TV Guide UK Tonight: Tues 26 May 2026 – Who Do You Think You Are?, Falling Ep 3 & World War II with Tom Hanks

Published: 21 May 2026

Tuesday 26 May 2026. A proper mid-week night. Who Do You Think You Are? lands on BBC One at 9pm with the Zoe Ball edition — Radio Times cover, and from the sound of it, one of the series highlights in years. Falling continues on Channel 4 at 9pm, episode 3 of Jack Thorne’s drama, and World War II with Tom Hanks launches on Sky History with a triple bill. EastEnders at 7:30pm with Grant protecting his family as the pressure around him builds.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• Who Do You Think You Are? ⭐ — BBC One, 9pm — Zoe Ball. Scotland, Guernsey, Cornwall. Her late mother Julia. The one tonight
• Falling — C4, 9pm — Episode 3. David on a park bench. Tina missing. A bishop whispering. Getting darker
• World War II with Tom Hanks — Sky History, 9pm — NEW SERIES. Three episodes back-to-back. Dan Snow, Simon Sebag Montefiore
• Half Man — BBC One, 10:40pm — Penultimate. Richard Gadd delivers the line of the series
• Bake Off: the Professionals — C4, 8pm — Paris Brest and suspended chocolate. Benoit and Cherish judging

Sport

Tennis: French Open Day 3 – TNT Sports 1, 9:30am / TNT Sports 4, 10am

Day three at Roland Garros. First-round matches continue on both channels. Subscription required.

Cycling: Men’s Giro d’Italia Stage 16 – TNT Sports 3, noon

Mountainous 113km from Bellinzona to Carì. Stage 16. Subscription required.

Cricket: Men’s T20 – Hampshire Hawks v Essex – Sky Sports Main Event, 7pm

South Group action from the Utilita Bowl in Southampton. Essex finished bottom of the group in 2025 and will be looking to change that. Subscription required.

Early Evening

Garden Rescue – BBC One, 3:45pm

Flo Headlam and Joe Swift in Stockport. Muddy garden, presumably not muddy at the end. BBC iPlayer.

EastEnders – BBC One, 7:30pm

Grant steps up to protect his family tonight, as Zack deliberately makes things worse by raising suspicions around him. Separately, Eddie and Harry come to a head. The Walford pressure cooker is doing its thing. BBC iPlayer.

Emmerdale – ITV1, 7:30pm

Kammy Hadiq (Shebz Miah) remains the village’s most interesting mystery. His past is being peeled back slowly, and suspicion is growing that he might be connected to the Emmerdale Farm arson. Belle has welcomed him into the Dingle fold, brought up his family, and been met with silence. She’s been through enough with domestic abuse that she should probably be reading those silences more carefully. She’s not. ITVX.

Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr – BBC One, 8pm

Hay-on-Wye this week, which is charming enough that making it look good shouldn’t require too much effort. Four designers in pairs are transforming a guitar shop and a gift shop. The issue is that one pair apparently treated it as a functional brief — doing exactly what the client wanted rather than bringing any creative instinct to it. Michelle Ogundehin and retail expert Ross Bailey are not impressed by doing what you’re told. One design does hit Michelle’s three pillars: draw people off the street, move them through the space, keep them there. BBC iPlayer.

Bake Off: the Professionals – Channel 4, 8pm

Six pairs of elite pastry chefs. Judges Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden, presenters Liam Charles and Ellie Taylor. There’s apparently a pre-titles skit inspired by The Traitors, which is either very funny or already dated depending on your view of that kind of thing.

First challenge is the Paris Brest: choux pastry, praline cream, almonds. Classic. One father-and-son team has apparently never made one before and seems relaxed about this fact. Whether that confidence is earned or reckless will become clear. Showstopper is a suspended chocolate structure inspired by a childhood toy, which is exactly the kind of brief that results in either a remarkable piece of work or a structural disaster that no one saw coming. C4 streaming.

Prime Time

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

This is the one tonight. Zoe Ball sits down to trace her ancestry and her children Woody and Nelly had been hoping for Vikings and pirates. They don’t get Vikings or pirates. What they get is Scotland, Guernsey and Cornwall, and a family history far more complicated and human than any ancestral adventure story.

The programme takes Zoe through stories of mental illness, childhood deaths, destitution, prison sentences and the particular kind of resilience you develop when life just keeps coming. None of it is what she expected. What makes this edition land hardest is a realisation that creeps in somewhere in the latter half: Zoe’s mother Julia died in 2024, and sitting with all of this, all these stories she’d never known, she understands she’d have liked to share them with her. That moment carries real weight. BBC iPlayer.

Falling – Channel 4, 9pm

Episode 3, and David’s situation has deteriorated. He wakes up on a park bench after a row with Anna, and there’s the question — not yet answered — of whether he’s been drinking again. The bishop has started a whispering campaign: “shameful”, “weak”, the standard language of institutional guilt dispensed with strategic calm. Then Tina goes missing.

Jack Thorne is writing this like a drama about two people trying to maintain structures they’ve built their lives around, while something quietly dismantles those structures from underneath. Episode 3 is where that starts to feel less metaphorical. Full series on C4 streaming.

World War II with Tom Hanks – Sky History, 9pm, 9:55pm, 10:50pm

It’s been over fifty years since The World at War set the benchmark in 1973, and this new series takes the position that the largest conflict in human history deserves a fresh and authoritative treatment. Tom Hanks calls it exactly that — “the largest event in human history” — and brings something more than his name to the project.

Three episodes tonight. The first covers Hitler’s rise to power. The second moves into Poland and the early years of the war. The third reaches the Blitz and Operation Barbarossa. Archive footage and historians Dan Snow and Simon Sebag Montefiore. It’s a commitment, three hours back-to-back, but you can catch individual episodes via Now. Subscription.

The Unstoppable Shirley MacLaine – Sky Arts, 9pm

Shirley MacLaine is 92 and one of the few people still working in Hollywood who connects the present to the golden era. The career began with Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry in 1955. The Oscar came from Terms of Endearment in 1983, and when she accepted it she said “I deserve this”, which is either wonderfully self-aware or entirely characteristic, probably both.

The documentary doesn’t shy away from the contradictions: a long-distance marriage, reincarnation beliefs that attracted considerable ridicule over the years. Director Don Siegel once said it was difficult to feel close to her. The film asks whether what she really wanted, all along, was a life away from the spotlight she spent sixty years occupying. Via Now.

The New Statesman – Rewind TV, 9pm and 9:30pm

Rik Mayall as Alan B’Stard. The original 1987 political satire, written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, about a Conservative MP so ruthless he’d privatise his own grandmother and sell the shares to fund his career. Two episodes back-to-back. Either you know why this is worth watching or you don’t. Catch up via Freeview Play.

Soccer Aid: More Than Just a Game – ITV1, 9pm

Robbie Williams and those involved in the original charity match reflect on twenty years of Soccer Aid. ITVX.

Late Night

Reframed: Marilyn Monroe – BBC Four, from 10pm

The 2023 series, broadcast tonight to mark the centenary of Marilyn Monroe’s birth. It revisits the woman who became a global icon from nothing, and does so with rather more rigour than the usual anniversary coverage. BBC iPlayer.

Half Man – BBC One, 10:40pm

Penultimate episode. The two timelines are finally converging, and Jamie Bell’s Niall is in a strange place: either he genuinely hasn’t worked out what’s happening, or he has and is playing something else entirely. Richard Gadd’s Ruben gets the line of the series this week. “You shouldn’t have told me that, Niall. You really shouldn’t have told me that.” That’s all you need to know going in. BBC iPlayer.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

• BBC iPlayer: Who Do You Think You Are?, EastEnders, Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr, Half Man, Garden Rescue, Reframed: Marilyn Monroe
• Channel 4 streaming: Falling (full series), Bake Off: the Professionals
• ITVX: Emmerdale, Soccer Aid: More Than Just a Game
• Now: World War II with Tom Hanks, The Unstoppable Shirley MacLaine (subscriptions)
• U: The Way Out (full series)
• Freeview Play: The New Statesman

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EastEnders on tonight (Tuesday 26 May 2026)?

Yes — BBC One at 7:30pm. Grant steps up to protect his family as Zack deliberately raises suspicions and Eddie and Harry come to a head. Catch up via BBC iPlayer.

What time is Who Do You Think You Are? on BBC One tonight?

BBC One at 9pm (Tuesday 26 May 2026). Zoe Ball traces her ancestry through Scotland, Guernsey and Cornwall. Her children Woody and Nelly were hoping for pirates and Vikings. They don’t get them. What they do get is a family history of mental illness, destitution, prison sentences and resilience — and a realisation about what she’d have liked to share with her late mother Julia. BBC iPlayer.

What time is Falling on Channel 4 tonight?

Channel 4 at 9pm (Tuesday 26 May 2026). Episode 3. David wakes on a park bench after a row with Anna. A bishop begins a whispering campaign. Tina goes missing. Full series on C4 streaming.

What time is World War II with Tom Hanks on Sky History?

Three episodes tonight on Sky History: 9pm, 9:55pm and 10:50pm. The new series opens with Hitler’s rise to power, then moves through Poland, the Blitz and Operation Barbarossa. Dan Snow and Simon Sebag Montefiore contribute. Available via Now with a subscription.

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

Who Do You Think You Are? on BBC One at 9pm is the pick — the Zoe Ball edition is the Radio Times cover this week, and accounts of it suggest it’s one of the most affecting editions in years. Falling on Channel 4 at the same time is essential if you’re following the series. Half Man at 10:40pm on BBC One enters its penultimate episode. Something has to give.

Final Verdict

Who Do You Think You Are? on BBC One at 9pm. Zoe Ball, unexpected Scottish, Guernsey and Cornish connections, and a grief thread that runs through the whole thing without ever being manipulative. It earns its Radio Times cover. Before it, Bake Off: the Professionals and Interior Design Masters run comfortably back-to-back on BBC One and Channel 4 at 8pm. Late on, don’t miss the penultimate Half Man — Gadd and Bell are closing this thing out properly.

Related: What’s On TV Tonight Tuesday | What’s On TV Tonight Mon 25 May 2026 | What’s On TV Tonight Wed 27 May 2026