What's on TV tonight Friday 15 May 2026? The weekend starts with a Premier League title-race match that should not exist on a Friday night -- and yet here we are, Villa Park, 8pm kick-off, Liverpool's championship hopes in the balance against an Aston Villa side with one eye already on Istanbul and a Europa League final they earned the hard way. That fixture is the event of the evening, and there is a full card behind it: Hidden Treasures of the National Trust returns for Series 4 on BBC Two at 9pm, opening at Agatha Christie's Devon retreat with a disintegrating silk robe and a D-Day frieze that needs saving. Hacks moves two episodes from its final curtain on Sky Atlantic. Bob Marley Night arrives on BBC Four. And Netflix drops all eight episodes of Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine simultaneously. Tomorrow is Eurovision Grand Final night from Vienna -- Graham Norton, 8pm, BBC One. Tonight is the calm before.

Browse what's on right now for live updates, check tonight's highlights, or head to the full channels list including dedicated pages for BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, ITV1, Channel 5, Channel 4, and Sky Atlantic. Missed last night? Our Thursday 14 May 2026 TV guide covers Eurovision Semi-Final 2 live from Vienna, the lost 1968 Morecambe and Wise tape on Eric's centenary, The Hardacres Series 2 premiere, and Taskmaster's 200th episode.

What's on TV tonight: quick picks

  • Aston Villa v Liverpool -- Sky Sports Main Event / Premier League, 8pm KICK-OFF (coverage from 7.30pm) -- LIVE; Premier League title race; Villa Park; rescheduled from Sunday because Villa are in the Europa League final Wednesday 20 May
  • Hidden Treasures of the National Trust -- BBC Two, 9pm -- SERIES 4 PREMIERE; Agatha Christie's Greenway; Clarissa Christie's silk robe; D-Day frieze; Thomas Hardy's Max Gate
  • MasterChef -- BBC One, 8pm -- S22 last quarter-final; fruit invention test; Grace Dent + Anna Haugh + Leyla Kazim; three go through to Knockout Week
  • "Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad" -- ITV1, 7.30pm -- S7 Ep 3; Australia; Gold Coast; outrigger canoeing + synchronised swimming + stunt school
  • Have I Got News for You -- BBC One, 9pm -- Victoria Coren Mitchell hosts; Roisin Conaty; Karl Turner MP; Merton and Hislop
  • The Ex-Wife -- Channel 5, 9pm -- S2; Tom Mison out of prison; Katie McGrath; Celine Buckens hiding in Cyprus; UK linear premiere
  • Hacks -- Sky Atlantic, 9pm -- FINAL SEASON S5 Ep 8 of 10; Jean Smart as Deborah Vance; two episodes from the end
  • Bob Marley Night -- BBC Four, from 10.05pm -- 45th anniversary (11 May 1981); three-piece night; Chineke! Orchestra; Ruby Turner; Skip Marley
  • Smoggie Queens -- BBC Three, 10pm + 10.30pm -- SERIES 2 LAUNCH double bill; Middlesbrough; Phil Dunning; Elijah Young; Mark Benton; full series on BBC iPlayer
  • First Dates -- Channel 4, 10pm -- S25; Bath restaurant; Fred Sirieix; Stuart the toilet roll salesman
  • Gardeners' World -- BBC Two, 8pm -- Monty Don at Longmeadow; thyme and sage sowing
  • Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine -- Netflix -- ALL 8 EPISODES; Money Heist spin-off; Pedro Alonso; drops today

See what's on right now for live updates.

Tonight's TV schedule: full listings

Time Channel Programme
9.00am TNT Sports 3 "Cycling: Giro d'Italia" Stage 7 LIVE (early coverage) -- Formia to Blockhaus; 244km
12.30pm Sky Sports Main Event / Golf "Golf: PGA Championship" Round 2 LIVE -- Aronimink; Scheffler defending
2.00pm TNT Sports 1 "Cycling: Giro d'Italia" Stage 7 LIVE (main coverage) -- summit finish at Blockhaus
7.30pm ITV1 "Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad" S7 Ep 3 -- Australia; Gold Coast
7.30pm Sky Sports Main Event / Premier League "Football: Aston Villa v Liverpool" LIVE pre-match -- coverage start
8.00pm BBC One MasterChef S22 last quarter-final -- fruit invention test; Leyla Kazim; three go through
8.00pm BBC Two Gardeners' World -- Monty Don at Longmeadow; thyme + sage sowing
~8.00pm ITV1 Emmerdale -- Cain holds Robert hostage; Sam's role; hammer
8.00pm Sky Sports Main Event "Football: Aston Villa v Liverpool" KICK-OFF -- Premier League title race; Villa Park
~8.30pm ITV1 Coronation Street -- Gary Windass; Theo Silverton death; Kit closing in
9.00pm BBC One Have I Got News for You -- Victoria Coren Mitchell hosts; Roisin Conaty; Karl Turner MP
9.00pm BBC Two Hidden Treasures of the National Trust S4 Ep 1 PREMIERE -- Greenway; Christie silk robe; D-Day frieze; Max Gate
9.00pm Channel 5 The Ex-Wife S2 -- Jack out of prison; Katie McGrath; Celine Buckens; Cyprus
9.00pm Sky Atlantic Hacks S5 Ep 8 (final season) -- Jean Smart; two episodes from the end
10.00pm Channel 4 First Dates S25 -- Bath; Fred Sirieix; Stuart the toilet roll salesman
10.00pm BBC Three Smoggie Queens S2 Ep 1 LAUNCH -- Middlesbrough; coming-out party
10.00pm Sky Sports Main Event "Golf: PGA Championship" Round 2 highlights
10.05pm BBC Four Bob Marley Night begins -- When Bob Marley Came to Britain documentary
10.30pm BBC Three Smoggie Queens S2 Ep 2 -- double bill second episode
~10.30pm BBC Four Bob Marley Reimagined -- Chineke! Orchestra; Ruby Turner; Skip Marley
~11.30pm BBC Four Reggae at the BBC -- archive performances; Marley; Desmond Dekker; Gregory Isaacs
From today Netflix Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine -- ALL 8 episodes; Money Heist spin-off; Pedro Alonso
From today BBC iPlayer Smoggie Queens S2 -- full series available alongside BBC Three broadcast

Aston Villa v Liverpool -- Sky Sports Main Event / Premier League, kick-off 8pm

Aston Villa v Liverpool kicks off at 8pm BST on Friday 15 May 2026 from Villa Park, Birmingham, live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League with coverage from 7.30pm. Premier League fixture rescheduled from Sunday 17 May because Villa face Freiburg in the UEFA Europa League final in Istanbul on Wednesday 20 May.

The question I keep coming back to with tonight's fixture is this: would Liverpool rather play this match now or on Sunday? The original date was Sunday 17 May. Villa reached the UEFA Europa League final -- they beat Nottingham Forest 4-0 at Villa Park in the second leg, 4-1 on aggregate, and they will face Freiburg in Istanbul on Wednesday 20 May -- which triggered the standard rescheduling protocol that pushed the fixture back two days to Friday. Liverpool get less time to prepare for it. Villa get more time to prepare for Istanbul. The optics of the timing benefit the home side.

None of which will settle Arne Slot's stomach. Liverpool's title ambitions hinge in part on results like this one, and a Friday evening match in Birmingham, against a Villa side that has spent the week rotating and resting players for the European final, sets up a scenario where Villa have nothing to lose in the league and everything to gain in terms of morale. A win or a draw at Villa Park could ease the psychological load before Istanbul. Liverpool need maximum points to keep any title arithmetic working in their favour. What follows from 8pm will be worth your full attention.

The context around Villa's season deserves its own moment. Unai Emery's side reached the Europa League final by dismantling Nottingham Forest comprehensively. The 4-0 home leg was a performance that signals a team peaking at the right time. Going into a Friday Premier League match knowing there is a European final six days later means every player on the Villa Park pitch has two simultaneous calculations running: play enough to contribute in this match, protect enough to be available in Istanbul. Emery will have his most forensic rotation plan ready. Which is precisely the scenario that unsettles visiting teams who can read the fixture but cannot read the teamsheet.

Sky Sports coverage begins at 7.30pm on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League. Kick-off 8pm. Villa Park, Birmingham.

Hidden Treasures of the National Trust Series 4 premiere -- BBC Two, 9pm

Hidden Treasures of the National Trust Series 4 Episode 1 premieres on BBC Two at 9pm on Friday 15 May 2026. The opener visits Agatha Christie's Greenway in Devon (Clarissa Christie's 19th-century Chinese silk robe; a wartime D-Day frieze painted by an American officer) and Thomas Hardy's Max Gate near Dorchester (a rusted, non-working sundial). On BBC iPlayer.

There is a show on BBC Two that has been quietly doing something harder than most TV manages: making conservation feel urgent. Not worthy, not dutiful -- urgent. The Repair Shop found its emotional engine in the people bringing objects in. Hidden Treasures of the National Trust finds its engine in the objects themselves, which are frequently in worse shape than anyone has admitted until a specialist leans in with a magnifying glass.

Series 4 opens at Greenway, Agatha Christie's holiday home in Devon, overlooking the River Dart. Christie used Greenway as the setting for her 1956 Poirot novel Dead Man's Folly -- the house in the book matches Greenway precisely, and for any Christie reader there is something genuinely disorienting about watching conservators treating objects here rather than Poirot investigating them. Tonight's episode has two main items.

The first is a 19th-century Chinese silk jacket that once belonged to Christie's mother, Clarissa. The garment has been in the property for generations, and the fragile silk lining is now splitting and disintegrating -- a deterioration that accelerates once it starts, which is the reason the programme exists. Curator Emma Slocombe and house officer Tamara Roberts are the named staff working on it. The conservation challenge is not just technical: the textile is fragile enough that the act of treating it risks accelerating the damage. I find this problem more compelling than almost anything else on television.

The second item is a wartime frieze painted directly onto a wall at Greenway by an American officer who was stationed there ahead of the D-Day landings. The fact that it survives at all is an accident of history -- Greenway was requisitioned during the war, and the officer who painted it presumably had no expectation it would still be there eighty years later. It is now blistering and peeling, and the work of saving it raises the question that runs through the whole series: what do you preserve, how much of it, and for whom?

The episode also visits Max Gate, Thomas Hardy's home near Dorchester in Dorset, where a sundial on the front of the house has rusted solid and stopped working. Hardy lived at Max Gate from 1885 until his death in 1928. The sundial problem is at the less dramatic end of the conservation scale, but it is the detail that makes this series feel grounded in the actual texture of managing 500 heritage properties across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Jane Rackham reviewed it in the Radio Times as "a little like The Repair Shop on a grander scale and with added history. Utterly absorbing." That is an accurate summary and also an understatement.

On BBC Two at 9pm. Available on BBC iPlayer.

MasterChef last quarter-final -- BBC One, 8pm

MasterChef Series 22 last quarter-final airs on BBC One at 8pm on Friday 15 May 2026. Six home cooks face a fruit invention test judged by Grace Dent and Anna Haugh with guest critic Leyla Kazim; three progress to Knockout Week. On BBC iPlayer.

Series 22 reaches the last of its four quarter-finals tonight, and the format does what it always does at this stage: the six cooks who have already survived the heats are now being asked to perform at a level that justifies a place in Knockout Week. Three of them will progress. Three will not.

The central challenge is a fruit invention test -- the brief gives the cooks an unusual pairing to work with, which tests whether they can think laterally under pressure rather than just execute familiar techniques. The particular items from tonight's brief include mushrooms, duck, blackberries, minced beef and beetroot, which is a more varied and demanding set of ingredients than "fruit invention test" might initially suggest.

The judging panel for the quarter-final brings in Grace Dent and Anna Haugh alongside guest critic Leyla Kazim. Kazim -- food journalist, presenter, and a regular on the MasterChef circuit -- has the palate and directness that makes for useful television in a quarter-final context, where there is no room for gentle notes. The dishes the brief mentions include a spicy pina colada choux bun versus an apple crumble construction -- a direct contrast that will reveal exactly which cooks have made it this far.

On BBC One at 8pm. Available on BBC iPlayer.

"Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad" Series 7 Episode 3 -- ITV1, 7.30pm

Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad Series 7 Episode 3 airs on ITV1 at 7.30pm on Friday 15 May 2026. Father-and-son duo continue their Australia run on the Gold Coast, Queensland: outrigger canoe racing, synchronised swimming and stunt school. On ITVX.

By episode three of this Australian run, the pattern of the series is established: Barney plans it, Bradley suffers through it, and the footage that emerges is somehow both staged and genuinely uncomfortable in a way that makes it more watchable than it probably deserves to be. The Gold Coast this week delivers three challenges -- outrigger canoe racing, synchronised swimming, and stunt school -- which represents a fairly complete spectrum from the cardiovascular to the humiliating.

Barney Walsh has been putting his father through Australia since episode one, and the Gold Coast itinerary feels like a schedule that suggests Barney has either very good contacts in Queensland or has been saving the more physically demanding activities for the middle stretch of the series. Stunt school in particular has a dependable quality on this programme: Bradley Walsh's willingness to do things that make him look foolish, combined with his genuine irritation when they go wrong, is the whole engine of the format and it runs on regular fuel.

Series 7 premiered on 1 May. Six episodes, Fridays at 7.30pm. On ITV1 and ITVX.

Have I Got News for You -- BBC One, 9pm

Have I Got News for You airs on BBC One at 9pm on Friday 15 May 2026. Victoria Coren Mitchell hosts; panellists Roisin Conaty and Karl Turner MP join team captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop. Available on BBC iPlayer.

Victoria Coren Mitchell has become, over the past decade, one of the most reliable guest hosts HIGNFY has. She does not arrive with a fixed comic persona to protect -- she arrives with opinions, a tolerance for dead air that most television presenters lack, and a very clear sense of which panellist she is going to turn toward when she wants the room to shift temperature. Tonight's panel has Roisin Conaty and Karl Turner MP alongside the permanent residents, Paul Merton and Ian Hislop.

Turner, the Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull East, is a politician who has calibrated exactly how much self-deprecation is useful in a panel show environment and stays on the correct side of that line. Conaty, who has been doing stand-up and television for long enough to have worked out where the genuine laughs in a news-based format come from, is the more unpredictable element. The combination gives Coren Mitchell options. She will use them.

Eurovision week provides HIGNFY with predictable material, which the programme will handle with the slightly weary precision of people who have covered Eurovision from this angle many times. The challenge is finding the angle nobody else has taken. Hislop, usually, finds it.

On BBC One at 9pm. Available on BBC iPlayer.

Hacks Season 5 (final) -- Sky Atlantic, 9pm

Hacks Season 5 Episode 8 of 10 airs on Sky Atlantic at 9pm on Friday 15 May 2026. This is the fifth and final season of the HBO Max comedy-drama starring Jean Smart as Deborah Vance and Hannah Einbinder as Ava; UK broadcast runs one week behind the US. Available on NOW.

Two episodes from the end of a show that has been, for five seasons, one of the most consistently sharp character studies on television. Jean Smart as Deborah Vance -- a veteran Las Vegas stand-up comedian in her sixties, fighting to protect her legacy while managing a relationship with her much younger writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) that has evolved from mutual hostility to something far more complicated -- is one of the performances of the last half decade of television. The Emmy record for Smart on this show reflects that accurately rather than generously.

Season 5 was announced as the final season, and that framing has been visible in the writing from the opening episode. The show is tidying its threads deliberately, not in the manner of a series that has run out of ideas but in the manner of a series that knows exactly what it is doing with the runway it has left. Tonight is Episode 8 of 10. The UK airs one week behind HBO Max in the US, which means the episode that drops tonight was watched by American audiences on Thursday 14 May. The finale will reach UK screens in early June.

If you have not started Hacks and need a reason, the argument is simple: it is a comedy that takes its central character's ambition seriously rather than treating it as a punchline, and in doing so it has produced drama that feels more honest about what it costs to be good at something than most things labelled prestige drama. Start at the beginning. Tonight is not the entry point.

On Sky Atlantic at 9pm. Available on NOW.

The Ex-Wife Series 2 -- Channel 5, 9pm

The Ex-Wife Series 2 has its UK linear premiere on Channel 5 at 9pm on Friday 15 May 2026. Tom Mison, Katie McGrath and Celine Buckens star; originally released on Paramount+ in April 2025. Catch up on My5 and Paramount+.

Series 2 of The Ex-Wife arrives on Channel 5 tonight for its UK linear premiere -- the second series was originally released on Paramount+ in April 2025, so this is a delayed broadcast run for viewers who did not catch it on streaming. Whether you treat that as a spoiler-rich environment or as reassurance that the series is worth your time depends on your tolerance for the thriller-with-domestic-damage setup the first series established.

The premise for Series 2 moves three years on from where we left things. Tasha (Celine Buckens) is in Cyprus with her daughter Emily, building what looks like a fresh start. Jen (Katie McGrath, replacing Janet Montgomery from Series 1) has moved on -- she is engaged again. The thing that ends the careful equilibrium of this arrangement is what it always is in these stories: the person who was meant to stay away does not. Jack (Tom Mison) is out of prison early, having served roughly a year of his sentence, and the news reaches Cyprus before he does.

Tom Mison carries a particular menace that works well in this format -- the surface is charm, the underneath is coercion, and the tension in the performance is the gap between the two. The Cyprus setting gives Series 2 a visual palette that the original's grey English settings did not have, and the scripts use the unfamiliarity of the location as an expression of how Tasha has tried to put distance between her past and her present.

On Channel 5 at 9pm. Catch up on My5 and Paramount+.

Bob Marley Night -- BBC Four, from 10.05pm

Bob Marley Night begins on BBC Four at 10.05pm on Friday 15 May 2026, marking the 45th anniversary of Marley's death (11 May 1981). Three programmes: When Bob Marley Came to Britain (documentary), Bob Marley Reimagined (2022 concert with Chineke! Orchestra, Ruby Turner, Skip Marley), and Reggae at the BBC (archive). On BBC iPlayer.

Bob Marley died on 11 May 1981. The 45th anniversary was four days ago. The BBC has programmed its tribute for this Friday, which is standard practice for anniversary-week scheduling -- the exact date does not always land on a convenient broadcast slot, and the BBC Four block from 10.05pm tonight is the vehicle for marking it.

The three-piece lineup begins with When Bob Marley Came to Britain, a documentary that originally aired on BBC Two in August 2020 and covers territory that gets less attention than Marley's Jamaican origins or his global reach: his particular relationship with the United Kingdom, the influence he had on Black British youth culture, and the way his music filtered into British politics and identity. It uses rarely seen archive footage and makes the argument that Britain was not just a market for Marley but a place where his ideas landed with specific political weight during the 1970s.

The second piece is Bob Marley Reimagined, a 2022 concert featuring the Chineke! Orchestra -- Europe's first professional orchestra to be majority Black and ethnically diverse -- performing Marley's music. Ruby Turner, the veteran soul singer who has performed with everything from Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra to Tina Turner's touring band, is part of the evening. So is Skip Marley, Bob's grandson, who brings a generational link to the material that gives the concert a dimension a straight revival cannot replicate.

The night closes with Reggae at the BBC, an archive compilation drawing on BBC footage of Marley, Desmond Dekker, Gregory Isaacs, and Burning Spear -- the material the BBC has in its vaults that rarely sees air and is usually better than anything a documentary could reconstruct around it.

Forty-five years on, Marley's catalogue has been streamed more than almost any pre-1990 artist. The BBC is right to take the week seriously.

From 10.05pm on BBC Four. Available on BBC iPlayer.

Smoggie Queens Series 2 launch -- BBC Three, 10pm + 10.30pm

Smoggie Queens Series 2 launches on BBC Three with a double bill at 10pm and 10.30pm on Friday 15 May 2026, with the full series available on BBC iPlayer from tonight. Phil Dunning's LGBTQ+ found-family sitcom set in Middlesbrough; Elijah Young plays Stewart (coming-out party) and Mark Benton plays Mam.

Phil Dunning's LGBTQ+ sitcom set in Middlesbrough was, in its first series, the thing BBC Three did best: a found-family comedy with a specific geographic and cultural identity that did not ask anyone outside that identity to validate it before it could be enjoyed. Series 2 launches tonight with the same double-bill format as the original -- two episodes, back to back, followed by the full series dropping on BBC iPlayer simultaneously.

The narrative hook for the launch double bill is Stewart's (Elijah Young) coming-out party, which press materials have described as "embracing a fresh chapter in life." That framing does a disservice to how these episodes actually land -- Smoggie Queens is not interested in the coming-out story as a milestone to be celebrated and moved past. It is interested in the texture of the days before and after milestones, which is where character comedy actually lives.

Mark Benton's Mam -- the show's drag queen matriarch -- faces "ghosts from the past" in the new episodes, which given what Series 1 established about the character suggests the series is willing to complicate the found-family warmth with the history that makes warmth necessary in the first place. Benton is excellent when the show asks him to do the harder emotional work alongside the comedy, and the combination of the two is the reason this programme earns its audience rather than inheriting one.

New additions for Series 2: Monica Dolan, Amalia Vitale, and Freya Parker join the cast. All are worth watching in whatever they appear in. Their roles in the series are not detailed in advance press -- which is the correct call from the BBC Three publicity team.

Episodes 1 and 2 on BBC Three at 10pm and 10.30pm. Full series on BBC iPlayer from tonight.

Sport tonight

Aston Villa v Liverpool -- Sky Sports Main Event / Premier League, 8pm kick-off

Covered in full above. Coverage from 7.30pm. Kick-off 8pm. Villa Park, Birmingham. The Premier League title race and the shadow of a Europa League final run through every minute of this match.

PGA Championship Round 2 -- Sky Sports Main Event / Golf, from 12.30pm

Round 1 at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania established the leaderboard. Round 2 today is where the cut is made, and Aronimink at par 70 and 7,394 yards does not reward passengers -- the course requires precision on approach shots rather than simply length off the tee, and whoever survives the cut at the halfway point of this major will have done something to earn it.

Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion, having won the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow by five strokes. Whether the course conditions at Aronimink suit the disciplined ball-striking that Scheffler's game is built around will become clearer over the 18 holes of Round 2. The field includes PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and LIV Golf players, including Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm among the LIV contingent. Live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Golf from 12.30pm. Evening highlights at 10pm on Sky Sports Main Event.

Giro d'Italia Stage 7 -- TNT Sports 3 (9am) / TNT Sports 1 (2pm)

If Stage 6 into Naples was a sprinters' day, Stage 7 is the opposite of everything Stage 6 was. Formia to Blockhaus, 244km, rated four stars by the race organisers -- the maximum difficulty rating. This is the longest and hardest stage of the 2026 Giro to this point, with 4,600 metres of altitude gain across a route that begins on the Tyrrhenian coast and finishes at a mountain summit that the race has used before and remembers unkindly.

The Blockhaus finish involves 13.6km of climbing at an average gradient of 8.4%, with sections reaching 14%. The final approach through the Majella National Park in the Abruzzo Apennines is the terrain where a rider who has managed their effort carefully through the preceding 230km can move decisively, and where a rider who has miscalculated even slightly will crack before the summit line. The general classification contenders who have been watching each other carefully through the opening stages will not be watching tonight -- they will be riding.

Early coverage on TNT Sports 3 from 9am. Main coverage switching to TNT Sports 1 from 2pm.

Soaps tonight

Emmerdale -- ITV1, 8pm

The week's Emmerdale story has been building toward a scene that the soap has signposted carefully enough that when it arrives, the impact comes not from surprise but from watching the mechanics of the thing play out. Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley), recently out of hospital after cancer surgery, has learned from Moira that it was Robert Sugden who planted the evidence that put her away -- a frame-up engineered not out of malice but under duress, because Joe Tate holds footage of Victoria Sugden killing her half-brother John.

None of which makes the betrayal feel less like a betrayal to Cain. He has approached his brother Sam (James Hooton) and asked for a favour. Tonight, Sam delivers: Robert wakes up tied to a chair in the farm, Cain standing over him with a hammer. The question of what Cain intends to do is the one the episode is holding back. The Dingles have never been understated about settling scores.

Catch up on ITVX.

Coronation Street -- ITV1, 8.30pm

The Theo Silverton murder investigation has been the spring 2026 Coronation Street storyline that has kept Gary Windass (Mikey North) and Todd Grimshaw in a state of accelerating mutual anxiety since it began. Gary is the main culprit and has been managing the investigation by deleting CCTV footage and constructing alibis that are holding -- for now.

What Kit Green (Jacob Roberts), the copper, has been building across the previous episodes is a picture that keeps returning to Gary. Tonight, Kit is closing in. Maria Connor's false alibi has already been undermined by a selfie timestamp. The episode moves Gary from prime suspect to the position where Kit can see enough of the picture to make the next move. Whether that move comes tonight or next week is the question the episode holds to the end.

Catch up on ITVX.

Streaming today: Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine -- Netflix

Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine drops on Netflix on Friday 15 May 2026 with all 8 episodes available simultaneously. Money Heist spin-off created by Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato; Pedro Alonso reprises Berlin in a Seville-set heist targeting the Duke of Malaga. Spanish-language with subtitles or dubbed.

The Money Heist spin-off has been in development long enough that the delay between the original series ending and Berlin getting his own full-length follow-up has created genuine anticipation rather than the diminishing-returns feeling that surrounds some franchise extensions. This one earns a degree of goodwill from the starting point: Berlin -- the Professor's brother, the intellectual sociopath who died in the original series in a moment that still surprises viewers who did not see it coming -- is a genuinely compelling character, and the prequel framing of the spin-off means the show is not required to explain away a death.

The premise sends Berlin and his associate Damian to Seville, where the stated objective is faking the theft of Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine -- the same painting that appears in Warsaw's Czartoryski Museum and is one of the most recognisable Renaissance portraits outside the Louvre. The actual target is the Duke of Malaga and his wife, who are trying to blackmail Berlin. The show's press materials describe the operation as awakening "Berlin's darkest side -- and his thirst for revenge," which is the Pina formula applied to the prequel: the heist is the mechanism, the character psychology is the subject.

Spanish language, subtitled or dubbed. All 8 episodes on Netflix from today.

Also worth catching tonight

Gardeners' World -- BBC Two, 8pm

Monty Don is at Longmeadow in Herefordshire, tackling a problem that will be familiar to anyone gardening on clay soil: woody herbs do not thrive in it. Rather than engineering a solution to the soil, Monty is sowing thyme and sage seeds to ensure a reliable supply from a soil environment that suits them -- the programme's approach to this practical problem is characteristically unglamorous in the best sense. There are also trees at RBG Kew grown in response to climate projections. The early evening gardening block on BBC Two -- Greatest Gardens at 7pm, Beechgrove Garden at 7.30pm, Gardeners' World at 8pm -- remains one of the more reliable hours in the Friday schedule. On BBC Two at 8pm.

First Dates -- Channel 4, 10pm

Series 25 has moved the restaurant from the long-standing Paternoster Chop House in London to Bath, and the change of setting has given the series a visual freshness that the format needed. Fred Sirieix remains the maître d'. Tonight's daters include Stuart, who is described as a toilet roll salesman and whose opening-night edit will either lean into that detail for warmth or for comedy, and possibly both. Stuart is a gift to the First Dates production team whatever happens next. On Channel 4 at 10pm.

Frequently asked questions

What's on TV tonight Friday 15 May 2026?

The headline picks tonight are: Aston Villa v Liverpool Premier League title race live from Villa Park, kick-off 8pm on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League (coverage from 7.30pm); Hidden Treasures of the National Trust Series 4 premiere on BBC Two at 9pm; Hacks Season 5 (final) Episode 8 on Sky Atlantic at 9pm; MasterChef Series 22 last quarter-final on BBC One at 8pm; Have I Got News for You hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell on BBC One at 9pm; Bob Marley Night on BBC Four from 10.05pm; Smoggie Queens Series 2 launch double bill on BBC Three at 10pm and 10.30pm; and Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine (all 8 episodes) drops on Netflix today. Browse tonight's full highlights or what's on right now for live listings.

Why is there a Premier League match on Friday night 15 May 2026?

Aston Villa v Liverpool was moved to Friday 15 May from its original Sunday 17 May slot because Aston Villa reached the UEFA Europa League final -- they face Freiburg in Istanbul on Wednesday 20 May 2026. Premier League scheduling protocols require that any club competing in a European final gets their closest league fixture moved to allow sufficient recovery and preparation time. The rescheduled Friday night slot puts the match on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League with an 8pm kick-off, coverage from 7.30pm. Villa beat Nottingham Forest 4-1 on aggregate in the semi-final (4-0 at Villa Park in the second leg) to earn their place in Istanbul.

What is on BBC One tonight Friday 15 May 2026?

BBC One has MasterChef Series 22 last quarter-final at 8pm -- six home cooks compete in a fruit invention test, with judges Grace Dent and Anna Haugh joined by guest critic Leyla Kazim; three cooks progress to Knockout Week. At 9pm, Have I Got News for You is hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell, with panellists Roisin Conaty and Karl Turner MP alongside team captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop.

What is Hidden Treasures of the National Trust about tonight?

Series 4 premieres on BBC Two at 9pm. The opening episode visits Agatha Christie's holiday home Greenway in Devon -- setting for her 1956 Poirot novel Dead Man's Folly -- where conservators Emma Slocombe and Tamara Roberts work to save a 19th-century Chinese silk jacket once owned by Christie's mother Clarissa, its lining now splitting and disintegrating, and a wartime frieze painted directly onto a wall by an American officer stationed at Greenway ahead of the D-Day landings, now blistering and peeling. The episode also features Thomas Hardy's home Max Gate near Dorchester, where a rusty, non-working sundial on the front of the house needs conservation attention.

Is Hacks ending this series?

Yes. Hacks Season 5 on Sky Atlantic is the final season of the series. Jean Smart returns as Deborah Vance, with Hannah Einbinder as Ava. Tonight is Episode 8 of 10 -- two episodes from the end of the run. The UK airs one week behind HBO Max in the US. The UK series finale is expected to arrive in early June 2026. If you have not started the series, the full back catalogue is on NOW.

What Netflix show drops today, Friday 15 May 2026?

Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine drops on Netflix today -- all 8 episodes simultaneously. It is a Money Heist spin-off created by Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato, starring Pedro Alonso as Berlin, reprising the character from the original series. Set in Seville, the plot follows Berlin faking the theft of Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine painting while pursuing revenge against the Duke of Malaga. Spanish language, subtitled or dubbed.

What is Smoggie Queens about?

Smoggie Queens is an LGBTQ+ found-family sitcom set in Middlesbrough, created by Phil Dunning. Series 2 launches tonight with a double bill on BBC Three at 10pm and 10.30pm, with the full series also available on BBC iPlayer from tonight. Elijah Young plays Stewart, throwing a coming-out party in the launch episodes. Mark Benton plays Mam, a drag queen facing ghosts from the past. Monica Dolan, Amalia Vitale, and Freya Parker join the cast for Series 2.

What is the Giro d'Italia stage today, Friday 15 May?

Stage 7 runs from Formia to Blockhaus, 244km -- the longest and hardest stage of the 2026 race, rated four stars (maximum difficulty). The summit finish at Blockhaus in the Majella National Park involves 13.6km of climbing at an average of 8.4%, peaking at 14%. Total altitude gain across the stage is 4,600m. Early coverage is on TNT Sports 3 from 9am; main coverage switches to TNT Sports 1 from 2pm.

Is it the Eurovision Grand Final tonight?

No -- the Eurovision 2026 Grand Final is tomorrow, Saturday 16 May, on BBC One from 8pm, presented by Graham Norton from the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna. Tonight is Eurovision Eve. BBC Radio 2 has Sophie Ellis-Bextor hosting a Eurovision Kitchen Disco special from 9pm to 11pm, but there is no dedicated BBC TV Eurovision programme on Friday evening. The UK entry is Look Mum No Computer (Sam Battle) performing "Eins, Zwei, Drei."

Tonight's final word

The match at Villa Park is the anchor of the evening and it earns the billing. Liverpool's title race, played out under floodlights on a Friday night against a side whose minds are already partly in Istanbul -- this is the Premier League at its most narratively loaded, even if both clubs would have preferred a different scheduling arrangement. Watch the first twenty minutes and you will know exactly what game this is going to be.

Behind the football: the National Trust series is the best thing on BBC Two tonight and deserves your 9pm. If you were watching The Repair Shop at any point in the past five years and found it satisfying, Hidden Treasures of the National Trust is doing something adjacent but more ambitious. The Agatha Christie and Thomas Hardy material alone is worth the hour.

Bob Marley Night on BBC Four from 10.05pm requires no justification beyond the quality of the archive it is drawing on. The Chineke! Orchestra concert and the When Bob Marley Came to Britain documentary are both genuinely good television that happens to also be marking an anniversary.

Check what's on right now, see tonight's full highlights, or browse all channels. Tomorrow night is Eurovision Grand Final -- BBC One, 8pm, Graham Norton from Vienna. Tonight, keep an eye on Villa Park.