TV Guide UK Tonight: Thurs 16 Jul 2026 – Who Do You Think You Are?, Fake or Fortune? & The Traitors

Published: 7 July 2026

Thursday 16 July 2026. With the World Cup semi-finals done and dusted and the final still a week away, BBC One and ITV1 settle back into a normal Thursday schedule tonight. Tom Kerridge opens a new series touring Italy on ITV1 at 7:30pm, EastEnders airs in its usual slot straight after, and the evening builds towards two of BBC One’s biggest factual returns: Fake or Fortune? at 8pm and Who Do You Think You Are? at 9pm, the latter following actor Toby Jones back through five generations of his family. Channel 4 turns to a two-part documentary on a real Surrey murder case, while BBC Four pairs a Kim Novak profile with a rare Freeview showing of Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Golf’s Open Championship gets under way at Royal Birkdale, with cricket and cycling also on today.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• Who Do You Think You Are? BBC One, 9pm. Toby Jones traces five generations of actors in his family. ⭐
• Fake or Fortune? BBC One, 8pm. A new series opens with a possible Fabergé painting.
• The Traitors US BBC Three, 9pm. The season finale, followed by The Traitors Canada launching at 11:05pm.
• The Chase around the World ITV1, 9pm. Bradley Walsh takes the format on the road for a new series.
• Tom Kerridge Cooks Italy ITV1, 7:30pm. A new series starts in Calabria.
• EastEnders BBC One, 7:30pm. Airing as normal — no schedule disruption tonight.

Early Evening

Tom Kerridge Cooks Italy – ITV1, 7:30pm

Tom Kerridge trades the pub kitchen for the road, opening a new series with a trip to Calabria in Italy’s deep south. It’s less a straight cookery format than a tour through regional produce and the people who grow, catch and cook it, with Kerridge’s usual mix of enthusiasm and plain speaking carrying the travelogue side of things. ITVX.

EastEnders – BBC One, 7:30pm

Business as usual on Albert Square tonight, with the World Cup final still a weekend away and nothing left to disrupt the schedule. Denise lays down the law on a matter she’s clearly been sitting on, Vicki and Ross arrive home from their honeymoon to a welcome that may not match their mood, and Mark’s doubts about something closer to home start to surface properly for the first time. BBC iPlayer.

Prime Time

Fake or Fortune? – BBC One, 8pm

A new series opens with Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould on the trail of a red lily painting that could, if the evidence holds up, be the work of the House of Fabergé rather than an anonymous imitator. The show’s format hasn’t changed and doesn’t need to: half detective story, half art history lesson, with the tension coming from just how thin the paper trail usually is. BBC iPlayer.

BBC Two runs Gardeners’ World at the same time, with Sue Kent showing how ordinary household items can be turned into productive growing spaces alongside Monty Don’s usual segment. Over on U&W, The Property Brothers: Under Pressure has Drew and Jonathan Scott racing a renovation deadline for a young couple.

Who Do You Think You Are? – BBC One, 9pm ⭐

Toby Jones is this week’s subject, and the family rumour he sets out to test is a good one: that acting runs through his bloodline far further back than his own father, the actor Freddie Jones. The trail starts at a theatre in Margate and ends up, unexpectedly, in Meerut in North India, where a distant ancestor served with the British Army generations before anyone in the family had set foot on a stage. What makes this episode land is that the discovery genuinely surprises Jones on camera rather than being telegraphed in advance — and there’s a second, separate thread of theatrical history waiting on his mother’s side too. BBC iPlayer.

The Chase around the World – ITV1, 9pm

Bradley Walsh and the Chasers leave the studio behind for a new series that sends six pairs of contestants chasing clues through some of Europe’s best-known cities in search of a hidden Chaser, with a £100,000 prize riding on how far they get. Tonight’s opener is filmed in Rome, and the change of scenery does more for the format than you might expect — there’s a genuine sense of jeopardy in racing against a clock in unfamiliar streets that the studio version can’t quite match. ITVX.

The Traitors US – BBC Three, 9pm

Season finale tonight, with the surviving Faithful and Traitors reaching the last round table before the winner, or winners, are confirmed. It’s followed immediately at 11:05pm by the UK launch of The Traitors Canada series three, so anyone not ready to let go of the format has a fresh cast moving into a new castle before midnight. BBC iPlayer.

Elsewhere at 9pm: Channel 5 has The Odyssey with Dan Snow, tracing Homer’s epic through Troy, Ithaca and Mycenae to see how much of it holds up as real geography. More4 opens a new series of The Reclaimers: Made in Suffolk, following salvage expert Andy as he gives forgotten objects a second life. Sky Atlantic has The Five Star Weekend, adapted from Elin Hilderbrand’s novel, with Jennifer Garner leading a Nantucket reunion that starts to unravel — Gemma Chan, Regina Hall, D’Arcy Carden and Chloë Sevigny co-star, and the drama runs across two episodes back to back. On Channel 4, Murder Case: The Digital Detectives examines how digital forensics now shapes murder investigations, including the case of Harvey Willgoose. BBC Four opens its evening with Kim Novak’s Vertigo, a documentary profile of the actress, now in her nineties, reflecting on her Hollywood career.

Late Night

Vertigo – BBC Four, 10:15pm

Kim Novak’s documentary leads straight into the film that made her: Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 thriller, rated 12, with James Stewart as a former detective drawn into a dangerous obsession with a woman he’s been hired to follow. This is a genuinely rare outing for Vertigo on Freeview, and pairing it with the documentary beforehand gives the film’s most-discussed images a bit of extra weight. BBC iPlayer.

Murder in Suburbia – Channel 4, 10pm

A two-part documentary examining the 2007 murder of Sharon Birchwood in Surrey, running back to back across the 10pm and 11pm hours. It’s preceded at 9pm by Murder Case: The Digital Detectives, so Channel 4 effectively runs three hours of true crime through the back half of the evening for anyone settling in. Both episodes are on Channel 4 streaming.

Sport

Golf’s Open Championship begins at Royal Birkdale, with day one coverage from 6:30am on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Golf as defending champion Scottie Scheffler tees off; BBC Two carries highlights at 9pm for anyone without a Sky subscription. England’s men play India in a one-day international at 12:30pm on Sky Sports Cricket, live from Cardiff, and the Tour de France continues on TNT Sports 1 from 12 noon.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

• BBC iPlayer: EastEnders, Fake or Fortune?, Gardeners’ World, Who Do You Think You Are?, The Traitors US, The Traitors Canada, Kim Novak’s Vertigo, Vertigo
• ITVX: Tom Kerridge Cooks Italy, The Chase around the World
• Channel 4 streaming: Murder Case: The Digital Detectives, Murder in Suburbia, The Reclaimers: Made in Suffolk
• Channel 5 streaming: The Odyssey with Dan Snow

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EastEnders on tonight (Thursday 16 July 2026)?

Yes. EastEnders airs in its normal 7:30pm slot on BBC One tonight — the World Cup semi-finals finished on Wednesday and the final isn’t until next weekend, so there’s no schedule disruption this Thursday. Tonight’s episode sees Denise lay down the law, Vicki and Ross return from their honeymoon, and Mark’s doubts start to grow. BBC iPlayer.

What time is Who Do You Think You Are? on tonight, and who’s the guest?

It’s on BBC One at 9pm. Actor Toby Jones investigates a family claim that acting runs through at least five generations of his relatives, including his father, the actor Freddie Jones. The search takes him from a theatre in Margate to Meerut in North India, where a distant ancestor was stationed with the British Army. BBC iPlayer.

Is Fake or Fortune? a new episode tonight?

Yes, tonight’s edition at 8pm on BBC One opens a new series. Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate a red lily painting that may have been produced by the House of Fabergé. BBC iPlayer.

What time is The Traitors US finale on BBC Three tonight?

The season finale runs from 9pm on BBC Three, with the last Faithful and Traitors reaching the final round table. It’s followed straight after, at 11:05pm, by the UK launch of The Traitors Canada series three. BBC iPlayer.

What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight (Thursday 16 July 2026)?

Who Do You Think You Are? at 9pm on BBC One is the pick of the night, with Toby Jones uncovering a family history of actors. Fake or Fortune? at 8pm and The Traitors US finale at 9pm on BBC Three both make strong alternatives.

Final Verdict

A properly stacked Thursday, and one that doesn’t need football to carry it. Who Do You Think You Are? is the standout, with Toby Jones’s family history landing harder than most celebrity genealogy episodes manage. Fake or Fortune? gives BBC One a second strong hour at 8pm, and The Traitors US wraps up its run on BBC Three at 9pm before handing straight over to a new Canadian cast. If you’d rather look backwards than forwards, BBC Four’s late-night pairing of a Kim Novak documentary with Vertigo itself is the night’s best-kept secret — Hitchcock rarely turns up on Freeview, so it’s worth setting something to record if you’re not free at quarter past ten. And yes, EastEnders is exactly where it should be tonight.

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