TV Guide UK Tonight: Wed 19 Aug 2026 – Professor T, Celebrity MasterChef & Coronation Street

Wednesday 19 August 2026. ITV1 runs Emmerdale and Coronation Street back to back before Ben Miller’s Professor T opens its fourth series at 9pm. BBC One pairs a Fake or Fortune? rerun with Celebrity MasterChef, BBC Two closes its Highland murder trial and settles into three episodes of Couples Therapy, and Channel 4 launches a new true-crime strand from 9pm. EastEnders sits this one out — more on that below.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• Professor T ITV1, 9pm. Ben Miller returns for series four, still grieving.
• Love You to Death / Outback Murder Highway Channel 4, from 9pm. New true-crime double bill begins.
• Murder Trial: Death of a Dog Walker BBC Two, 9pm. The Highland case reaches its verdict.
• Celebrity MasterChef BBC One, 9pm. Fruit-based chaos in the mystery box round.
• EastEnders isn’t on tonight. BBC One runs Fake or Fortune? and Celebrity MasterChef instead.

Early Evening

Fake or Fortune? – BBC One, 8pm

Tonight’s episode revisits a 2018 case: Philip Mould and Fiona Bruce examining sketchbooks found in a French garden shed, hoping to prove they were the work of Toulouse-Lautrec. Paris’s authentication committee couldn’t reach a verdict then, but new evidence may finally settle it.

Emmerdale – ITV1, 8pm

Billy Fletcher is secretly planning to leave the village with ex-wife Dawn before her wedding to Joe Tate, but a loose-lipped Kev Barton wrecks it at his own stag do. His drunken admission that he, not Joe, put Billy in a coma last month sends Kev scrambling to wipe the evidence from Caleb Milligan’s laptop.

Coronation Street – ITV1, 8:30pm

Olivier award nominee Frances Barber arrives on the cobbles as Celeste, a flamboyant stranger connected to Bernie and Dev Winter-Alahan. She hammers on their door, then asks undertaker Todd Grimshaw to arrange a funeral over drinks — for herself. She has six weeks left to live, she says.

Elsewhere at 8pm, Sky Arts wraps choir documentary Voices of the Valleys, Channel 4 follows a Croydon barn conversion in Extraordinary Extensions, and BBC Four hands its evening to historian Simon Sebag Montefiore revisiting his own Rome series from 8:15pm.

Prime Time

Professor T – ITV1, 9pm ⭐

Series four opens with Jasper Tempest still shaken six months after DI Lisa Donckers’ violent death. His trademark gloves no longer feel like protection, and even lecturing has lost its comfort. He’s avoided police work until a disappearance aboard a luxury yacht drags him back in — though the case matters less than watching him claw back from grief. Zoe Wanamaker and Juliet Stevenson also feature.

Celebrity MasterChef – BBC One, 9pm

Giorgio Locatelli sets a fruit-themed mystery box and insists recipe-following alone won’t cut it. Joe Pasquale reaches for pastry again with a second pie, Jason Mohammad’s pancakes go wrong early, and Jay McGuiness looks as rattled as he did at the start of Strictly Come Dancing. Guest judge Paddy McGuinness asks for yet another pie, and someone still goes home.

Murder Trial: Death of a Dog Walker – BBC Two, 9pm

The concluding episode puts former colleague David Campbell in the dock over the shooting of groundsman Brian Low on a remote Highland path. The case rests almost entirely on circumstantial evidence — no weapon was ever recovered — and the defence spends much of the hour fending off questions about a disabled CCTV camera, plus one bizarre exchange where Campbell insists a hat in a photograph isn’t a hat.

Love You to Death / Outback Murder Highway – Channel 4, from 9pm

A new true-crime strand opens with Lisa Hayden-Johnson, once branded “Britain’s Most Evil Mother” once the extent of her deception over son Matthew’s illness came to light. Before that, the story had won her sympathy, a meeting with Tony Blair and a Child of Courage award, until doctors grew suspicious. She speaks on camera for the first time since leaving prison. Two further episodes then head to Australia’s Flinders Highway to investigate a run of unsolved killings. Both strands continue tomorrow.

Late Night

Couples Therapy – BBC Two, 10pm

Three episodes run back to back as Dr Orna Guralnik works through four couples’ rows over politics, past affairs, childhood trauma and, in one case, whose turn it is with the cat litter. Her fixes sound almost too simple, but watching two people try them, tears and all, still makes for gripping television.

Monkey Man – BBC One, 11:30pm

Dev Patel called directing this bruising 2022 action film “a baptism by fire” — he broke his hand within the first couple of days and picked up more injuries before the shoot wrapped. He also stars, playing a fight club brawler avenging his mother’s murder in the fictional city of Yatana. Pitched at John Wick fans, it goes further, weaving in politics and religion, with its warmest moments coming from a group of hijras who take him in.

The Beast – Film4, 11:40pm

French director Bertrand Bonello takes Henry James’s 1903 novella about a man convinced he’s doomed and stretches it into something stranger, jumping between 1910, 2014 and 2044 across two and a half hours. Film4‘s late slot suits it. Lea Seydoux and George MacKay carry the romance through all three timelines. Arthouse cinema that refuses to explain itself.

Sport

Day one of the England v Pakistan Test gets under way at Headingley from 10am on Sky Sports, with highlights on BBC Two at 7pm. Champions League play-off first legs fill TNT Sports’ evening from 7:30pm, and the Tour of Britain’s women’s race opens with a 158.9km stage starting and finishing in Cockermouth from 10:45am.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

• BBC iPlayer: Fake or Fortune?, Celebrity MasterChef, Murder Trial: Death of a Dog Walker, Couples Therapy, Monkey Man
• ITVX: Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Professor T
• Channel 4 streaming: Extraordinary Extensions, Love You to Death / Outback Murder Highway, The Beast
• NOW: Voices of the Valleys

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EastEnders on tonight (Wednesday 19 August 2026)?

No, EastEnders isn’t among tonight’s featured highlights. BBC One’s evening runs Fake or Fortune? at 8pm and Celebrity MasterChef at 9pm instead. Check BBC One’s schedule or iPlayer if you want tonight’s usual slot.

What time is Professor T on tonight, and what’s series four about?

Professor T returns to ITV1 at 9pm for its fourth series. Jasper Tempest is still processing DI Lisa Donckers’ death six months on, and a disappearance aboard a luxury yacht pulls him back into the police work he’s been avoiding.

What’s new on Channel 4 tonight?

Channel 4 launches Love You to Death and Outback Murder Highway from 9pm, a true-crime double bill opening with Lisa Hayden-Johnson’s case before moving to a string of killings on Australia’s Flinders Highway. Both stories continue tomorrow.

What live sport is on TV tonight: Wednesday 19 August 2026?

Day one of the England v Pakistan Test from Headingley is live on Sky Sports from 10am, with highlights on BBC Two at 7pm. TNT Sports covers Champions League play-off first legs from 7:30pm and the Tour of Britain women’s race from 10:45am.

What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight (Wednesday 19 August 2026)?

Professor T on ITV1 at 9pm is the pick. Love You to Death / Outback Murder Highway on Channel 4 and Murder Trial: Death of a Dog Walker on BBC Two are close behind.

Final Verdict

Wednesday 19 August belongs to Professor T, turning Jasper Tempest’s grief into the night’s most compelling hour as series four begins. Love You to Death / Outback Murder Highway makes a strong first impression, and Murder Trial: Death of a Dog Walker wraps its Highland case with real tension. Celebrity MasterChef keeps things lighter, and Couples Therapy rewards staying up late. Sport fills the gaps. The one absentee: EastEnders.

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