What's on TV tonight? Friday 8th May 2026 is a date that British broadcasting will not forget in a hurry. Sir David Attenborough -- born 8 May 1926, today 100 years old -- is the reason the BBC has handed over its entire prime-time window to a live concert from the Royal Albert Hall. It is also VE Day's 81st anniversary, and it is the night the 2026 Giro d'Italia pedals away from the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. The schedule did not plan for all three of those things to land on the same Friday. They did anyway.
Browse what's on right now for live updates, check tonight's highlights, or head to the full channels list for pages covering BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, ITV1, Channel 4, Sky Sports Main Event, and TNT Sports 3.
What's On TV Tonight: Quick Picks
- David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth ⭐ -- BBC One, 8.30pm -- LIVE from the Royal Albert Hall; Kirsty Young hosts; Sigur Rós; Bastille's Dan Smith; 90 minutes; his actual birthday
- Whitney Houston Night ⭐ -- BBC Four, from 9.05pm -- double bill: Whitney at the BBC (9.05pm) then Live in South Africa 1994 (c.10.05pm)
- Wrexham vs Millwall -- Sky Sports Main Event/Football, coverage 7pm, k/o 8pm -- Championship play-off semi-final first leg; The Den; 6th vs 3rd
- Giro d'Italia Stage 1 -- TNT Sports 3, from 11am -- Nessebar to Burgas, Bulgaria, 147km; first Grande Partenza in Southeast Europe
- Half Man Episode 3 -- BBC iPlayer, from today -- Richard Gadd's Baby Reindeer follow-up drops weekly on Fridays
- "Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad" -- ITV1, 7.30pm -- S7 Ep 2; Australia; sheep shearing; Blue Mountains Tyrolean traverse
- Have I Got News for You -- BBC Two, 9pm -- Steph McGovern hosts; Dame Sheila Hancock; Jon Richardson; post-elections episode
- "Question Time" -- BBC One, 7.30pm -- Friday edition; Fiona Bruce; local elections results
See what's on right now for live updates.
TV Guide: Early Evening (7pm -- 9pm)
"Question Time" -- BBC One, 7.30pm (Wales: 11pm)
Fiona Bruce brings Question Time to its unusual Friday slot -- the programme moved from its regular Thursday night position because Thursday 7 May was local elections night across England, Scotland, and Wales. BBC One's elections coverage ran all evening, with Laura Kuenssberg, Sophie Raworth, and Chris Mason leading the results programme. Tonight, the panel reconvenes to pick over what the results mean. The pre-election polling pointed toward significant Reform UK gains in the West Midlands, and if that held, Fiona Bruce will have plenty to work with. Available on BBC iPlayer.
"Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad" -- ITV1, 7.30pm
Series 7, episode 2 of 6. The Walshes are in Australia, heading up the east coast toward Queensland, and the format remains what it has always been: Barney finds something physically demanding and probably unwise, Bradley attempts it with varying degrees of success, and the rapport between them does most of the heavy lifting.
This week Bradley pitches "The Great British Shave Off" -- a TV format idea he is entirely serious about, at least briefly -- before the pair attempt sheep shearing. Bradley, it turns out, has a natural aptitude for it. The episode also features a Tyrolean traverse across a mist-filled gap in the Blue Mountains: two peaks, a rope, and a long way down. Not the most challenging television in the schedule tonight, but reliably good Friday company. Available on ITVX.
Gardeners' World -- BBC Two, 7.30pm (Not in Wales)
The RHS Malvern Spring Festival runs 7-10 May at the Three Counties Showground in Worcestershire, and Gardeners' World is there for the occasion. Rachel de Thame and Joe Swift host from the showground. Hostas feature prominently tonight, alongside a designer's pressed flower work. Chelsea is the week after next. Available on BBC iPlayer.
Emmerdale -- ITV1, 8pm
The Friday 30-minute episode. On ITV1 at 8pm. Available on ITVX.
Coronation Street -- ITV1, 8.30pm
The Friday 30-minute episode. On ITV1 at 8.30pm. Available on ITVX.
The Main Event: David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth ⭐ -- BBC One, 8.30pm
David Attenborough was born on 8 May 1926 in Isleworth, Middlesex. Tonight he turns 100. The BBC has responded to that fact in the way you would hope: a live concert from the Royal Albert Hall, broadcast simultaneously on BBC One and iPlayer, 90 minutes long, hosted by Kirsty Young.
The format is simple and well-chosen. The BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Jérôme Kuhn, plays scores drawn from seven decades of natural history television. Archive footage from the landmark series -- the racer snakes and iguanas chase from Planet Earth II, the wave-washing orcas from Frozen Planet II -- runs alongside the music. The effect is something between a retrospective and a live event, which is exactly right for a man who has been a fixture of British television since 1953.
The musical bill has been put together with care. Sigur Rós perform "Hoppípolla" -- the track from their 2005 album Takk that became inseparable from the Planet Earth trailer and was re-recorded for Planet Earth II in 2016. It is one of the few pieces of contemporary music that now belongs as much to a BBC documentary as it does to the band that wrote it. Dan Smith, the frontman of Bastille, performs a classical arrangement of "Pompeii" with the BBC Concert Orchestra; the track featured in Planet Earth III in 2023. Paraguayan harpist Francisco Yglesias plays "Pájaro Campana" -- a traditional piece that appeared in Zoo Quest, Attenborough's first wildlife series, in 1954. The decision to include it is the programme's most elegant touch: bringing the first and last chapters of the career into a single evening. British singer Sienna Spiro also performs.
Tributes come from people who knew what Attenborough's work meant before they were old enough to articulate it. Chris Packham, Liz Bonnin, Steve Backshall, and Michael Palin all appear. Kirsty Young is the right host -- she has the warmth to hold an occasion like this and the judgment to know when to get out of the way.
There is a 40-plus title Attenborough collection on BBC iPlayer today if you want to follow the evening with a deep archive session. Zoo Quest is on there, as is Life on Earth (1979), Dynasties (2018), and all three Planet Earth series.
David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth is on BBC One at 8.30pm. Available on BBC iPlayer simultaneously and after broadcast.
TV Guide: 9pm
Have I Got News for You -- BBC Two, 9pm (Wales: 9.50pm)
Steph McGovern hosts Series 71, with Ian Hislop and Paul Merton in the usual positions and Jon Richardson and Dame Sheila Hancock as guests. Richardson is making his 14th appearance on the show; Hancock, now 93, her third. The local elections results will be fresh material -- the programme airs less than 24 hours after the count, which is the sort of timing that makes panel shows either very good or very nervous. This one tends to handle it well. Available on BBC iPlayer.
The Neighbourhood -- ITV1, 9pm
Graham Norton hosts episode 8 of the Peak District reality competition. Six households live in a purpose-built neighbourhood and compete for a £250,000 prize, with immunity challenges, "for sale" sign voting, and the general anxiety of knowing your neighbours are assessing your usefulness. Tonight one household is after a luxury hamper; others are on Neighbourhood Watch duty. The Guardian gave the series two stars; the overnight audience has been more forgiving. Available on ITVX.
Gogglebox -- Channel 4, 9pm
New episode. The nation's regular sofa critics respond to the week's television. A week that ends with a Attenborough centenary concert and a Whitney Houston tribute night gives Gogglebox more than its usual amount of material to work with. See the full Channel 4 schedule for more. Available on Channel 4 streaming.
BBC Four: Whitney Houston Night -- from 9.05pm
BBC Four's Friday night has long been the home of the music tribute evening, and tonight it earns that reputation properly. The Whitney Houston double bill runs from 9.05pm and does not need elaborate justification.
Whitney Houston...at the BBC (9.05pm) is a curated compilation of archive BBC appearances. Her first two albums -- the 1985 debut and Whitney from 1987 -- are the natural focus, and the performances from that period are the ones that hold up without qualification. "How Will I Know", "Greatest Love of All", "Didn't We Almost Have It All" -- the BBC footage from those years catches her when the voice was simply the best voice in popular music, and the rest of the production knew to stay out of its way.
Whitney Houston: Live in South Africa 1994 follows at approximately 10.05pm. By 1994 she was at the commercial peak that came after The Bodyguard, performing to enormous crowds with the assurance of someone who had been doing this for a decade. The concert is a reminder that the recorded versions of her songs, however good, were always reduced versions of what happened live.
Available on BBC iPlayer.
TV Guide: Late Night
First Dates -- Channel 4, 10pm
Fred Sirieix's restaurant opens for a slightly different evening tonight: parents join the usual mix of hopeful singles. Fred's own parents are among the lunch guests, and his father sports a moustache that the programme clearly considers a feature worth noting. Jordan, 26, brings his mum Kelly along for a double date. Aimee, during her date, reveals that her profession is not what her date was expecting -- a dominatrix disclosure that the show handles with less drama than the word implies. Ukrainian single mother Kateryna meets the gentlemanly Peter; the toast of their evening is "Budmo!" -- Ukrainian for "cheers". Available on Channel 4 streaming.
Shadow in the Cloud -- BBC Two, 12.15am (into Saturday 9 May)
Roseanne Liang's 2020 film (certificate 15) stars Chloë Grace Moretz as Maude Garrett, a Women's Auxiliary Air Force officer who boards a B-17 bomber over the Pacific during World War Two carrying what she describes as classified materials. Mid-flight, she begins to hear -- and eventually see -- something in the plane's undercarriage that the crew attributes to mechanical problems and she knows is not.
The gremlin mythology the film draws on has a genuine RAF origin. Roald Dahl -- who flew Hurricanes for the RAF before he became famous as a writer -- coined the term in his 1943 children's book The Gremlins, written as a treatment for a Disney animated film that never went into production. Airmen blamed mechanical failures on small creatures that sabotaged engines; Dahl formalised the mythology. The film borrows that wartime context and turns it into something between a creature feature and a feminist action film, which is a combination that either works entirely or does not work at all. It broadly works. Available on BBC iPlayer.
TV Guide: Sport on Friday 8th May 2026
Giro d'Italia 2026, Stage 1 -- TNT Sports 3, from 11am
The 109th edition of the Giro d'Italia begins today with Stage 1 from Nessebar to Burgas along the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria -- 147km, flat, and designed for the sprinters. Nessebar is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a medieval walled city on a peninsula; Burgas is a port city 30km south. The Giro has opened outside Italy before, but Bulgaria is a first for Southeast Europe.
Studio coverage from The Breakaway -- Orla Chennaoui hosting, with Adam Blythe and Robbie McEwen as pundits -- begins well before the race gets moving. The stage result is expected in the early afternoon. The race runs until 31 May in Rome. On TNT Sports 3; also on HBO Max.
Wrexham vs Millwall -- Sky Sports Main Event/Football, k/o 8pm
The EFL Championship play-off semi-final first leg. Millwall finished third in the Championship (80 points), Wrexham sixth (70 points). Under the play-off format the higher-placed side hosts the first leg, so tonight's match is at The Den in Bermondsey.
Wrexham's journey into this fixture deserves a moment. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney took over an FA Trophy-winning club in the National League in 2020. Four years and three promotions later, Wrexham are in the Championship play-offs with a shot at Wembley and the Premier League. Even Millwall supporters -- not traditionally a fanbase given to sentiment about other clubs' stories -- would find it hard to argue that Wrexham versus the play-off final is not a compelling prospect.
Millwall, however, have been the stronger side this season by ten points, and The Den is not an easy place to come for a first leg. The second leg is at the Racecourse Ground on Monday 11 May. The play-off final is at Wembley on Saturday 23 May 2026.
Coverage from 7pm on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football; kick-off 8pm. A Sky Sports or NOW subscription is required.
Italian Open (Day 4) -- Sky Sports Tennis, from 10am
The 2026 Internazionali BNL d'Italia at the Foro Italico in Rome reaches its fourth day of play. Second-round matches across both the WTA and ATP draws take place on the clay courts. This is the last major clay-court event before the French Open, which begins 25 May. Day session from 10am on Sky Sports Tennis; evening session from 6pm.
IPL 2026, Match 51 -- Sky Sports Cricket, c.2.50pm
Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders from the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. Build-up from approximately 2.50pm BST; first ball at roughly 3pm BST. On Sky Sports Cricket.
Tonight's TV Listings: Full Schedule
Full tv listings for Friday 8th May 2026 across all major Freeview, Sky, and streaming channels.
| Time | Channel | Programme |
|---|---|---|
| From 11am | TNT Sports 3 | Giro d'Italia 2026 -- Stage 1: Nessebar to Burgas, Bulgaria (147km) |
| 10am onwards | Sky Sports Tennis | Italian Open 2026 -- Day 4 (WTA + ATP second rounds, Foro Italico, Rome) |
| c.2.50pm | Sky Sports Cricket | IPL 2026 Match 51: Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders |
| 7pm | Sky Sports Main Event / Football | "Championship Play-Off SF: Wrexham vs Millwall -- coverage begins" |
| 7:30pm | BBC One | "Question Time" (Fiona Bruce; Friday edition; local elections results) |
| 7:30pm | BBC Two | Gardeners' World (RHS Malvern Spring Festival; Rachel de Thame and Joe Swift) |
| 7:30pm | ITV1 | "Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad" (S7 Ep 2 -- Australia; sheep shearing; Blue Mountains) |
| 8pm | ITV1 | Emmerdale (Friday 30-min episode) |
| 8pm | Sky Sports Main Event / Football | "Championship Play-Off SF: Wrexham vs Millwall -- k/o 8pm" |
| 8:30pm | BBC One | "David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth" (LIVE; Royal Albert Hall; Kirsty Young; Sigur Rós; Dan Smith/Bastille; 90 mins) ⭐ |
| 8:30pm | ITV1 | Coronation Street (Friday 30-min episode) |
| 9pm | BBC Two | Have I Got News for You (S71; Steph McGovern hosts; Dame Sheila Hancock; Jon Richardson) |
| 9pm | Channel 4 | Gogglebox (new episode) |
| 9pm | ITV1 | The Neighbourhood (Ep 8; Graham Norton; luxury hamper challenge) |
| 9:05pm | BBC Four | "Whitney Houston Night: Whitney Houston...at the BBC" (archive BBC compilation) |
| 10pm | Channel 4 | First Dates (Fred Sirieix; parents episode; Jordan and mum Kelly; Kateryna and Peter; "Budmo!") |
| c.10:05pm | BBC Four | "Whitney Houston: Live in South Africa 1994" (concert film) |
| 12:15am | BBC Two | Shadow in the Cloud (2020; Chloë Grace Moretz; 15 cert) |
Freeview TV Guide: What's On Streaming
Can't watch live tonight? Here's where to find everything on catch-up and streaming on Friday 8 May 2026:
BBC iPlayer: David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth (live and on-demand), Question Time, Have I Got News for You, Gardeners' World, Whitney Houston Night (both programmes), Shadow in the Cloud; plus Half Man Episode 3 (new drop today) and the full 40-plus title Attenborough centenary collection
ITVX: Bradley and Barney Walsh Breaking Dad, Emmerdale, Coronation Street, The Neighbourhood
Channel 4 streaming: Gogglebox, First Dates
Sky Sports / NOW TV: Wrexham vs Millwall play-off semi-final, Italian Open, IPL Match 51 (subscription required)
TNT Sports / HBO Max: Giro d'Italia Stage 1 (subscription required)
Apple TV+: Unconditional Episodes 1 and 2 (premiere today; subscription required)
Netflix: Jennifer's Body (2009, library addition), My Royal Nemesis Season 1 (new K-drama), Remarkably Bright Creatures (drama film with Sally Field)
TV Tonight: Frequently Asked Questions
Is EastEnders on TV tonight, Friday 8th May 2026?
No. EastEnders does not air on Fridays. The 2026 schedule revision moved the soap to a Monday-to-Thursday run only -- there is no Friday episode and no BBC Three omnibus. Catch up on any episodes from this week via BBC iPlayer.
What time is David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth on tonight?
David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth is on BBC One at 8.30pm tonight, Friday 8th May 2026. The 90-minute live concert from the Royal Albert Hall runs until approximately 10pm. Kirsty Young hosts; Sigur Rós, Dan Smith of Bastille, and Francisco Yglesias perform; BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Jérôme Kuhn. Available on BBC iPlayer simultaneously from 8.30pm.
What is David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth about?
It is a live concert broadcast from the Royal Albert Hall celebrating Sir David Attenborough's 100th birthday -- he was born on 8 May 1926. The BBC Concert Orchestra performs music from seven decades of natural history television, with archive footage from Planet Earth II, Frozen Planet II, and other landmark series. Sigur Rós perform "Hoppípolla", Dan Smith of Bastille performs "Pompeii", and harpist Francisco Yglesias plays "Pájaro Campana" from Zoo Quest (1954). Tributes from Chris Packham, Liz Bonnin, Steve Backshall, and Michael Palin.
What's on BBC Four tonight?
BBC Four is running a Whitney Houston tribute night from 9.05pm. First: Whitney Houston...at the BBC, a compilation of archive BBC appearances (9.05pm). Then, from approximately 10.05pm: Whitney Houston Live in South Africa 1994. Songs include "How Will I Know", "Greatest Love of All", and "Didn't We Almost Have It All". Both programmes are available on BBC iPlayer.
What channel is Wrexham vs Millwall on tonight?
Wrexham vs Millwall is live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football. Coverage from 7pm; kick-off at The Den, London, is 8pm. This is the EFL Championship play-off semi-final first leg. The second leg is at the Racecourse Ground on Monday 11 May. A Sky Sports or NOW subscription is required.
Is the Graham Norton Show on tonight?
No. The Graham Norton Show Series 33 ended on 6 March 2026. Series 34 is expected in autumn 2026. It is not in the schedule tonight.
What's on BBC iPlayer today, Friday 8th May 2026?
Half Man Episode 3 -- Richard Gadd's six-part drama with Jamie Bell -- drops on BBC iPlayer today. The series releases a new episode every Friday; episode 4 will follow on 15 May. BBC iPlayer is also carrying a 40-plus title Attenborough centenary collection today, including Zoo Quest (1954), Life on Earth (1979), all three Planet Earth series, Dynasties (2018), and Seven Worlds, One Planet (2019).
What's the best thing to watch on TV tonight, Friday 8 May 2026?
David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth on BBC One at 8.30pm. It is the man's actual 100th birthday and the BBC has built a live concert at the Royal Albert Hall around it -- that combination does not come around often. For football, Wrexham vs Millwall on Sky Sports is the Championship play-off semi-final first leg with real stakes (k/o 8pm). For music, the Whitney Houston double bill on BBC Four from 9.05pm is the late-night pick. And Half Man Episode 3 is on iPlayer today if you are working through Richard Gadd's follow-up to Baby Reindeer.
TV Guide UK: Final Verdict
There is an argument that tonight is the best BBC Friday in years, and it rests almost entirely on one fact: a man who was born in 1926, who made his first television appearance in 1953, who narrated Planet Earth and Life on Earth and Dynasties and Blue Planet II and Planet Earth III, turns 100 tonight. The BBC's response -- a live concert from the Royal Albert Hall, ninety minutes, free on iPlayer, Sigur Rós closing out with "Hoppípolla" -- is exactly proportionate to the occasion.
BBC Four's Whitney Houston night that follows is not an accident of scheduling. A tribute double bill from 9.05pm through to midnight, anchored by the 1994 South Africa concert, is the right way to end a night that has already been built around what music and film and archive footage can do together.
The rest of the schedule earns its place around those two anchor points. Wrexham vs Millwall on Sky Sports runs simultaneously with the Attenborough concert, which means football supporters will be choosing between a play-off semi-final and a centenary broadcast -- not an easy call. The Giro d'Italia starts in Bulgaria in the afternoon, which is the sort of thing that rewards having TNT Sports. And Half Man drops its third episode on iPlayer, continuing Richard Gadd's quiet run of making things that do not resemble anything else on British television.
A Friday that did not need to try this hard.
Check what's on right now for live updates, browse the full channels list, or see tonight's highlights. The Freeview TV guide for Friday 8th May 2026 starts properly at 7.30pm and does not let up until the Whitney Houston concert finishes after midnight.