TV Guide UK Tonight: Wed 26 Aug 2026 – The Murder Detective, Professor T & Bookish

Wednesday 26 August 2026. Channel 4 opens a three-part documentary filmed inside a live murder investigation in Northern Ireland, ITV1 moves Professor T on to its second episode, and Mark Gatiss returns in a Bookish double bill. BBC One says goodbye to Fake or Fortune for the series and keeps Celebrity MasterChef going. EastEnders is on at 7.30pm.

Quick Picks: Tonight’s Best

• The Murder Detective Channel 4, 9pm. Seven years of filming, and unprecedented access.
• Professor T ITV1, 9pm. Aunt Zelda takes charge, and someone dies.
• Bookish U&Alibi, 8pm. Two episodes, one impossible murder.
• Fake or Fortune: What Happened Next? BBC One, 8pm. Last of the series.
• EastEnders is on tonight — BBC One, 7.30pm.

Early Evening

Celebrity Antiques Road Trip – BBC Two, 7pm

Two famous names, two dealers, a fixed budget each and a car. The pleasure is entirely in watching someone confidently overpay.

EastEnders – BBC One, 7.30pm

The midweek half-hour in Albert Square, in its usual slot before BBC One’s factual block.

Fake or Fortune: What Happened Next? – BBC One, 8pm

The last of the run, and one of the harder cases the programme has taken on. Proving a piano once belonged to John Lennon, or a steel guitar to Ronnie Wood, is close to impossible when the man himself isn’t around to ask and everybody else’s memories of the era are, to put it charitably, hazy. Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould pick up where their 2022 investigation left off, and even Julian Lennon couldn’t help. Then a viewer’s tip sends the pair off down a series of unlikely side roads, one of which turns up something.

Emmerdale – ITV1, 8pm

Wedding week continues, with Dawn Fletcher and Joe Tate’s day now within touching distance and DS Ramsden still keeping an eye on the village. Coronation Street follows at 8.30pm.

Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It: Brilliant Builds – Channel 4, 8pm

Space, or the lack of it, is what starts most of the arguments on this series, and tonight it’s two households running out of it. Gordon and Suky’s Wolverhampton house has a layout that wastes most of what it has, while Joanne and Nick’s Lancashire bungalow has simply filled up over the years. Neither problem is really about walls.

Inside the Factory – BBC Two, 8pm

Paddy McGuinness goes back to the Warburtons bakery where he worked three decades ago, which gives this repeat more warmth than the format usually manages.

Rome Season – BBC Four, from 8pm

BBC Four hands the night to Rome. Part two of Rome: a History of the Eternal City at 8pm, the last of Mary Beard’s Ultimate Rome: Empire without Limit at 9pm, then two episodes of I, Claudius from 10pm. The 1976 series is fifty years old and still makes most prestige drama look overproduced.

The Chelsea Detective – Drama, 8pm

A double bill running to just past 10pm. DI Max Arnold works murders among people wealthy enough to have lawyers on retainer, which gives the series a friction most cosy crime never bothers with. Drama has both episodes.

Prime Time

The Murder Detective – Channel 4, 9pm ⭐

Lyra McKee was 29 and standing near police lines observing rioting in Derry in 2019 when she was shot. The New IRA later claimed responsibility. What makes this three-parter unlike almost any other true-crime series is that the cameras were there from early on: it is the first time detectives in Northern Ireland have allowed a murder investigation with terror links to be filmed as it happened. Senior Investigating Officer Jason Murphy and his team are followed over seven years, and that timescale tells you more about how these cases really work than any amount of narration would. Quietly devastating. Another Northern Irish case, The Never Ending Murder, follows from 10pm.

Professor T – ITV1, 9pm

Frances de la Tour appears briefly as Jasper’s mother on a video call, but with Adelaide away on a world tour the nurturing duties fall to Aunt Zelda, played by Zoë Wanamaker with the exact blend of warmth and exasperation the part needs. Her plan is to move him into an upmarket sheltered housing complex where a prospective new partner, Peter, is waiting. It’s a decent plan. It lasts until a resident is found murdered in one of the apartments.

Celebrity MasterChef – BBC One, 9pm

Content creator Tom Simons, better known online as TommyInnit, turns out to be the reason this heat works. His face does most of the comedy: every grimace, blank stare and deadpan aside lands, and it is genuinely hard to tell how much of it is deliberate. The celebrities have to build something from a spread of chillies and spices, then guest Zoe Ball asks for the ultimate pudding, which she then polishes off with visible enthusiasm. Giorgio Locatelli and Grace Dent offer help throughout, though telling someone not to make stodgy rice again is advice with a limited shelf life. One dish gets described as dog food.

9/11: Inside the President’s War Room – BBC Two, 9pm

First shown five years ago and still the best account of that morning from the American side. Condoleezza Rice remembers the morning starting like any other Tuesday. We follow George W Bush on his 6.40am run and into a CIA briefing at 8am, and then the first report comes in and is filed by everyone present under freak accident. Rice, Cheney and the rest supply an unusually raw account of a government scrambling for control.

The Great Wall of China with Dan Snow – Channel 5, 9pm

Ten million people a year visit the wall and most give no thought to how it was built or what daily life on it was like. Snow covers both. The 5,500 kilometres of wall kept people out, but it also moved troops quickly across terrain that would otherwise have swallowed them, and a chain of beacons carried warnings along its length. He is equally happy on the small stuff, down to the daily rations in the lookout towers. Millet porridge, in case you were wondering. Channel 5 has it at 9pm.

Bookish – U&Alibi, 8pm

Two episodes, starting at 8pm and 9.15pm. Detective fiction has a long habit of exposing mediums as frauds, and Gabriel Book (Mark Gatiss) duly writes off Harold Sneed (Jason Watkins, under a wig of some ambition) as a man making money out of the bereaved. Then a dagger turns up in Sneed’s chest while his clients are sitting round the table holding hands, at which point the case becomes far more interesting than the debunking was. Book is well ahead of everyone by the second act, and Inspector Bliss (Elliot Levey) spends the rest of it following him through bomb-damaged post-war London.

Roman Empire by Train – More4, 9pm

More4 travels the old imperial routes by rail, which by pure scheduling accident runs directly against BBC Four’s Rome evening. Take your pick, or record one.

Explore with Simon Reeve – Yesterday, 9pm

Reeve going back through his own footage, which sounds like a clip show and isn’t — he is unusually good at admitting what he got wrong the first time. Yesterday at 9pm.

Elsewhere at 9pm, E4 starts series ten of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA at an Indiana steak house with debts and a family feud.

Late Night

The Never Ending Murder – Channel 4, from 10pm

Channel 4 stays in Northern Ireland for a second true-crime documentary, running in two parts from 10pm straight after The Murder Detective. Three hours of it in one evening is a lot; the second is the one to record.

Rainbow Warrior – Sky Documentaries, 10pm

In July 1985, French agents attached two mines to the hull of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior as it sat in Auckland harbour. The explosion sank it and killed a crew member. France denied everything. This documentary sets out the whole plot, which was farcical and tragic by turns, and explains how ordinary New Zealanders helped catch the people responsible. One agent’s rueful observation about how differently the two countries would describe what the public did is the best line in it.

Couples Therapy – BBC Two, 11.05pm

Two more sessions with Dr Orna Guralnik, including one where weeks of stalemate finally give a little. Her clients arrive with serious mental health diagnoses and real trauma, and she never once treats any of it as material. She is also funny, which is why this works.

The Shallows – BBC One, 11.25pm

The third shark of the week, after Jaws on Sunday and before BBC Four’s double bill tomorrow. Blake Lively surfs a quiet Mexican beach alone, gets bitten, and spends the rest of the film on a rock roughly 200 yards from safety. Eighty-five minutes, almost no dialogue, and far better than it has any right to be.

Sport

Champions League play-off second legs run across TNT Sports 1, 2 and 4 from 8pm, with League Cup second-round ties on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football from 7.30pm. Stage five of La Vuelta is a hilly 173.4km from Falset to Roquetes, live on TNT Sports 1 from 1.30pm.

The Viewing Schedule

What’s On Streaming

• BBC iPlayer: EastEnders, Fake or Fortune: What Happened Next?, Inside the Factory, Celebrity MasterChef, 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room, Couples Therapy
• ITVX: Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Professor T
• Channel 4 streaming: The Murder Detective, The Never Ending Murder, Love It or List It, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA
• 5: The Great Wall of China with Dan Snow
• NOW: Bookish, Rainbow Warrior

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EastEnders on tonight (Wednesday 26 August 2026)?

Yes. EastEnders is on BBC One at 7.30pm as usual on a Wednesday, followed by the final Fake or Fortune: What Happened Next? at 8pm and Celebrity MasterChef at 9pm. It’s on iPlayer straight afterwards.

What is The Murder Detective on Channel 4 about?

The Murder Detective starts on Channel 4 at 9pm. It’s a three-part documentary filmed over seven years with the Northern Ireland detectives investigating the murder of journalist Lyra McKee, shot while observing rioting in Derry in 2019. The Never Ending Murder follows from 10pm.

What happens in Professor T tonight?

Professor T is on ITV1 at 9pm. With Adelaide away on tour, Aunt Zelda (Zoë Wanamaker) takes over as the person trying to get Jasper back into normal life. Then a resident of the sheltered housing complex she has lined up for him is found murdered. Frances de la Tour appears briefly by video call.

What live sport is on TV tonight: Wednesday 26 August 2026?

Champions League play-off second legs are on TNT Sports 1, 2 and 4 from 8pm, with League Cup second-round ties on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football from 7.30pm. Stage five of La Vuelta, a hilly 173.4km from Falset to Roquetes, is on TNT Sports 1 from 1.30pm.

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

The Murder Detective on Channel 4 at 9pm is the pick. Professor T on ITV1 and Bookish on U&Alibi are the drama alternatives, both worth recording if you’re watching the documentary live.

What’s on Channel 4 tonight?

Channel 4 runs Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It: Brilliant Builds at 8pm, the first episode of The Murder Detective at 9pm and The Never Ending Murder in two parts from 10pm. All three are free on Channel 4 streaming afterwards.

Is there a shark film on tonight?

Yes. BBC One shows The Shallows at 11.25pm, which makes three sharks in four days after Jaws on BBC Two on Sunday. BBC Four runs Jaws and Jaws 2 again on Thursday.

What is the Rome season on BBC Four?

BBC Four gives Wednesday evening to Rome from 8pm: part two of Rome, a History of the Eternal City, the last of Mary Beard’s Ultimate Rome, and two episodes of the 1976 series I, Claudius from 10pm.

What time is Coronation Street on tonight?

Coronation Street is on ITV1 at 8.30pm, straight after Emmerdale at 8pm and before Professor T at 9pm. Both soaps are on ITVX afterwards.

Final Verdict

Wednesday 26 August is the strongest documentary night of the week. The Murder Detective is the one to watch and the one to talk about afterwards, with 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room and Rainbow Warrior close behind. For drama, Professor T and the Bookish double bill both deliver, and Fake or Fortune goes out on a genuinely odd case. EastEnders is on at 7.30pm.

Related: What’s On TV Tonight Wednesday | What’s On TV Tonight Tues 25 Aug 2026 | What’s On TV Tonight Thurs 27 Aug 2026