Wondering what's on TV tonight? Friday's tv guide is absolutely loaded this week -- and not in the usual way. Tonight the tv listings are dominated by live sport from three different disciplines before 9pm even arrives, while the Freeview TV guide still has enough drama, wildlife and comedy to keep non-sports fans occupied. Check the full schedule below, or jump straight to our tonight's highlights page for a quick summary.
What's On TV Tonight: Quick Picks
- Winter Paralympics Opening Ceremony -- Channel 4, 6.30pm -- Milano Cortina 2026 gets underway at the Verona Arena
- FA Cup: Wolves v Liverpool -- BBC One, 7.45pm -- Fifth round at Molineux, kick-off ~8pm
- Six Nations: Ireland v Wales -- ITV1, 7.20pm -- Aviva Stadium, Dublin, kick-off 8.10pm
- Big Cats 24/7 -- BBC Two, 9pm -- Lions under threat, cheetah Pobe faces down a leopard
- Ted -- Sky One, 9pm -- Seth MacFarlane's bear returns for season two
- The Brutalist -- Sky Drama, 10pm -- Adrien Brody's Oscar-winning epic
TV Guide: Early Evening (6pm – 9pm)
Live Winter Paralympics Opening Ceremony – Channel 4, 6.30pm ⭐
This is the event of the night and arguably the week. The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics opening ceremony takes place at the Verona Arena -- a genuinely extraordinary venue -- under the theme of "Life in Motion", celebrating resilience, inclusion and Italian culture in equal measure. Channel 4's coverage team is exactly right for this: Billy Monger, who knows more than most about competing from a wheelchair, anchors alongside Paralympic champion Ade Adepitan and rugby union presenter Ed Jackson. Dame Sarah Storey, Jade Etherington and Sean Rose also contribute throughout.
Worth knowing before you watch: GB's medal contenders include wheelchair curler Jo Butterfield, veteran Scott Meenagh competing at his third Games, and alpine skier Neil Simpson, who took GB's only gold in 2022 in the super-G. Nine days of competition follow from tonight, and Channel 4 has the lot. Coverage runs to approximately 9pm.
500 Words with The One Show – BBC One, 7pm
An unusual slot for a children's writing competition final, but this one earns it: Alex Jones and Roman Kemp host the 2026 finale of 500 Words live from Windsor Castle, with Queen Camilla in attendance. Around 100,000 entries this year, whittled down to a handful of finalists. The quality of writing from primary school children is always genuinely startling, and this is one of those programmes that briefly restores your faith in the future.
Richard Osman's House of Games – BBC Two, 6pm
The week's contestants meet for the Friday decider to crown the overall winner. The end-of-week episode always has a different energy -- equal parts relief and desperation -- as the scoreboard reaches its final reckoning. Classic early-evening comfort television, exactly as designed.
TV Tonight: Prime Time (9pm onwards)
Big Cats 24/7 – BBC Two, 9pm
Episode two, and things are getting serious in the Okavango Delta. Intruder males have moved onto the pride's territory and the lionesses know exactly what that means: any cubs that aren't the intruders' are in serious danger, and the mothers flee to protect them. Leopard Lediba is searching for her lost cub in increasingly desperate circumstances. Meanwhile, cheetah mother Pobe faces down a male leopard in a tense stand-off to protect her offspring -- exactly the kind of nerve-shredding moment this series does so well. Genuine edge-of-the-sofa television.
Gogglebox – Channel 4, 9pm
Series 27, episode 5. The nation's sofa-bound critics cast judgement on whatever the week threw at them -- which this particular week has been quite a lot, given the sport and the Paralympics. The cast reactions to live events are always the best Gogglebox moments, so this week's episode should be worth watching for that alone.
Ted – Sky One, 9pm
Seth MacFarlane's talking bear is back for a second season, and if you enjoyed the first run you'll slot straight into this. The show is a prequel to the films, set in 1990s suburban Boston, following teenage John (Max Burkholder) and his incredibly bad influence of a stuffed animal companion. The opening double bill includes a plot about ringing an adult chatline that runs up a phone bill John cannot explain to his parents, and a married woman who develops an inappropriate fondness for a bear. The show is considerably less crude than it sounds -- there's a decent heart under the jokes -- but it absolutely earns its post-watershed slot. Episode 2 follows at 9.45pm.
Hippo Watch with Steve Backshall – Channel 5, 8pm
The finale of this two-parter asks the serious question: can hippos and humans actually share space in the modern world? Backshall's answer involves swimming alongside them, which tells you everything about his risk assessment process. The ecological argument is genuinely compelling -- remove hippos from a river system and the entire ecosystem suffers in ways most people haven't considered. Good, serious natural history from an underrated presenter.
Solved: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste – Channel 5, 9pm
The Mary Celeste -- found drifting and abandoned near the Azores in December 1872 with every indication that its crew had left in a hurry -- remains one of maritime history's most debated mysteries. Was it mutiny? Insurance fraud? A gas explosion? This documentary works through the main theories before delivering what it claims is the most persuasive explanation, supported by a reconstruction experiment. CGI-heavy, but engaging enough for a Friday night.
TV Guide UK: Late Night
The Last Leg – Channel 4, 10pm
This week's live edition has a particularly strong guest list: comedian Nick Mohammed, Italian comic Vittorio Angelone and former International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt join Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker for the usual satirical end-of-week debrief. The combination of stand-ups and a politician who has genuine opinions should make for a livelier-than-usual show.
Live at the Apollo – BBC Two, 10pm (series finale)
Tim Renkow hosts the final episode of this series, with Janine Harouni and Stuart Goldsmith performing. Renkow is one of the more genuinely original voices in British stand-up right now -- his material about disability and society is spiky and often very funny. A good note to end the series on.
The End We Start From – BBC Two, 11pm
Jodie Comer plays a new mother who gives birth just as catastrophic flooding begins to consume London, forcing her to flee with her newborn and find whatever safety exists. Director Mahalia Belo keeps the production deliberately low-key -- no blockbuster catastrophe sequences here, just the quiet terror of a world unravelling around someone who has just become responsible for a completely helpless life. Comer is excellent, as she always is. It's also one of only six feature films the Killing Eve star has appeared in, which seems extraordinary given her talent.
The Brutalist – Sky Drama, 10pm
Brady Corbet's three-and-a-half-hour epic about Hungarian-Jewish architect Laszlo Toth's journey to post-war America is not a casual Friday night watch. But if you're willing to commit to it, you'll see the best screen performance of 2024 from Adrien Brody, whose Oscar for the role was thoroughly deserved. The film's scope -- spanning decades, continents and everything the American dream promises and destroys -- is unlike almost anything else currently available on British television. Set aside the evening.
Sport
For more live sport coverage across all channels, see our dedicated sport schedule.
Winter Paralympics Opening Ceremony -- Channel 4 from 6.30pm (also streamed via Channel 4 online).
Football: FA Cup 5th Round -- Wolves v Liverpool, BBC One from 7.45pm (kick-off ~8pm). Also live on TNT Sports 1 from 7pm.
Rugby: Men's Six Nations -- Ireland v Wales, ITV1 from 7.20pm (kick-off 8.10pm). Aviva Stadium, Dublin. Also on S4C from 7.30pm.
Darts: UK Open -- ITV4, live coverage from Butlin's Minehead continues throughout the day and evening.
Formula 1: Australian Grand Prix -- Practice 1 live on Sky Sports F1 from 1am (Saturday morning), Practice 2 from 4.35am.
Tonight's TV Listings: Full Schedule
| Time | Channel | Programme |
|---|---|---|
| 2:00pm | BBC One | Father Brown (Ep7/10) |
| 6:00pm | BBC Two | Richard Osman's House of Games (Ep85) |
| 6:30pm | Channel 4 | Live Winter Paralympics Opening Ceremony |
| 7:00pm | BBC One | 500 Words with The One Show (live from Windsor Castle) |
| 7:00pm | BBC Four | Top of the Pops 1999 |
| 7:20pm | ITV1 | Men's Six Nations: Ireland v Wales (k/o 8.10pm) |
| 7:45pm | BBC One | MOTD Live: Wolves v Liverpool -- FA Cup (k/o ~8pm) |
| 8:00pm | BBC Two | Gardeners' World (Ep4) |
| 8:00pm | Channel 5 | Hippo Watch with Steve Backshall (Ep2, finale) |
| 8:00pm | E4 | The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer (S4 Ep5, repeat) |
| 9:00pm | BBC Two | Big Cats 24/7 (Ep2/6) |
| 9:00pm | Channel 4 | Gogglebox (S27 Ep5) |
| 9:00pm | Channel 5 | Solved: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste |
| 9:00pm | ITV2 | The Heat FINALE (Ep10) |
| 9:00pm | More4 | Astrid: Murder in Paris (S5 Ep7) |
| 9:00pm | Sky Arts | Blur: Live at Wembley Stadium (2024) |
| 9:00pm | BBC Four | Simon and Garfunkel: Concert in Central Park (1981) |
| 9:00pm | Sky One | Ted (S2 Ep1, new) |
| 9:45pm | Sky One | Ted (S2 Ep2, new) |
| 10:00pm | Channel 4 | The Last Leg (live) |
| 10:00pm | BBC Two | Live at the Apollo (S19 Ep7, series finale) |
| 10:00pm | Sky Drama | The Brutalist (2024) |
| 10:30pm | BBC Four | Simon and Garfunkel: The Harmony Game |
| 10:40pm | ITV1 | ITV News |
| 10:50pm | BBC One | The Graham Norton Show (highlights) |
| 11:00pm | BBC Two | The End We Start From (2023) |
| 11:25pm | ITV1 | Bad Boys (1995) |
| 11:40pm | BBC One | RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs The World (Ep6) |
Freeview TV Guide: What's On Streaming
Can't watch live? Use our now and next guide to see what's on right now, or browse the full channels list for every station.
BBC iPlayer: 500 Words with The One Show, MOTD Live (FA Cup), Big Cats 24/7, Gardeners' World, Live at the Apollo, The Graham Norton Show, The End We Start From, RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs The World, Father Brown, Simon and Garfunkel: Concert in Central Park ITVX: Men's Six Nations Ireland v Wales, The Heat, Bad Boys Channel 4 streaming: Winter Paralympics opening ceremony, Gogglebox, The Last Leg, The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer (E4), Astrid: Murder in Paris (More4) My5: Hippo Watch with Steve Backshall, Solved: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste NOW: Ted series 2, Blur Live at Wembley Stadium, The Brutalist (Sky Drama)
Frequently Asked Questions
What time is the Winter Paralympics opening ceremony on TV tonight?
The Winter Paralympics opening ceremony is on Channel 4 from 6.30pm tonight (Friday 6th March 2026). Coverage from the Verona Arena runs until approximately 9pm, anchored by Billy Monger, Ade Adepitan and Ed Jackson.
What time is the FA Cup Wolves v Liverpool on TV tonight?
BBC One's live FA Cup fifth-round coverage begins at 7.45pm, with kick-off at approximately 8pm. The match is also live on TNT Sports 1 from 7pm.
What time is Big Cats 24/7 on tonight?
Big Cats 24/7 is on BBC Two at 9pm tonight (Friday 6th March 2026). Episode two follows the threatened Xudum lion pride and cheetah mother Pobe in the Okavango Delta.
What time is Ted series 2 on Sky One?
Ted series 2 launches with a double bill tonight on Sky One. Episode 1 is at 9pm and Episode 2 follows at 9.45pm. Both are also available on NOW.
What time is Six Nations Ireland v Wales on tonight?
ITV1's coverage of Ireland v Wales starts at 7.20pm, with kick-off at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin at 8.10pm. Jill Douglas presents.
Is EastEnders on tonight?
No, EastEnders is not on tonight. EastEnders does not air on Fridays. It returns on Monday on BBC One. Tonight BBC One has live FA Cup football from 7.45pm instead.
What's the best thing to watch on TV tonight?
The Winter Paralympics opening ceremony on Channel 4 from 6.30pm is the must-watch event. If sport isn't your thing, Big Cats 24/7 on BBC Two at 9pm is brilliant, Ted series 2 kicks off on Sky One at 9pm, and The Brutalist on Sky Drama from 10pm is essential cinema.
TV Guide UK: Final Verdict
Tonight's tv guide is built around three live sporting events running back to back, which is either a dream or a scheduling headache depending on your priorities. The Winter Paralympics opening ceremony on Channel 4 from 6.30pm is the standout, with one of the best broadcast teams in the business anchoring what should be a genuinely moving event from Verona. FA Cup football on BBC One and Six Nations rugby on ITV1 fill the 8pm slot, so pick your sport and settle in. Once the live action clears, Big Cats 24/7 on BBC Two at 9pm is the quality pick of the evening -- raw, dramatic and genuinely unpredictable wildlife television. Ted on Sky One gives you something lighter, and for the committed viewer The Brutalist on Sky Drama from 10pm is as good a film as you'll see on television this year. Late on, The Last Leg goes live at 10pm and Live at the Apollo wraps its series at the same time on BBC Two. A strong Friday. Check our tonight's TV highlights page for a quick overview of everything showing right now.