TV Guide UK Tonight: Thurs 7 May 2026 – Open All Hours, Race across the World & Taskmaster

Published: 30 April 2026

Thursday 7 May 2026. The big one tonight: Open All Hours: Inside Out, a two-hour U&Gold documentary at 8pm celebrating Roy Clarke’s classic with Sir David Jason. Race across the World at 8pm BBC One reveals stage 5 and faces the road to Almaty. MasterChef quarter-finals at 9pm. How to Have Sex on Film4 at 9pm — Mia McKenna-Bruce’s BAFTA breakthrough. Taskmaster at 9pm Channel 4 with crystal balls.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• Open All Hours: Inside Out ⭐ — U&Gold, 8pm — 2hr doc, Jason on the re-created set
• Race across the World — BBC One, 8pm — Stage 5 + the Kazakhstan/Kyrgyzstan decision
• MasterChef — BBC One, 9pm — Hybrid brunch + lamb-testicles nut dish
• How to Have Sex — Film4, 9pm — McKenna-Bruce’s BAFTA-winning film
• Taskmaster — Channel 4, 9pm — Crystal balls, Kumail Nanjiani guesting
• EastEnders — BBC One, 7:30pm

Early Evening

EastEnders – BBC One, 7:30pm

EastEnders holds its Thursday slot in the regular Mon-Thu schedule. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

Cashing In on the Elderly – Who to Trust?: Tonight – ITV1, 7:30pm

Ruth Dodsworth investigates the financial exploitation of vulnerable older people, and what realistic steps can be taken to protect against it. (10:45pm STV.) ITVX.

Prime Time

Open All Hours: Inside Out ⭐ – U&Gold, 8pm

The one to watch tonight. A two-hour celebration of Roy Clarke’s corner-shop classic. Sir David Jason walks onto a re-created shop set and recalls his 1973 debut as Granville opposite Ronnie Barker’s magnificently tight-fisted Arkwright. Clarke’s observation — “we all worked together for the joke” — sounds modest but lands as a precise description of what made the show work. Proper attention is also given to Still Open All Hours, which Covid ended prematurely. A fond, overdue send-off. Catch up via U.

Race across the World – BBC One, 8pm

Stage 5’s checkpoint, the remote Zaamin National Park in Uzbekistan, has been claimed — tonight we find out by whom. The leaderboard has shifted on almost every leg this series. From Uzbekistan, teams face a 1,500km haul to Almaty in Kazakhstan, with two routes available: Kazakhstan’s main cities, or the remote mountain valleys of Kyrgyzstan. Only Molly and her father pick Kyrgyzstan. Kush, meanwhile, leans on best friend Jo as the pressure tells. BBC iPlayer.

Emmerdale – ITV1, 8pm

Jacob Sugden (Joe-Warren Plant) filed an HR complaint against the fearsome Dr Todd (Caroline Harker) this week. Tonight it comes back empty-handed, and Todd’s counter-move is clinical: a dossier framing Jacob as obsessive and professionally unfit. With Sarah’s support, Jacob heads to Todd’s cottage to confront her. Brave, or catastrophic? Deliberately open. ITVX.

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

North Wales tonight. Merton drives the Talyllyn Railway — the world’s first preserved heritage line, saved from 1950s closure by volunteers. Rev Wilbert Awdry worked there and the experience fed directly into the Thomas the Tank Engine books. Also: the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway, ending at Portmeirion (the Italianate village famous from The Prisoner). Watch for the white balloons. C4 streaming.

9pm: Four Ways to Spend the Hour

MasterChef – BBC One, 9pm

Quarter-finals invention test asks for “a new type of brunch” — a hybrid meal — and Grace Dent + Anna Haugh take the bench. Critic Jimi Famurewa challenges one cook to create a dish celebrating nuts; the response is lamb testicles. Dent: “I didn’t have that on my bingo card today.” Knock-out week qualifying on the line. BBC iPlayer.

Taskmaster – Channel 4, 9pm

Alex Horne came up with the format at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe and has now watched it run 21 series, spin off internationally, and persuade Hollywood actors to submit to extended humiliation. Tonight: contestants gaze into a crystal ball, predict something unlikely, then make it happen. Strange animal behaviour, rewriting physical laws, the lot. Kumail Nanjiani features. C4 streaming.

Bergerac – U&Drama, 9pm

Jim apologising all over the island after last week’s public meltdown — Kim, Charlie, Nigel all on the list. More pressing: the explanation he owes work re Nicola. Their official story was two minutes of conversation on the night of the murder. CCTV puts it at forty-five. Full series on U.

Prisoner – Sky Atlantic, 9pm

Episode 2 of Matt Charman’s thriller picks up after the capture that closed episode 1 and earns genuine credit by writing the obvious “why don’t they just kill them?” question directly into the script and answering it. The escape is spectacular and absurd. Amber and Tibor’s dynamic has shifted in ways that make episode 3 essential. Full series on NOW.

Late Night

How to Have Sex – Film4, 9pm

The Mia McKenna-Bruce film that earned her 2023’s BAFTA Rising Star. She plays Tee, a teenage girl on holiday in Crete navigating a situation the film handles with unflinching honesty. She’d been playing Tracy Beaker’s foster child on CBBC since age 10; this is something else entirely. Next up: Maureen Starkey in Sam Mendes’s Beatles quartet. Rated 15. C4 streaming.

The Miniature Wife – Sky Atlantic, 10pm

Lindy (Elizabeth Banks) needs her charger, which means scaling the furniture again. Once powered up, she tries to leverage a short story onto The Today Show without revealing that she is six inches tall. The publishing-plagiarism subplot rumbles. Les (Matthew Macfadyen) and Lindy’s marriage of petty one-upmanship hums along. NOW.

Also On Tonight

Bangers and Cash: Restoring Classics – U&Yesterday, 8pm

NEW SERIES. Derek Mathewson and the team open the new run with a 1996 Fiat 126 restoration and a consumer test on a 2004 Bentley. Catch up via U.

Classic Movies: the Story of Great Expectations – Sky Arts, 8pm

Film writer Ian Nathan examines David Lean’s 1946 Dickens adaptation, with John Mills and a young Alec Guinness in the cast.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

BBC iPlayer: EastEnders, Race across the World, MasterChef
U: Open All Hours: Inside Out (U&Gold), Bergerac (U&Drama), Bangers and Cash: Restoring Classics (U&Yesterday)
Channel 4 streaming: Paul Merton: Driving Amazing Trains, Taskmaster, How to Have Sex (Film4)
NOW: Prisoner (full series), The Miniature Wife (Sky Atlantic)
ITVX: Emmerdale, Cashing In on the Elderly – Who to Trust?: Tonight

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EastEnders on tonight (Thursday 7 May 2026)?

Yes, BBC One at 7:30pm. Standard Mon-Thu weeknight slot. BBC iPlayer.

What time is Open All Hours Inside Out on U&Gold tonight?

U&Gold at 8pm, runs two hours. Sir David Jason on a re-created corner shop set; Roy Clarke and contributors on the original and Still Open All Hours. Catch up via U.

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

BBC One at 8pm. Stage 5 checkpoint result from Uzbekistan’s Zaamin National Park, then a 1,500km haul to Almaty. Molly and her father take the Kyrgyzstan mountain route. BBC iPlayer.

What time is MasterChef on BBC One tonight?

BBC One at 9pm. Quarter-finalists tackle a hybrid brunch invention test, and Jimi Famurewa’s nuts challenge produces lamb testicles. BBC iPlayer.

What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight (Thursday 7 May 2026)?

Open All Hours: Inside Out at 8pm on U&Gold — two-hour event doc with David Jason. Race across the World at 8pm BBC One. How to Have Sex on Film4 at 9pm.

Final Verdict

Open All Hours: Inside Out earns the star: David Jason back on the set, Roy Clarke on the writing, Covid finally acknowledged. U&Gold, 8pm. Race across the World at 8pm BBC One has its strongest decision point yet — only one team takes the Kyrgyzstan mountain road. How to Have Sex at 9pm Film4 is the film of the night.

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