Tuesday nights have settled into a decent rhythm this January, and tonight delivers a particularly strong lineup. Channel 4 brings a cracking instalment of 24 Hours in Police Custody about the EncroChat hack that blew open organised crime networks across Europe. There’s also Paddy McGuinness getting his hands dirty in a chip factory, a Waterloo Road double bill, and QI with one of the most entertaining panel lineups you’ll see this series. Plus the small matter of Newcastle hosting Manchester City in the League Cup semi-final.
Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best
- 24 Hours in Police Custody – Channel 4, 9pm – How police cracked EncroChat’s criminal network
- QI XL – BBC Two, 9pm – Chris McCausland, Zoe Lyons and Ed Byrne with Sandi Toksvig
- Waterloo Road – BBC One, 9pm – Double bill of the revived school drama
- Newcastle v Manchester City – ITV1, 7:30pm – League Cup semi-final first leg
Early Evening (6pm – 8pm)
Rick Stein in Australia – BBC Two, 7pm
Rick’s Australian adventure continues as he makes his way up the coast from Sydney, exploring the Central Coast region. It’s the usual Rick Stein formula – a bit of cooking, plenty of chatting to locals, and scenery that makes you immediately want to book flights. There’s something reassuringly consistent about his travel shows; they never pretend to be anything other than a pleasant escape.
EastEnders – BBC One, 7:30pm
Yes, EastEnders is on tonight. The Albert Square drama continues with police still piecing together the investigation into that attack – they’re not giving much away about who’s responsible, so expect this storyline to rumble on. Elsewhere, Oscar and Lauren are planning a memorial for Abi, which promises to be emotional, and Penny’s worried about a friend. The usual mix of grief, secrets and simmering tension that keeps Walford ticking over. As always, it drops on iPlayer at 6am if you can’t wait.
Newcastle v Manchester City – ITV1, 7:30pm (kick-off 8pm)
The big sporting event of the evening. Newcastle welcome the holders to St James’ Park for the first leg of the League Cup semi-final. Eddie Howe’s side have been solid this season, but City remain City – even without their usual invincibility, they’re never easy to beat in knockout football. Coverage starts at 7:30pm on ITV1, or from 7pm on Sky Sports if you prefer their presentation.
Prime Time (8pm onwards)
Inside the Factory – BBC One, 8pm
Paddy McGuinness visits a Scarborough facility that churns out 80 million frozen chips every single day. That number’s worth sitting with for a moment – 80 million. The British love affair with the chip shows no sign of cooling.
Paddy follows the entire production line, from the arrival of the raw potatoes through various checks for colour and sugar content, then washing, sorting, peeling (done with steam, apparently), cutting, removing any blemishes, coating and finally freezing. The technology involved is genuinely impressive – they use a pulsed electric field to soften the potatoes rather than par-boiling, which sounds almost science fiction.
Cherry Healey’s there too, exploring malt vinegar production, while Ruth Goodman traces the history of fish and chips back to its origins in immigrant Jewish communities in Victorian London. It’s proper comfort viewing for a Tuesday night.
What Not to Eat – Channel 4, 8pm
Professor Tim Spector and GP Kandi Ejiofor tackle one of modern eating’s biggest headaches: food that pretends to be healthy when it absolutely isn’t. We’ve all grabbed something off a supermarket shelf because it had “protein” or “natural” plastered across the packaging, only to discover later it’s stuffed with ultra-processed ingredients and more sugar than a chocolate bar.
Tonight they decode those confusing product labels and suggest actually nutritious alternatives. There’s also a segment on why biscuits are so difficult to eat in moderation (spoiler: it’s the fat and sugar combination), plus some genuinely unpleasant revelations about what goes into processed ham. One couple from Cambridgeshire gets a gentle nudge away from their regular consumption of sausage rolls and boxed wine.
Harry Wild – U&Drama, 8pm
Jane Seymour returns as the retired English professor who’s developed an unfortunate habit of stumbling across dead bodies. This opening episode of series three (first shown on Acorn in 2024) features a boy band whose lead singer has died in suspicious circumstances. What initially looks like suicide becomes something more sinister when Harry notices the deceased left behind a quotation from WB Yeats – the sort of literary clue she finds irresistible.
The victim’s group, Hot Boy 4, are entirely fictional and not connected to any real band, past or present. Harry’s peculiar combination of academic curiosity and amateur sleuthing continues to be surprisingly watchable.
24 Hours in Police Custody – Channel 4, 9pm ⭐
Tonight’s pick. If you’ve not heard of EncroChat, here’s the short version: it was an encrypted phone network used almost exclusively by organised criminals. In 2020, law enforcement agencies across Europe managed to infiltrate it, essentially giving them access to a messaging platform where crime bosses discussed everything from drug deals to contract killings.
This episode follows Bedfordshire Police as they scrambled to identify and arrest suspects from the hacked messages without revealing how they’d obtained the information. The investigation, codenamed Operation Costello, begins when someone fires a gun through the door of a house in Luton. The trail leads detectives to a major figure in organised crime – identified on EncroChat only by the username “Uncle.”
It’s genuinely gripping stuff. The logistical challenge alone is remarkable: police had access to mountains of incriminating evidence but had to build cases that would stand up in court without compromising the hack.
Waterloo Road – BBC One, 9pm
A double bill tonight for the revived school drama, which has genuinely found its feet again. Kym Marsh continues to impress as Nicky, a teaching assistant trying to implement what she’s learned about behavioural management while certain colleagues undermine her at every turn. It’s frustrating to watch – which means the writing’s working.
The other developing storyline to keep an eye on involves student Portia (Maisey Robinson) and her increasingly intense focus on football coach Tony (Karl Davies). That’s heading somewhere uncomfortable, you can feel it.
QI XL – BBC Two, 9pm
Sandi Toksvig hosts what might be the most entertaining panel of the series so far: Chris McCausland, Zoe Lyons and Ed Byrne. McCausland’s been on exceptional form across various panel shows recently, and paired with the quick wit of Byrne and Lyons, this should spark nicely.
The theme is “Wet and Windy,” which gives plenty of scope for tangents. Sandi remains one of television’s best hosts – she keeps conversations moving without ever making it feel forced, and knows when to let the comedians run with something.
Saving Country Houses with Penelope Keith – More4, 9pm
New series exploring the less glamorous side of stately home ownership – namely, how to stop your historic property from bankrupting you entirely. Penelope Keith visits various owners fighting to keep their ancestral homes afloat through yoga retreats, sauna pods and whatever else might bring in paying guests.
The first episode features an Elizabethan house in Gloucestershire whose owner cheerfully admits these estates “aren’t designed to make money – they’re designed to eat money.” He drives a battered Skoda, because apparently no estate owner ever has a decent car. There’s also a castle near Durham and a manor house with connections to the Gunpowder Plot. Gentle, escapist viewing with genuine charm.
Dark Winds – U&Alibi, 9pm
Navajo detective Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) faces a crisis of conscience this week. After taking a poisoned arrow during a desert pursuit, he enters a hallucinatory state where his anxieties and regrets manifest as strange, dreamlike encounters. It’s deliberately surreal – dancing in empty halls, fighting mysterious figures – while in reality he’s lying in the dust fighting for survival.
Live at the Apollo – BBC Two, 9:45pm
Desiree Burch introduces Suzi Ruffell and Finlay Christie to the Hammersmith Apollo stage. Worth staying up for if QI’s put you in the mood for more comedy.
Sport
Football: League Cup – Newcastle v Manchester City, ITV1 from 7:30pm (kick-off 8pm), also on Sky Sports Main Event/Football from 7pm. Semi-final first leg.
Snooker: The Masters continues at Alexandra Palace. TNT Sports 1 & 2 from 12:45pm, BBC Two from 1pm, evening session TNT Sports 2 from 6:45pm.
Tennis: ATP and WTA tournaments in Auckland, Adelaide and Hobart. Sky Sports Tennis from 6am, late coverage from 10:30pm.
The Viewing Schedule
| Time | Channel | Programme |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00pm | TLC | Young Sheldon |
| 1:00pm | BBC Two | Snooker: The Masters |
| 7:00pm | BBC Two | Rick Stein in Australia |
| 7:30pm | BBC One | EastEnders |
| 7:30pm | ITV1 | Newcastle v Manchester City |
| 8:00pm | BBC One | Inside the Factory |
| 8:00pm | Channel 4 | What Not to Eat |
| 8:00pm | U&Drama | Harry Wild |
| 9:00pm | Channel 4 | 24 Hours in Police Custody |
| 9:00pm | BBC One | Waterloo Road |
| 9:00pm | BBC Two | QI XL |
| 9:00pm | Channel 5 | The Good Ship Murder |
| 9:00pm | More4 | Saving Country Houses with Penelope Keith |
| 9:00pm | U&Alibi | Dark Winds |
| 9:45pm | BBC Two | Live at the Apollo |
| 10:05pm | ITV2 | Grosse Pointe Garden Society |
What’s On Streaming
BBC iPlayer: EastEnders (from 6am), Inside the Factory, Waterloo Road, QI XL, Rick Stein in Australia, Live at the Apollo
Channel 4 streaming: 24 Hours in Police Custody, What Not to Eat
ITVX: Newcastle v Manchester City
My5: The Good Ship Murder
Frequently Asked Questions
What time is 24 Hours in Police Custody on tonight?
24 Hours in Police Custody is on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight (Tuesday 13th January 2026). This special episode reveals how police exploited the EncroChat hack to arrest organised criminals.
What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight?
Our top pick is 24 Hours in Police Custody on Channel 4 at 9pm – a genuinely fascinating look at how British police capitalised on the EncroChat infiltration to catch crime bosses, all while keeping the hack secret.
What time is EastEnders on tonight?
EastEnders is on BBC One at 7:30pm tonight (Tuesday 13th January 2026). Police continue investigating an attack in Walford, Oscar and Lauren plan a memorial for Abi, and Penny is worried about a friend. You can watch early on iPlayer from 6am.
What time is the League Cup on TV tonight?
Newcastle v Manchester City kicks off at 8pm on ITV1 tonight (Tuesday 13th January 2026), with coverage starting from 7:30pm. It’s also on Sky Sports Main Event from 7pm.
What’s on BBC Two tonight?
BBC Two’s highlights include Rick Stein in Australia at 7pm, The Masters snooker from 1pm, QI XL at 9pm featuring Chris McCausland, Zoe Lyons and Ed Byrne, and Live at the Apollo at 9:45pm.
Final Verdict
24 Hours in Police Custody is unmissable tonight – the EncroChat story is one of those truth-stranger-than-fiction tales that makes for compelling television. If you’re after lighter entertainment, QI XL has an excellent panel lineup that should deliver plenty of laughs. Football fans have a tasty League Cup semi-final between Newcastle and City, while Inside the Factory offers typically satisfying behind-the-scenes viewing. And for those wondering: yes, EastEnders is on at 7:30pm, with plenty of Walford drama to keep the storylines rolling.
