TV Guide UK Tonight: Sun 26 Jul 2026 – The Rapture, The Piano & Force of Nature

Updated: 26 July 2026

Sunday 26 July 2026. BBC One‘s Sunday drama slot takes a genuinely strange turn tonight: The Rapture launches a new series with Ruth Madeley as a grieving psychologist whose newest patient appears to sketch disasters before they happen, all set against a Welsh heatwave that feels a little too close to home. Channel 4 keeps The Piano’s search for a concert finalist going from York, then follows it with Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain’s tense Moroccan drama The Forgiven at 10pm. ITV1 launches its own new arrival, wildlife series Force of Nature, at 7pm, before crime thriller The Dark heads into its penultimate episode at 9pm. Formula 1 makes its final stop before the summer break at the Hungaroring, and the Tour de France wraps up on the Champs-Élysées. One thing you won’t find tonight: EastEnders doesn’t air on Sundays, so there’s no episode to catch.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• The Rapture BBC One, 9pm. New series psychological drama begins.
• Force of Nature ITV1, 7pm. New wildlife series narrated by Andrew Lincoln.
• The Piano Channel 4, 9pm. The search for a finalist continues from York.
• The Forgiven Channel 4, 10pm. Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain’s Moroccan drama.
• Formula 1: Hungarian Grand Prix Sky Sports F1, 2pm. The last race before the summer break.
• EastEnders isn’t on tonight — the soap only airs Monday to Thursday, so there’s no episode this evening.

Early Evening

Countryfile – BBC One, 7pm

Anita Rani reaches the final stop on her east coast journey at Orford Ness in Suffolk, a former secretive military testing site whose crumbling buildings have since become nesting grounds for seabirds. She also meets an artist whose new album draws on the shingle spit’s odd, guarded history. BBC iPlayer.

Force of Nature – ITV1, 7pm

Andrew Lincoln narrates this new wildlife strand, and the opener doesn’t hang about: two cheetahs swim a flooded Kenyan river with a crocodile closing the gap, burrowing owls ride out a tornado, chimpanzees grind through drought, and a polar bear starts hunting on land as the sea ice it relies on keeps vanishing. ITVX.

BBC Proms: John Wilson Conducts the Sinfonia of London – BBC Four, 8pm

BBC Four hands the Royal Albert Hall over to John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London for Verdi’s overture to The Force of Destiny, Walton’s Cello Concerto with soloist Jonathan Aasgaard, and Respighi’s Roman Trilogy. It’s a pairing that suits them: their Walton recording picked up five stars from the Financial Times, and their take on the Respighi won a BBC Music Magazine Award. Katie Derham introduces. BBC iPlayer.

Antiques Roadshow – BBC One, 8pm

A repeat trip to Liverpool’s Sefton Park Palm House from 2022, where a run of Beatles memorabilia turns up among the valuations.

The African Queen – Sky Arts, 8pm

Sky Arts digs out John Huston’s 1951 classic, pairing Humphrey Bogart’s hard-drinking steamboat captain with Katharine Hepburn’s prim missionary as they flee downriver through German East Africa. Bogart won his only Oscar for it, and watching the two of them needle each other across a cramped boat, it’s easy to see why. Streaming on Now.

Prime Time

The Rapture – BBC One, 9pm ⭐

Grieving forensic psychologist Gabs Fox, played by Ruth Madeley, starts a new job at a secure hospital and meets 17-year-old Bethany Krall, played by India Amarteifio, who was convicted of killing her mother but has never stopped insisting she’s innocent. Everyone around Bethany, including her estranged father Leonard, a cult leader played by Sam Hazeldine, treats her claims as denial. Then Bethany starts drawing events before they happen, and Gabs’ certainty begins to slip. There’s an environmental thread too, with activists and a fossil fuel company circling the same stretch of Welsh coast. Full series on BBC iPlayer.

The Piano – Channel 4, 9pm

Claudia Winkleman and Mika set up in York for another week of impromptu station-platform performances, joined this time by Japanese pianist Hiromi. The field chasing a place in the closing concert includes a firefighter and an ex-squaddie, and as ever the show gets its best moments from complete strangers stopping to listen. Channel 4 streaming.

The Dark – ITV1, 9pm

This Highlands thriller heads into its penultimate hour with a killer still hiding behind a mask made from animal hide. A devotee named Philly remains fixated on the case, while wild swimmer James sits somewhere near the bottom of the suspect list, quietly unbothered by it. The finale follows tomorrow night. Full series on ITVX.

Unacceptable – TLC, 9pm

Ed Gamble, Richard Ayoade and Joanne McNally sit in judgement on a fresh pile of controversial opinions, with guests Lucy Beaumont and Ivo Graham adding their own contributions to the debate.

Late Night

The Forgiven – Channel 4, 10pm

Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain play a wealthy, bickering couple whose drive to a lavish party at a remote Moroccan villa ends with a local teenager dead in a road accident. It plays out as a slow, uncomfortable comedown rather than a thriller, with the boy’s father arriving to demand a justice the couple can’t buy off. Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh from Lawrence Osborne’s novel, and shot partly around Erfoud. Rated 18. Channel 4 streaming.

Theatre Season: Not I & The Entertainer – BBC Four, 10pm & 10:15pm

Billie Whitelaw’s 1977 performance of Samuel Beckett’s Not I opens tonight’s strand, a few unbroken minutes of a single spotlit mouth that’s as demanding to watch as it was to perform. It’s followed by Michael Gambon co-starring in a 1993 staging of John Osborne’s The Entertainer. BBC iPlayer.

Terror in the Skies: Stopping the Liquid Bomb Plot – ITV1, 10:20pm

Twenty years on, reporter Rohit Kachroo speaks to the officers behind the surveillance operation that stopped a 2006 plot to smuggle liquid explosives onto transatlantic flights, disguised as ordinary soft drinks and rigged to detonate using modified batteries. It’s the reason every airport still limits what you can carry through security to a clear plastic bag, and the officers telling it first-hand add plenty the original news reports left out. ITVX.

Sport

Formula 1 makes its last stop before the summer break at the Hungaroring, a tight, twisty 4.381km circuit that rewards precision over raw speed. Build-up runs on Sky Sports F1 from 12:30pm ahead of a 2pm lights-out, with Mercedes looking increasingly comfortable under this year’s rules and Ferrari close enough to have a genuine shot at the podium. Highlights follow on Channel 4 at 6:30pm. The Commonwealth Games reach day three in Glasgow, with coverage from 8:30am on TNT Sports 2 and 9am on TNT Sports 4, plus evening action on BBC Alba from 5:30pm and S4C from 8:30pm; highlights land on Channel 5 at 10pm. The Tour de France wraps up its final stage, a flat run from Thoiry into Paris that finishes on the Champs-Élysées, live on TNT Sports 1 from 10am with highlights on Channel 5 at 9pm. Golf’s Women’s Scottish Open reaches its final round at Irvine in Ayrshire, live on Sky Sports Golf from midday.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

• BBC iPlayer: Countryfile, BBC Proms: John Wilson Conducts the Sinfonia of London, Antiques Roadshow, The Rapture, Theatre Season
• ITVX: Force of Nature, The Dark, Terror in the Skies: Stopping the Liquid Bomb Plot
• Channel 4 streaming: The Piano, The Forgiven
• Now: The African Queen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EastEnders on tonight (Sunday 26 July 2026)?

No. EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One at around 7:30pm and doesn’t broadcast on Sundays, so there’s no new episode tonight. Catch up on the week’s episodes via BBC iPlayer, or wait for Monday’s return.

What time is The Rapture on BBC One tonight?

The Rapture starts on BBC One at 9pm tonight. The new psychological drama stars Ruth Madeley and India Amarteifio, with the full series available afterwards on BBC iPlayer.

What’s new on ITV1 tonight?

ITV1 launches Force of Nature at 7pm, a new wildlife series narrated by Andrew Lincoln following animals coping with extreme weather. The Dark also continues at 9pm, heading into its penultimate episode ahead of tomorrow’s finale.

What live sport is on TV tonight: Sunday 26 July 2026?

Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix is live on Sky Sports F1 from 12:30pm, with the race starting at 2pm and highlights on Channel 4 at 6:30pm. The Tour de France also concludes with its final stage into Paris, live on TNT Sports 1 from 10am with highlights on Channel 5 at 9pm.

What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight (Sunday 26 July 2026)?

The Rapture on BBC One at 9pm is the pick of the night, with Ruth Madeley and India Amarteifio anchoring a new drama that turns a Welsh heatwave into something close to a countdown. Force of Nature at 7pm is ITV1’s other strong new arrival.

Final Verdict

Sunday 26 July belongs to The Rapture ⭐, and the fact that it airs on BBC One at 9pm rather than being tucked away somewhere niche tells you how much confidence sits behind it. Ruth Madeley and India Amarteifio carry a premise that could easily have tipped into nonsense and instead makes it feel unnervingly plausible. Force of Nature at 7pm gives ITV1 a strong new arrival too, while The Piano and The Forgiven give Channel 4 a varied Sunday night. Sport fans have a packed afternoon between the Hungarian Grand Prix and the Tour de France‘s final sprint into Paris. One thing tonight doesn’t have: EastEnders sits out Sundays, so don’t go looking for it on BBC One.

Watch

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