TV Guide UK Tonight: Sun 9 Aug 2026 – The Rapture, Van der Valk & The Piano

Sunday 9 August 2026. BBC One closes out The Rapture’s first series tonight, with Bethany’s flight from Faith Way finally catching up with her at 9pm. Over on ITV1, Van der Valk digs into a singer’s disappearance that’s sat unsolved for two years, while Channel 4 sends Richard E Grant hunting for the Cyclops in Sicily before The Piano’s search for a finalist rolls on from Manchester. BBC Four mixes a night at the Proms with four hours of Harold Pinter, and there’s Scottish football, MotoGP and a League Cup tie to fill the daytime. No EastEnders tonight, as always on a Sunday.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• The Rapture ⭐ BBC One, 9pm. Series finale. Bethany’s revenge plot finally comes to a head.
• Van der Valk ITV1, 8pm. A cold case gets colder as Piet chases a singer gone two years.
• Richard E Grant’s Very Modern Odyssey Channel 4, 8pm. Sicily, the Cyclops and a duchess’s kitchen.
• The Piano Channel 4, 9pm. Manchester Piccadilly hosts, with Alice Sara Ott joining the judges.
• EastEnders isn’t on tonight. Sundays are always soap-free.

Early Evening

Force of Nature – ITV1, 6pm

Andrew Lincoln’s wildlife series turns its attention to a Europe that’s changing fast: wildfires ripping through the south, seas warming enough to bleach coral and strip out kelp forests. There’s a stranger angle too: flamingos stretching their breeding season deep into hurricane season, and lizards developing longer toes purely to grip on in the wind. ITVX afterwards.

Eisteddfod 2026 with Huw Stephens – BBC Four, 7pm

Huw Stephens picks through the best of this year’s National Eisteddfod, staged for the first time on the fields near Llantood, just outside Cardigan in Pembrokeshire. Highlights include a set from Super Furry Animals, plus whatever six days of competitions, ceremonies and record crowds have thrown up. BBC iPlayer.

Prime Time

Van der Valk – ITV1, 8pm

Two years after a singer walked off stage and never came home, Piet and Lucienne Hassell reopen the case alongside a fresher one: an environmental campaigner murdered mid-investigation into wildlife traffickers. The singer’s father, played by Dennis Rudge, isn’t the only one who thinks the two cases are tangled together, and pathologist Hendrik’s health troubles start creeping into the plot too. ITVX.

Richard E Grant’s Very Modern Odyssey – Channel 4, 8pm

Grant’s Mediterranean trawl through Homer lands in Sicily this week, hunting the island said to be the Cyclops’ old stomping ground. Between cooking with a Palermo duchess and hauling himself up Etna, he tries the acoustics at Taormina’s ancient amphitheatre, presumably to check whether 2,000-year-old engineering still beats a modern PA system. Channel 4 streaming.

Antiques Roadshow – BBC One, 8pm

A repeat trip to Clissold Park in north London from 2022, where the standout find among the valuations is a portrait of a young Helen Mirren, decades before the Damehood.

BBC Proms – BBC Four, 8pm

Petroc Trelawny introduces more than 150 teenage musicians from the National Youth Orchestra for a programme Thomas Adès put together himself, mixing Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No 1 with his own Purgatorio, the half of his ballet Dante that won Gustavo Dudamel a Grammy, before closing out with fifty unbroken minutes of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. BBC iPlayer.

The Rapture – BBC One, 9pm ⭐

The finale, and it’s Bethany’s turn to go on the offensive. Having broken free, she sets her sights squarely on her own father, while Gabs finds herself the prime suspect for helping her escape and Dick keeps pulling at threads that lead straight back to the truth about Faith Way. Whether the confession that follows lands as catharsis or just another twist is the whole question of the last twenty minutes. BBC iPlayer.

The Piano – Channel 4, 9pm

Manchester Piccadilly gets the treatment this week, and the standout is seven-year-old Teddie, who plays with a composure most adults chasing the finalist spot could learn from. Mika and Claudia Winkleman are joined by German pianist Alice Sara Ott, while Joanna, who has multiple sclerosis, and Brendon, once homeless and playing that very station’s piano to get by, both bring something the judges clearly weren’t expecting. Channel 4 streaming.

Inside the Four Seasons: Park Lane – Channel 5, 9pm

Back inside the Mayfair hotel, where staff are working overtime on a guest they’re desperate to charm and a travel critic they’re even more desperate to impress. He gets the suite, the view, the breakfast and the gift, and still finds something to complain about: no teabags. Channel 5 streaming on My5.

Late Night

Harold Pinter Night – BBC Four, 10pm

Four hours dedicated to the playwright, introduced by his widow, Lady Antonia Fraser. It opens with the BBC’s 1987 staging of The Birthday Party, then a 2002 Arena profile in which his old friend Henry Woolf remembers a childhood spent reading and walking together, mostly because there were barely any books in the house. Pinter acted as much as he wrote, and his turn as Goldberg gets a mention. BBC iPlayer.

Inside Iran: War and Revolution – ITV1, 10:15pm

A documentary built almost entirely on blurred, anonymised testimony bar one contributor. “Yasaman” describes what it was like watching the regime crack down after January’s protests, then living through American bombing and the fallout from Khamenei’s death. It’s careful, bleak filmmaking rather than anything sensational, and all the more effective for it. ITVX.

Sport

Kilmarnock host Celtic in the early Scottish Premiership kick-off, live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football from 12:30pm ahead of a 1:30pm start. MotoGP’s British Grand Prix goes green at Silverstone from 1pm, with build-up on TNT Sports 2 from 12:15pm. Mansfield Town take on Sheffield United in a Northern Section League Cup first-round tie, live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football from 3:45pm ahead of a 4pm kick-off.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

• BBC iPlayer: Countryfile, Eisteddfod 2026 with Huw Stephens, Antiques Roadshow, BBC Proms, The Rapture, Harold Pinter Night
• ITVX: Force of Nature, Van der Valk, Inside Iran: War and Revolution
• Channel 4 streaming: Richard E Grant’s Very Modern Odyssey, The Piano
• My5: Paw Patrol: the Mighty Movie, Inside the Four Seasons: Park Lane
• Now: Groomed: the Truth behind the Lie

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EastEnders on tonight (Sunday 9 August 2026)?

No. EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and takes Sundays off entirely, so there’s no new episode tonight. Catch up on this week’s episodes via BBC iPlayer, or wait for Monday’s return.

What time is The Rapture series finale on TV tonight?

The Rapture wraps up its first series on BBC One at 9pm tonight, with Bethany on the run and set on revenge against her father. The full series is available afterwards on BBC iPlayer.

What’s new on ITV1 tonight?

ITV1 has Van der Valk at 8pm, investigating a singer’s two-year-old disappearance alongside a fresh murder case, followed by documentary Inside Iran: War and Revolution at 10:15pm.

What live sport is on TV tonight: Sunday 9 August 2026?

Kilmarnock host Celtic in the Scottish Premiership from 12:30pm on Sky Sports, MotoGP’s British Grand Prix gets underway at Silverstone from 1pm on TNT Sports 2, and Mansfield Town face Sheffield United in the League Cup from 3:45pm on Sky Sports.

What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight (Sunday 9 August 2026)?

The Rapture’s series finale on BBC One at 9pm is the pick of the night, closing out Bethany’s story. Van der Valk on ITV1 at 8pm and The Piano on Channel 4 at 9pm are the other highlights.

Final Verdict

Tonight’s built around endings and new ground. The Rapture ⭐ wraps up its first series with Bethany finally forcing a confrontation, and BBC One deserves credit for giving it a proper send-off at 9pm rather than a quiet slot. Van der Valk keeps ITV1’s Sunday case-of-the-week format ticking along, and Channel 4 pairs Richard E Grant’s Very Modern Odyssey with The Piano for a solid two hours. BBC Four goes big on culture, stacking the Proms against four hours of Pinter, while Eisteddfod highlights bring a slice of Wales into the mix. Sport fans get a full afternoon between Kilmarnock, MotoGP and the League Cup. No EastEnders, as ever on a Sunday.

Related: What’s On TV Tonight Sunday | What’s On TV Tonight Sat 8 Aug 2026 | What’s On TV Tonight Monday