TV Guide UK Tonight: Thurs 23 Apr 2026 – Race Across the World, MasterChef Quarter-Finals & The Wicker Man

Published: 21 April 2026

Tonight’s TV highlights (Thursday 23 April 2026): Race Across the World series 6 episode 4 airs on BBC One at 8pm, with teams crossing from Turkey into Georgia. MasterChef quarter-finals begin on BBC One at 9pm with Jay Rayner as guest judge. The Wicker Man (1973) screens on BBC Four at 10pm. Big Mood series 2 runs a double bill on Channel 4 from 10pm. Premier League Darts is live on Sky Sports Main Event from 7pm.

Thursday night is properly stacked. Race Across the World returns for episode four on BBC One at 8pm, with the race leaders heading out of southern Turkey for the next checkpoint in Tbilisi. Over on BBC Two, MasterChef enters quarter-finals week at 9pm, with Jay Rayner stepping in as a guest judge for the salad round. BBC Four hosts the 1973 British horror classic The Wicker Man at 10pm. And Channel 4 runs a Big Mood series 2 double bill from 10pm with Robert Lindsay guest-starring. In soap news, EastEnders is building towards Grant Mitchell’s return as Nigel Bates’s health declines.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• Race Across the World ⭐ — BBC One, 8pm — Episode four. Turkey to Georgia. Tension, missed buses, and sibling team Katie and Harrison under pressure
• MasterChef — BBC One, 9pm — Quarter-finals week begins. Jay Rayner turns up with a salad challenge
• The Wicker Man — BBC Four, 10pm — Robin Hardy’s 1973 folk horror. Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee. Followed by an Ex-S doc
• Big Mood — Channel 4, 10pm and 10:30pm — Series 2 double bill. Nicola Coughlan, Lydia West, Robert Lindsay guest-starring
• EastEnders — BBC One, 7:30pm — Mark Fowler tries to reach Grant as Nigel Bates’s health worsens
• Paul Merton: Driving Amazing Trains — Channel 4, 8pm — The French Riviera. Motorbike museum, a D-Day site, bulls and flamingos in the wetlands

What Comedy is on TV Tonight?

Three strong comedy options on Thursday 23 April 2026:

• Taskmaster — Channel 4, 9pm — Location task at Hampton Court Palace. Joel Dommett and the line-up rushing up the 300-year-old King’s Staircase while palace conservators watch in horror. Catch up via C4 streaming.
• Big Mood — Channel 4, 10pm and 10:30pm — Series 2 double bill. Nicola Coughlan and Lydia West; Robert Lindsay guest-stars as Maggie’s estranged father in the second half. Catch up via C4 streaming.
• The Miniature Wife — Sky Atlantic, 10:15pm — Elizabeth Banks plays Lindy, a best-selling author accidentally shrunk to six inches tall by a device her husband Les (Matthew Macfadyen) invented. Catch up via NOW.

Tonight’s Event Screening: The Wicker Man (BBC Four, 10pm)

Robin Hardy’s 1973 British folk horror gets a proper prime-time slot on BBC Four tonight. Edward Woodward plays a devout Christian policeman sent to a remote Scottish island to investigate the disappearance of a girl. Christopher Lee co-stars as Lord Summerisle — he refused his fee and championed the film for the rest of his life, and it’s now considered one of the best British horror films ever made. Rated 15. Followed at 11:30pm by a repeat of the Ex-S: The Wicker Man documentary. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

Early Evening

EastEnders – BBC One, 7:30pm

The big storyline currently pulling everything together. The return of Grant Mitchell is on the horizon after Ross Kemp’s announced comeback for a short, explosive stint, and tonight’s half-hour is where the set-up starts properly. Concerned Mark Fowler reaches out to his estranged father with devastating news: Nigel Bates’s health is declining rapidly. Fourteen months have slipped by since the hard man vowed to stand by his old school pal through the cruel grip of dementia, and his return now looks set to mark the final chapter of a friendship forged over five decades. It’s also the end of Paul Bradley’s time in Albert Square, and EastEnders is treating it with real care.

Sam resists contacting her brother, insisting they’ve drifted apart since Peggy’s death. Undeterred, Mark leaves a heartfelt plea on voicemail. Will Grant reach the Square in time? That’s the question the soap is taking its time to answer. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

Prime Time

Race Across the World ⭐ – BBC One, 8pm

Episode four of series six, and the best episode so far. As the race leaders push on out of southern Turkey bound for the next checkpoint in Tbilisi, Georgia, three other teams are snapping at their heels. The lead changes hands more than once, and we already know from previous series that it only takes one unlucky decision to fall behind, or one inadvertently clever strategy to push ahead.

Tonight’s twist comes from illness. One pair are delayed because one of them feels poorly, and several teams get stuck in towns with transport links that are doing absolutely nothing for them. Tension builds at yet another remote bus station when the routine “nothing is going anywhere until tomorrow” line lands. That’s part of the hook of Race Across the World: it builds more drama out of a closed ticket office than most thrillers manage out of a chase scene.

At this point in the competition, we hear more about the racers’ personal lives than we did at the start, because they’ve finally got comfortable enough in front of the cameras to share. It’s also interesting to see how the younger racers feel sufficiently relaxed and confident about travelling to make friends with locals and enjoy home stays, which saves money as well. The sibling pair, Katie and Harrison, remain the team to watch. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

This Farming Life – BBC Two, 8pm (not Wales)

Lucy and Adam welcome a new baby to their herd, while Callum and Zara celebrate a surprise of their own. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

Paul Merton: Driving Amazing Trains – Channel 4, 8pm

For someone so deadpan, Merton has a disarming childlike wonder whenever he boards a steam engine’s cab and gets to drive the train. Not everything on the tour gets the same reaction — struggling to control a vintage Solex in a motorbike museum, for instance, is visibly less his happy place.

This week he’s on the French Riviera, starting on the Pine Cone line that connects the mountains to the coast. The landscape has been used in more than one historic moment, and he visits the lesser-known “other” D-Day landing site on the south coast. The final stop is a wild west ranch in the wetlands, home to bulls and flamingos. It is, as the voiceover notes, not your typical view from a train. Catch up via C4 streaming.

Emmerdale – ITV1, 8pm

ITV’s soaps hour opens in the Dales. Catch up via ITVX.

Coronation Street – ITV1, 8:30pm

The cobbles work through the aftermath of Carla and Lisa’s doomed wedding eve, setting up what February’s flash-forward told us was coming: a Weatherfield villain’s murder at the reception. Catch up via ITVX.

9pm: Quarter-Finals and Comedy

MasterChef – BBC One, 9pm

Quarter-finals week begins. Only three of the six cooks can go through to knock-out week, and the quarter-finalists start their run with an invention test built around pancakes. You know the kind of pancakes most people make once a year and garnish with sugar and lemon or chocolate? This isn’t that. The six amateurs produce versions inspired by Italian, Korean, Mexican and Sri Lankan cooking, with genuinely mixed results.

After the pancake round, guest judge Jay Rayner joins Grace Dent and Anna Haugh and challenges the cooks to make a salad. “I do not want a bowl of limp lettuce,” he tells them, with the kind of pointedness that only Jay Rayner can deliver. Some of the harsher critiques from Rayner, Dent and Haugh would make even the crispiest iceberg wilt, but one dish is described as “exactly what I was hoping for” and another as “amazing”. The new-era MasterChef is quietly finding its feet. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

Taskmaster – Channel 4, 9pm

The Taskmaster house might be the centre of the show, but the location weeks are where the format breathes. Tonight’s episode sends the contestants to Hampton Court Palace — by some distance the grandest location the show has tried. Expect Joel Dommett and the rest of the line-up rushing up and down the 300-year-old King’s Staircase while palace conservators watch in terror as comics brush past ancient paintings and engravings. Once upon a time a location task just meant filming down a local park, and tonight’s set-up tells you how far the show’s ambitions have grown. Catch up via C4 streaming.

Bergerac – U&Drama, 9pm

The 2026 revival of the Jersey-set drama. Those familiar with the original will remember Barney Crozier as Jim Bergerac’s superior officer. Here, the 2026 namesake is struggling to climb the ranks, and Superintendent Richard Gibbon has questions to answer about a current case. There’s a reasonable prediction that Gibbon will be exposed as either corrupt or complicit, clearing the way for Barney to take the top job. Jim may have the sharper mind, but Barney has the stronger ambition, and it’ll be interesting to see the balance of power shift. Full series on U.

The Hotel Inspector – Channel 5, 9pm

Alex Polizzi turns up at an 18th-century coaching inn at the foot of the Malvern hills in rural Worcestershire, where 24-year-old Hendrik has taken the keys. He originally saw the place as somewhere to live that would give him a job. His parents have been helping with the kitchen (vast menu, not enough profit) and the pub (knick-knacks and plastic plants), but both are understandably ready to step back. Hendrik, terrified of running the place alone, needs someone to give him confidence and teach him how to act like a boss. Polizzi, as ever, is the one to do it. Catch up via 5 streaming.

Late Night

The Wicker Man – BBC Four, 10pm

A proper event screening on BBC Four. Robin Hardy’s 1973 British folk horror, in which Edward Woodward’s devout Christian policeman visits a remote Scottish island to investigate the disappearance of a girl. The islanders claim not to know her, and their disturbing pagan-like behaviour gives him increasing cause for concern.

Released as a B-support to Don’t Look Now (which BBC Two is showing on Friday night at 11:05pm, incidentally), The Wicker Man had a reasonable critical reception but was a commercial failure. It slipped into obscurity before being rediscovered and is now considered one of the best British horror films ever made. Christopher Lee, who plays Lord Summerisle, took no fee at all for the role and championed the film for the rest of his life. The film is followed at 11:30pm by a repeat of the Ex-S: The Wicker Man documentary, which is worth staying up for. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

Big Mood – Channel 4, 10pm and 10:30pm

Series two of Nicola Coughlan and Lydia West’s comedy drama, with a proper double bill tonight. In the first of the two, with her sidekick Whitney (Hannah Onslow) away on a “business trip”, bar owner Eddie (West) extends an olive branch to Maggie (Coughlan). In her eagerness to build bridges, however, bipolar Maggie mistakenly takes her night meds instead of her day meds. Despite fighting drowsiness, can she still support Eddie? And what’s Whitney really doing down in Devon?

The second episode guest-stars Robert Lindsay as Maggie’s estranged father, but their reunion is derailed by Whitney’s plan to rope them into a “rainstick healing ritual”. The show continues to be sharper than its title suggests. Catch up via C4 streaming.

Snatched – Channel 5, 10pm

Part three of the documentary series telling the story of Charlene Lunnon and Lisa Hoodless, the two girls kidnapped in 1999. Catch up via 5 streaming.

The Miniature Wife – Sky Atlantic, 10:15pm

Elizabeth Banks plays Lindy, a best-selling author who has been accidentally shrunk to six inches tall by a device her husband Les (Matthew Macfadyen) invented. The concept is high, the execution is surprisingly tender. Lindy is acclaimed for her writing; Les is wrestling with uncertainty over his one invention, not helped by the lack of support from his boss. As she observes, he first tampered with her height, then her autonomy, and finally her dignity. A darker comedy-drama than the premise suggests. Catch up via NOW.

My Boyfriend Made Me Do It – Channel 5, 11:05pm

A woman faces two years in a Dubai prison thanks to her nefarious partner, while two teens look at jail time in Bangkok. Not the gift you expect from a loved one. Catch up via 5 streaming.

Sport

Darts: Premier League – Sky Sports Main Event, 7pm

Premier League Darts at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool. Live on Sky Sports Main Event from 7pm. Sky Sports subscription or NOW Sports pass required.

Snooker: World Snooker Championship – BBC Two, TNT Sports

Day six at the Crucible. Second-round matches begin. Coverage runs on BBC Two from 1pm and 2:30pm, TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports 3 sharing the afternoon and evening, with BBC Four picking up from 7pm. Every frame also on BBC iPlayer.

Tennis: Madrid Open – Sky Sports Tennis, 10am

Day three of the clay-court tournament in Madrid, with Sky Sports Main Event joining from 10:30am.

Cricket: IPL – Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings – Sky Sports Cricket, 2:50pm

One of the biggest IPL rivalries, live on Sky Sports Cricket.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

BBC iPlayer: EastEnders, Race Across the World, This Farming Life, MasterChef, The Wicker Man
ITVX: Emmerdale, Coronation Street
Channel 4 streaming: Paul Merton: Driving Amazing Trains, Taskmaster, Big Mood
5 streaming: The Hotel Inspector, Snatched, My Boyfriend Made Me Do It
NOW: Bergerac (U&Drama), The Miniature Wife (Sky Atlantic)
Sky Sports / NOW Sports: Premier League Darts

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EastEnders on tonight (Thursday 23 April 2026)?

Yes, EastEnders is on BBC One at 7:30pm tonight. Mark Fowler reaches out to his estranged father Grant with news that Nigel Bates’s health is declining rapidly, as Paul Bradley’s character heads towards a storyline conclusion and Ross Kemp’s return as Grant Mitchell is being lined up. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

What time is Race Across the World on BBC One tonight?

Race Across the World is on BBC One at 8pm tonight (Thursday 23 April 2026). Series 6, episode 4. The race leaders leave southern Turkey and head for the fourth checkpoint in Tbilisi, Georgia. One pair are delayed because of illness. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

What time is MasterChef on BBC One tonight?

MasterChef is on BBC One at 9pm tonight (Thursday 23 April 2026). Quarter-finals week begins. Only three cooks go through to knock-out week. Jay Rayner is guest judge for the salad challenge. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

What time is The Wicker Man on BBC Four tonight?

The Wicker Man (1973) is on BBC Four at 10pm tonight (Thursday 23 April 2026), rated 15. Robin Hardy’s folk horror with Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee. Followed at 11:30pm by Ex-S: The Wicker Man. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

What time is Big Mood on Channel 4 tonight?

Big Mood series 2 runs as a double bill on Channel 4 tonight (Thursday 23 April 2026) at 10pm and 10:30pm. Nicola Coughlan and Lydia West star. Robert Lindsay guest-stars in the second half. Catch up via C4 streaming.

What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight (Thursday 23 April 2026)?

Race Across the World on BBC One at 8pm is the night’s pick — series six moves from Turkey into Georgia with everything still to play for. MasterChef begins quarter-finals week at 9pm on BBC One, and The Wicker Man returns to BBC Four at 10pm for anyone wanting a piece of 1973 British folk horror. Big Mood series two continues with a double bill on Channel 4 from 10pm.

What’s on Channel 5 tonight (Thursday 23 April 2026)?

Channel 5 runs a three-strong factual and documentary slate. The Hotel Inspector at 9pm sees Alex Polizzi visit an 18th-century coaching inn at the foot of the Malvern hills, where 24-year-old Hendrik has taken the keys. Snatched at 10pm brings part three of the Charlene Lunnon and Lisa Hoodless kidnap documentary. My Boyfriend Made Me Do It follows at 11:05pm. All on 5 streaming afterwards.

What time is the Premier League Darts tonight?

Premier League Darts is live on Sky Sports Main Event from 7pm tonight (Thursday 23 April 2026), direct from the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool. A Sky Sports subscription or NOW Sports pass is required.

Final Verdict

Race Across the World earns the star tonight. Series six has been the strongest run in a while, the Turkey-to-Georgia leg is where the competition starts to separate, and the sibling pair of Katie and Harrison are the team everyone will be rooting for or against by the end of the hour.

MasterChef at 9pm is where quarter-finals week begins, and the new judging dynamic is quietly getting stronger episode by episode. Jay Rayner arriving with a salad challenge is exactly the kind of test the show should be doing more of.

The Wicker Man at 10pm on BBC Four is the classic screening of the week. Christopher Lee never took a fee for it and spent the rest of his life making sure people watched it. That’s as good a recommendation as any.

And if you fancy something funnier for the late shift, Big Mood series two on Channel 4 is in proper form, with Robert Lindsay guest-starring in the second half of tonight’s double bill.

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