documentary, which is the decision that only a certain type of filmmaker makes, and it pays off. Herzog has spent his career following obsessive men into extreme places, and this is no different — except the obsession belongs to the elephants themselves, and the question of whether they actually exist. Catch up via Disney+.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? — ITV1, 8pm

Jeremy Clarkson continues in the host’s chair, and six contestants sit in the waiting area hoping to reach the hot seat. Fifteen questions stand between each of them and a million pounds, and the audience, phone a friend and 50/50 lifelines will all be deployed at various points with varying degrees of usefulness. Clarkson’s combination of faint contempt and genuine warmth remains the show’s defining characteristic, and an evening of this is perfectly comfortable Sunday viewing.

Call the Midwife — BBC One, 8pm ⭐

The series finale, and the one to watch tonight without question. The wedding of Rosalind and Cyril has been building through the series, and their happiness arrives in full — but Call the Midwife has never been the sort of drama to let joy exist without its shadow, and Sister Monica Joan’s decision to forgo further treatment casts exactly that shadow over Nonnatus House.

The writing here does something that only the best long-running dramas can do: it holds two completely opposite emotional experiences in the same scene without diminishing either. The wedding is genuinely celebratory. The scenes involving Sister Monica Joan — played throughout the series by Judy Parfitt with a precision that has always made her the show’s moral and comic centre — carry a weight that accumulates over the hour. The streets of Poplar, as ever, are the backdrop to the full spectrum of human experience within the space of a single day.

If you have been watching the series, the finale pays off the threads it has been running with care and without sentimentality. If you have not been watching, this is not the place to start — but do go back to the beginning of this series on iPlayer. It is one of the most consistent dramas on British television and this finale is among its finest hours.

The Capture — BBC One, 9pm

New series, and the bar it sets in its first episode is remarkably high. Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger) is no longer just a detective — she is now acting head of counter-terrorism, and her project is a surveillance system capable of identifying deepfake footage in real time. It works. The demonstration at Heathrow Airport proves the technology can do what she says it can. And then something goes very wrong indeed.

The Capture has always been a show built on the premise that the technology we use to prove innocence can just as easily manufacture guilt, and Series 3 pushes that anxiety into territory that feels genuinely current. Holliday Grainger has grown into this role across three series and Carey now carries the exhausted, clear-eyed authority that comes from having already been through two rounds of somebody trying to destroy her. Paapa Essiedu plays Isaac Turner, a rising political figure attached to the Home Secretary — the kind of role that this show traditionally uses to complicate your assumptions, and Essiedu has exactly the right quality of visible competence threaded with uncertain motive.

The supporting cast — Ron Perlman, Indira Varma, Andrew Buchan, Lia Williams, Hugh Quarshie — is frankly ridiculous in the best possible way. Trust nobody is always the instruction going in. The show earns that instruction. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

Gone — ITV1, 9pm

Eve Myles playing a detective who is not entirely sure she is investigating a crime is an immediately compelling proposition. Detective Annie Cassidy is brought in when headteacher Michael Polly (David Morrissey) reports that his wife has disappeared, and Polly’s manner is the first problem: he is too calm, too composed, too much like a man filing a complaint about a minor administrative error than someone whose partner has vanished. The Ofsted inspection comparison in the listings is apt — Morrissey plays the whole thing with the contained, slightly irritated energy of a man managing an inconvenient external review.

The cat-and-mouse game that develops between Cassidy and Polly in the opening episode is built almost entirely from small observations — the way someone holds their coffee cup, the answer that comes a half-second too quickly, the absence of the kind of panic you would expect. Myles carries the detective’s scepticism without tipping into the knowing smirk that lesser thrillers give their protagonists. She seems genuinely uncertain about what she is looking at, which makes the audience uncertain too. The series continues tomorrow at 9pm on ITV1. Catch up via ITVX.

Forensics: The Real CSI — BBC Two, 9pm

This week’s case involves a brutal attack on a woman in a Birmingham phone box, with CCTV footage too blurry to be immediately useful. The West Midlands forensic team work through fingerprints, DNA analysis, blood pattern evidence and hours of low-quality security footage in a process that is methodical, painstaking and ultimately more dramatic than the compressed version of forensic investigation you see in fictional crime dramas. Two suspects are eventually identified, and the forensic evidence becomes critical to prosecuting the right person. Not comfortable viewing, but genuinely illuminating about how real cases are actually built. BBC Two, 9pm.

The Great Pottery Throw Down — Channel 4, 9pm

The series finale, and the challenge for the final three potters is the most personal the show has ever set: create an elaborate model of a stage, complete with figures and moveable scenery, that tells the story of your own life. The brief requires technical skill, creative vision and a willingness to be honest about yourself in clay, which is quite a lot to ask of anyone under competition conditions.

The results, according to those who have seen the episode, hit harder than you would expect a pottery competition to. Keith Brymer Jones, who has cried in every series finale this show has produced, maintains his record. Rich Miller judges alongside him. The throw down challenge provides a final technical test before the scores are combined and the winner is announced. Three finalists who have taken very different approaches across the series means the outcome is genuinely difficult to call. Channel 4, 9pm.

The Manchurian Candidate — Sky Arts, 9pm (Film, 15) ★★★★★

John Frankenheimer’s 1962 Cold War thriller is one of the finest political films ever made, and this five-star rating is not hyperbole — it is a statement of fact supported by six decades of cinema history. Frank Sinatra plays Major Bennett Marco, a Korean War veteran whose recurring nightmares about a fellow soldier (Laurence Harvey) lead him towards the discovery of a communist brainwashing and assassination plot that goes further than anyone would believe.

Sinatra was committed enough to this film to accept a salary that consumed nearly half of its entire $2.2 million budget, and the film repays that commitment with a lead performance of contained, intelligent intensity. The brainwashing sequences — particularly the one featuring a garden party that keeps shifting between two completely different realities — remain among the most disorienting and effective scenes in American cinema. Harvey’s Raymond Shaw, the most decorated hero of the Korean War and also its most unwitting weapon, is a performance of extraordinary emptiness. Janet Leigh provides the film’s only real warmth, and even that is not quite what it seems.

The film’s anxiety about political manipulation and media reality feels considerably less like a period piece than it did twenty years ago. Catch up via Now Cinema.

Late Night

Crufts — Channel 4, from 3:30pm (Best in Show from 7pm)

The final day of the world’s most famous dog show, with Clare Balding leading Channel 4’s coverage, joined by Claudia Winkleman, Ellie Simmonds and Radzi Chinyanganya. The Best in Show decision comes from 7pm onwards, when the group winners compete for the supreme title in front of a packed Birmingham NEC. Crufts has the unusual quality of being genuinely compelling television even for people who are not particularly interested in dogs — the dogs are impossible to predict and the judges are taking it very seriously indeed, which turns out to be a compelling combination.

Sport

F1: Australian Grand Prix — The first race of the 2026 Formula 1 season, live from Melbourne’s Albert Park, is on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports F1 from 4am. Set your alarm or your series link.

Football: Scottish Cup Quarter-Final — Rangers v Celtic, k/o 1pm, Premier Sports 1 (from Ibrox). The Glasgow derby in a knockout competition — the pressure is considerable.

Football: FA Cup Fifth Round — Fulham v Southampton, k/o 12 noon, TNT Sports 2. Port Vale or Bristol City v Sunderland, k/o 1:30pm, TNT Sports 1. Leeds v Norwich, k/o 4:30pm, TNT Sports 1.

Cricket: T20 World Cup Final — live on Sky Sports Cricket from 1:30pm.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

BBC iPlayer: Call the Midwife series finale, The Capture Series 3, MasterChef The Professionals, Antiques Roadshow, Forensics: The Real CSI
ITVX: Gone (full series), Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Channel 4 streaming: The Great Pottery Throw Down, Crufts
Disney+: Ghost Elephants (National Geographic WILD)
Now Cinema: The Manchurian Candidate
Sky Sports: F1 Australian Grand Prix, T20 World Cup Final
Now (U&Alibi): Murdoch Mysteries Christmas Special

Frequently Asked Questions

What time is Call the Midwife on TV tonight?

Call the Midwife is on BBC One at 8pm tonight (Sunday 8th March 2026). This is the series finale. Rosalind and Cyril’s wedding day has arrived, but their happiness is overshadowed by Sister Monica Joan’s decision to forgo treatment at Nonnatus House. Stars Judy Parfitt, Natalie Quarry and Zephryn Taitte. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

What time is The Capture on BBC One tonight?

The Capture Series 3 begins on BBC One at 9pm tonight (Sunday 8th March 2026). Holliday Grainger returns as Rachel Carey, now acting head of counter-terrorism, who launches a surveillance system capable of detecting live deepfakes. When a shocking incident at Heathrow Airport proves it works, something then goes horribly wrong. Paapa Essiedu co-stars. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

Is EastEnders on TV tonight?

No, EastEnders is not on tonight. EastEnders does not air on Sundays — it broadcasts Monday to Thursday on BBC One. You can catch up on any episodes you have missed via BBC iPlayer.

What time is Gone on ITV1 tonight?

Gone begins on ITV1 at 9pm tonight (Sunday 8th March 2026). Eve Myles plays Detective Annie Cassidy, who is not entirely certain a crime has been committed when headteacher Michael Polly (David Morrissey) reports his wife missing. The series continues tomorrow at 9pm on ITV1. Catch up via ITVX.

What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight?

Our top picks for Sunday 8th March 2026 are Call the Midwife on BBC One at 8pm — the series finale, with Rosalind and Cyril’s wedding arriving alongside Sister Monica Joan’s heartbreaking decision — and The Capture Series 3 on BBC One at 9pm, which opens with one of the tightest hours of thriller television this year. Gone also premieres on ITV1 at 9pm with Eve Myles and David Morrissey.

What’s on BBC One tonight?

BBC One tonight (Sunday 8th March 2026) includes MasterChef: The Professionals quarter-final at 7pm, Call the Midwife series finale at 8pm with Rosalind and Cyril’s wedding and Sister Monica Joan’s heartbreaking decision to forgo treatment, and The Capture new Series 3 premiere at 9pm with Holliday Grainger and Paapa Essiedu.

What time is The Great Pottery Throw Down final on Channel 4 tonight?

The Great Pottery Throw Down series finale is on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight (Sunday 8th March 2026). Three finalists face the toughest challenge of the series — creating an elaborate model stage with figures and moveable scenery that tells the story of their life — before this year’s winner is announced. Keith Brymer Jones and Rich Miller judge.

Is the F1 Australian Grand Prix on TV today?

Yes, the F1 2026 season opener — the Australian Grand Prix from Melbourne — is live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports F1 from 4am in the early hours of Sunday 8th March 2026. It is the first race of the new Formula 1 season.

Final Verdict

Call the Midwife at 8pm on BBC One is the one to clear your evening for. The series finale does what the best episodes of this programme always do — it holds joy and grief in the same frame without letting either overwhelm the other. Judy Parfitt as Sister Monica Joan is extraordinary, and the wedding of Rosalind and Cyril provides the warmth that offsets her storyline with exactly the right amount of light. You will need tissues. There is no shame in this.

Then the evening shifts gear completely. The Capture Series 3 at 9pm on BBC One arrives with expectations, and the opening episode earns them. Holliday Grainger has been growing into Rachel Carey across three series and is now operating with a controlled authority that is hard to look away from. Paapa Essiedu fits into a cast that already includes Ron Perlman, Indira Varma and Hugh Quarshie, which tells you everything about the level they are working at. The Heathrow sequence will be discussed. Trust nobody is the instruction. It applies throughout.

Over on ITV1 at 9pm, Gone is a strong first episode. Eve Myles and David Morrissey are a pairing the show entirely earns, and the pilot is careful and specific enough to make you want the next one immediately. Fortunately it continues tomorrow at 9pm.

The Great Pottery Throw Down finale on Channel 4 at 9pm is the right way to close a good series. Three finalists, a challenge that asks them to put their own lives into clay, and Keith Brymer Jones trying very hard not to cry from the opening twenty minutes. Earlier, MasterChef: The Professionals at 7pm on BBC One is a solid quarter-final with guest judges who bring genuine expertise to the tasting table.

For something entirely different: Werner Herzog’s Ghost Elephants on National Geographic WILD at 8pm is the most unusual hour of television on tonight — a philosophical nature film about a search that may or may not find its subject. The Manchurian Candidate on Sky Arts at 9pm is five-star cinema that holds up better than most films made in the last decade, let alone 1962.

Sport-wise, the F1 season begins in the early hours with the Australian Grand Prix, the Old Firm meet in the Scottish Cup at 1pm, three FA Cup Fifth Round ties unfold across the afternoon, and the T20 World Cup Final is live on Sky Sports.

Related: What’s On TV Tonight Sunday | Saturday 7 Mar 2026 TV Guide | Monday 9 Mar 2026 TV Guide

Clint Edgar

Clint is a writer and self-proclaimed professional binge-watcher who treats the "Skip Intro" button with the suspicion it deserves. When he isn't dissecting plot holes or getting emotionally invested in fictional characters, you can find him scrolling through streaming queues or arguing about why The Office is a masterpiece. Clint lives in London with a dangerously comfortable couch and a remote control that he guards with his life.