TV Guide UK Tonight: Tues 13 Oct 2026 – Blue Lights, England v Greece & Bake Off

Updated: 13 October 2026

Tuesday 13 October 2026. The big free-to-air game is the Lionesses: England’s women play Greece in the second leg of their Women’s World Cup play-off live on ITV4, with coverage from 6.45pm and kick-off at 7.30pm. Elsewhere, BBC One has EastEnders at 7.30pm and Blue Lights at 9pm, Channel 4 is on Bread Week for Bake Off, and ITV1 keeps both soaps and adds The Party.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• Blue Lights BBC One, 9pm. Series four, episode three.
• England v Greece ITV4, 6.45pm. Women’s World Cup play-off, free to air, kick-off 7.30pm.
• The Great British Bake Off Channel 4, 8pm. Bread Week.
• John Simpson: 60 Years at the BBC BBC Two, 9pm. A career in front-line reporting.
• EastEnders is on tonight BBC One, 7.30pm.

Watch: What’s On TV Tonight

Early Evening

Women’s World Cup Play-Off: England v Greece – ITV4, 6.45pm

This one is free to air, which matters. England’s women take a 3-1 lead into this second leg, after goals from Georgia Stanway, Maya Le Tissier and Alessia Russo in Crete on Friday, so a draw at the King Power Stadium in Leicester is enough. Win the tie and they face Ukraine or Slovakia over two legs in late November and early December, with a place at the 2027 World Cup in Brazil on the line. Coverage begins at 6.45pm, kick-off is 7.30pm, and ITVX streams it as well as ITV4. Coverage runs to 9.50pm, when AEW: Collision takes over. For the wider picture see women’s football on TV and England on TV.

House of Games – BBC Two, 6pm

Chizzy Akudolu, Stephen Bailey, Banjo Beale and Philippa Dunne are the four players in this week’s run of the teatime quiz. The format rewards quick nerves over deep knowledge. BBC Two follows it with Strictly: It Takes Two at 6.30pm, where Ellie Taylor has Anton Du Beke dropping in, then The Hairy Bikers Go West at 7pm.

Last of the Summer Wine – Drama, 6pm

Three episodes in a row on Drama, at 6pm, 6.40pm and 7.20pm, all from series 20. Roy Clarke’s sitcom has Barry trying to be more assertive, a salesman’s first day going badly and a spot of earthquake-testing in the hills. Nothing here is a plot, exactly. It is just very comfortable viewing that fills the gap until Anna Pigeon Mysteries at 8pm.

A New Life in the Sun: Where Are They Now? – Channel 4, 6pm

Another check-in with Brits who moved abroad on a dream and a business plan. Tonight, Ellie in Almería has big plans to expand her boutique hotel, and in France a couple running a wedding venue face their biggest season yet. The show works best as a reality check. Everyone looks happy in the sunshine until the accounts come up.

The Hairy Bikers Go West – BBC Two, 7pm

The first episode of the west-coast road trip Si King and Dave Myers made in 2024. It starts on the Isle of Bute, a place with personal meaning for the pair, and looks at how locals are embracing change while keeping hold of their traditions. The food is incidental to the company.

Secrets of Bones – BBC Four, 7pm

Episode three of six, and Ben Garrod turns to flight: how a skeleton lets vertebrates take to the air, why a humble pigeon is so good at it, and how the albatross manages vast migrations. BBC Four then goes to a sitcom run, with To the Manor Born at 7.30pm, in which Audrey leads a campaign against DeVere’s plans, and Keeping Up Appearances at 8pm.

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing – Dave, 7pm

The River Ure, and an emotional detour: Bob and Paul catch up with the surgeon behind Bob’s heart bypass, and the pair act out the operation. It is funny and moving in equal parts, and the fishing is almost beside the point. Dave follows with two helpings of Would I Lie to You? at 7.40pm and 8.20pm, and QI XL at 9pm.

Hollyoaks – E4, 7pm

A new episode, and the Hutchinson household blows up in a row. Gemma asks her father Donny to back her up, and Leah walks out of hospital hunting for answers. E4 has First Dates at 8pm and a double Gogglebox from 9pm if you want a gentler hour.

Prime Time

EastEnders – BBC One, 7.30pm

Yes, EastEnders is on tonight. Monday’s episode left Mark and Lauren’s secret close to coming out, and tonight Mark is forced into a choice with no good option. Amy, who has been spending more and more time with Craig, keeps pulling away from her friends, and they notice. Over at the Slaters’, the family close ranks around Kat, whose grief is getting worse rather than easing. The One Show is on before it at 7pm.

Emmerdale – ITV1, 8pm

Joe Tate set a new scheme going on Monday, and tonight Sadie finds out what part he wants her to play in it. Matty is struggling with life at the farm, while Robert, who was close to confessing last week, has turned his attention to his new business venture. Our Emmerdale page keeps track of the bigger storylines. ITV1 has The Martin Lewis Money Show Live at 7.15pm before it, a useful watch given everyone’s energy bills.

Coronation Street – ITV1, 8.30pm

Straight after Emmerdale, Coronation Street is on at 8.30pm. Kit told Lisa about his cancer diagnosis last week and started treatment on Monday, and tonight Todd passes on what Kit told him in confidence to Sarah, who is horrified. Debbie, already feeling watched by Ronnie, comes across a leaflet for a care home. Gary pleads with Jake to come home after their row, and Nick’s business starts to struggle. The Coronation Street page has the long-running storylines. If you like both soaps, tonight is an easy night: no football to push them off.

DIY SOS – BBC One, 8pm

Preston, and the team’s job is a hard one. Dan is 16, and after brain tumour surgery he has complex disabilities, so his family’s home needs a thorough rebuild before he can leave hospital. Nick Knowles and the volunteers do what the series does best. Keep tissues handy.

The Great British Bake Off – Channel 4, 8pm

Bread Week, episode four of series 17. The signature involves garlic and the technical is a rough one. Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond host, with Paul Hollywood and Nigella Lawson judging. Ten bakers are left after Shannon went out in last week’s Audience Choice Week. Bread is the week that exposes bakers most, because proving times cannot be rushed. Tempting Fortune follows at 9.15pm and Second Helpings at 10.15pm.

Anna Pigeon Mysteries – Drama, 8pm

Episode two of the new series, called Hide + Seek. Anna’s private life is getting messier just as a game of hide and seek goes dangerously wrong. Tracy Spiridakos plays the ranger, with Ronnie Rowe Jr as FBI agent Frederick Stanton and Paulina Alexis as young ranger Zoey Bear Child. Father Brown is on Drama at 9pm, and New Tricks at 10pm.

Saving Lives at Sea – BBC Two, 8pm

Episode nine of ten. A training evening for the Porthcawl crew is interrupted when a dog walker raises the alarm about a surfer in difficulty at the foot of the Rest Bay cliffs. This is the show doing its usual thing: ordinary volunteers, real emergencies, and no commentary beyond what is needed. Not shown in Wales.

Blue Lights – BBC One, 9pm ⭐

This is the one to watch. Series four, episode three of six, and Gerry Cliff’s murder trial gets under way. Mo McIntyre’s fragile mental state threatens to derail it. Expect strong language and some violent scenes.

Blue Lights never treats Belfast policing as scenery. The officers are tired, funny and frightened in equal parts, and a bad shift follows them home. Siân Brooke gives Grace a stubbornness that is both her best quality and her biggest risk. Few dramas are this tense without sneering at anyone. Put the phone in another room. It is on BBC Two in Wales.

The Party – ITV1, 9pm

Episode three of five, so it is not the finale. Adapted from Elizabeth Day’s novel, with Luke Evans as Martin. A frantic Ben leans on him, and Martin has to decide how far he will go to keep an old secret buried and protect his best friend. ITV1 then goes to ITV News at Ten at 10pm.

John Simpson: 60 Years at the BBC – BBC Two, 9pm

The BBC’s world affairs editor is 82 now, and this looks back over his 60 years with the corporation. His career has taken in Tiananmen Square and the fall of Kabul, and he has interviewed Nelson Mandela. BBC Two Wales shows it at 11pm.

Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild – Channel 5, 9pm

Episode seven of the new run, and Ben goes to Ahe, a remote atoll in French Polynesia, to stay with a family who run an off-grid pearl farm. The series tends to open with an awkward arrival and end with Ben having learned what self-reliance costs. Channel 5 opens at 8pm with a new Motorway Cops and closes with Surgeons: A Matter of Life or Death at 10pm.

Matt Baker: Our Barn in the Dales – More4, 9pm

A brand-new series, following on from Our Farm in the Dales. Matt returns to the family farm in the Durham Dales to convert the old barn next to his parents’ farmhouse into somewhere to live. It is a build story with a family at the centre, and Matt is a likeable guide. More4 has The Dog House at 6.50pm and 7.55pm, and 24 Hours in A&E at 10pm.

Sky Arts Awards 2026 – Sky Arts, 9pm

Grayson Perry hosts from the Roundhouse alongside Rebecca Lucy Taylor, better known as Self Esteem. It is the third Sky Arts Awards, and the comedy nominees are Nick Mohammed, Sam Nicoresti and Susie McCabe. Sky Arts is on Freeview as well as Sky, and NOW streams it. The channel also screens The Alfred Hitchcock Hour at 7pm.

The Green Mile – Film4, 9pm

Frank Darabont’s 1999 death-row drama, with Tom Hanks as the guard and Michael Clarke Duncan as the gentle giant who arrives on the block. It is three hours and nine minutes, so clear the evening. Film4 opens earlier with the 1956 wartime romance D-Day the Sixth of June at 6.50pm, with Robert Taylor and Dana Wynter.

Elsewhere, ITV3 has Heartbeat at 6.55pm, Vera at 8pm and Downton Abbey at 10pm. ITV2 has Big Brother eviction night at 9pm. Legend shows the 1969 western Mackenna’s Gold at 9pm, and GREAT! Action has Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines at 9pm. Quest has Vinnie Jones in the Country, Really has Who Do You Think You Are?, 5USA has NCIS all evening and a new Law & Order: SVU at 9pm, and Yesterday has Simon Reeve’s Return to Cornwall at 7pm.

Late Night

Ask E. Jean – BBC Four, 10pm

A Storyville documentary on E. Jean Carroll, the advice columnist, Her career and her court fights with Donald Trump are both covered. Worth catching on iPlayer if you cannot stay up. A 999 Special on the Great Storm of 1987 follows at 11.25pm.

Stacey Dooley: Fallen Women – BBC One, 10.40pm

Stacey Dooley looks at cases of women who died after falls from height, how those deaths were investigated and whether domestic abuse played a part. It is on BBC One at 10.40pm, and on BBC Three at 9pm if you want it earlier.

QI on BBC Two at 10pm is Sandi Toksvig with tubes and tubas, plus Bridget Christie, Sara Pascoe, Deborah Frances White and Alan Davies, and Have I Got a Bit More News for You is on Dave at 10pm.

Sport

England v Greece in the Women’s World Cup play-off is the free-to-air headline: ITV4 from 6.45pm, kick-off 7.30pm in Leicester. On subscription, Arsenal v Lille in the Champions League is on TNT Sports 1 from 7pm with kick-off at 8pm (see Arsenal on TV), and Stoke v Middlesbrough in the Championship is on Sky Sports Main Event from 7.30pm, also kicking off at 8pm. For the full list of today’s matches see football on TV today.

What’s On Streaming

BBC iPlayer — Blue Lights, EastEnders, DIY SOS, John Simpson: 60 Years at the BBC, Ask E. Jean, Stacey Dooley: Fallen Women.

ITVX — England v Greece, The Party, Emmerdale, Coronation Street.

Channel 4 streaming — The Great British Bake Off, Tempting Fortune.

U — Anna Pigeon Mysteries, Father Brown.

Tonight by Channel

A channel-by-channel breakdown of Tuesday 13 October 2026, so you can jump straight to the one you actually watch.

BBC One

• 7pm — The One Show
• 7.30pm — EastEnders
• 8pm — DIY SOS
• 9pm — Blue Lights
• 10.40pm — Stacey Dooley: Fallen Women

BBC Two

• 6pm — House of Games
• 6.30pm — Strictly: It Takes Two
• 7pm — The Hairy Bikers Go West
• 8pm — Saving Lives at Sea
• 9pm — John Simpson: 60 Years at the BBC
• 10pm — QI

ITV1

• 7.15pm — The Martin Lewis Money Show Live
• 8pm — Emmerdale
• 8.30pm — Coronation Street
• 9pm — The Party

Channel 4

• 6pm — A New Life in the Sun: Where Are They Now?
• 8pm — The Great British Bake Off

Channel 5

• 8pm — Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders
• 9pm — Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild

BBC Four

• 7pm — Secrets of Bones
• 7.30pm — To the Manor Born
• 10pm — Ask E. Jean

ITV3

• 6.55pm — Heartbeat
• 8pm — Vera
• 10pm — Downton Abbey

Drama

• 6pm — Last of the Summer Wine
• 8pm — Anna Pigeon Mysteries

Film4

• 6.50pm — D-Day the Sixth of June
• 9pm — The Green Mile

The Viewing Schedule

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EastEnders on tonight (Tuesday 13 October 2026)?

Yes. EastEnders is on BBC One at 7.30pm tonight. Mark has a difficult decision to make, Amy is drifting from her friends and the Slaters close ranks around Kat.

What time is England v Greece on TV tonight?

England v Greece, the second leg of the Women’s World Cup play-off, is live and free on ITV4. Coverage starts at 6.45pm and kick-off is 7.30pm at Leicester. England lead 3-1 from the first leg.

What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight (Tuesday 13 October 2026)?

Blue Lights on BBC One at 9pm, episode three of series four. For football, England v Greece is on ITV4 from 6.45pm, and for something lighter, Bake Off does Bread Week on Channel 4 at 8pm.

What time is Blue Lights on tonight?

Blue Lights is on BBC One at 9pm tonight (BBC Two in Wales). It is episode three of six in series four.

What time is Emmerdale on tonight?

Emmerdale is on ITV1 at 8pm tonight, followed by Coronation Street at 8.30pm.

Is Coronation Street on tonight?

Yes. Coronation Street is on ITV1 at 8.30pm tonight, straight after Emmerdale at 8pm. The Party follows at 9pm.

What’s on ITV1 tonight?

ITV1 has The Martin Lewis Money Show Live at 7.15pm, Emmerdale at 8pm, Coronation Street at 8.30pm, drama The Party at 9pm and ITV News at Ten at 10pm.

Is The Party on tonight, and is it the finale?

The Party is on ITV1 at 9pm tonight. It is episode three of a five-part series, so it is not the finale.

What’s on Film4 tonight?

Film4 has the 1956 wartime romance D-Day the Sixth of June at 6.50pm and Frank Darabont’s death-row drama The Green Mile, starring Tom Hanks, at 9pm.

What live sport is on TV tonight: Tuesday 13 October 2026?

England v Greece in the Women’s World Cup play-off is free on ITV4, with kick-off at 7.30pm. Arsenal v Lille in the Champions League is on TNT Sports 1 (kick-off 8pm) and Stoke v Middlesbrough in the Championship is on Sky Sports (kick-off 8pm).

Final Verdict

Blue Lights at 9pm is the pick, and a strong one. If you would rather have the football, England v Greece is free on ITV4 from 6.45pm, and nothing else tonight has a clock on it quite like a play-off second leg.

For something warmer, Bake Off does Bread Week and Matt Baker starts a new series on More4. Both soaps are on ITV1, so see when the soaps and big shows are on for the week ahead.

Related: What’s On TV Tonight | Films on TV Tonight | Freeview Channel Guide