Monday 16th March 2026 ends with something worth staying up for: Small Prophets reaches its series finale on BBC Two at 10:00pm, and Mackenzie Crook's folk-horror comedy has earned the attention. Pearce Quigley, Jon Pointing, Paul Kaye and Crook himself are all on peak form as the threads -- dreams, shed-based mysteries, Roy's property designs on Michael's house -- pull tight in what Mark Braxton called "a giddy mixture of Gremlins-style horror, mysteries solved and sweetly incongruous moments." Before it gets there, BBC Two at 9:00pm has Inside the Rage Machine, Marianna Spring's documentary on social media algorithms and why every problem of the 2020s has a platform behind it. BBC One handles the semi-final of MasterChef: The Professionals from 9:00pm, where eight chefs face a no-waste vegetarian brief that will quickly separate the confident from the flailing. Full Monday listings are below. Check the tonight page to see what's airing right now.
What's On TV Tonight: Quick Picks
- Small Prophets ⭐ -- BBC Two, 10:00pm -- Series finale; Mackenzie Crook's folk-horror comedy ends with Gremlins-style chaos, mysteries resolved and a folk score by Cinder Well that's been one of the year's quiet pleasures
- Inside the Rage Machine -- BBC Two, 9:00pm -- Marianna Spring on how algorithms feed extremism and outrage; leaked documents, US insiders and the business model of division
- MasterChef: The Professionals -- BBC One, 9:00pm -- Semi-finals begin; eight chefs, no-waste brief, vegetarian invention test; Marcus Wareing at his most exacting
- Panorama: Assisted Dying: What Next? -- BBC One, 8:00pm -- Fergus Walsh visits Western Australia to see voluntary assisted dying in practice, talks to both sides
- Trying -- BBC One, 10:40pm and 11:05pm -- Double bill; Rafe Spall and Esther Smith back as Jason and Nikki; Nikki worries she's less fun with the kids than Jason is
- The Jetty -- BBC Three, 9:00pm -- Jenna Coleman's 2024 crime drama; DC Ember Manning suspects a predator targeting underage girls; two episodes tonight
- Andor -- Sky One, 9:00pm -- If you missed it on Disney+: Diego Luna and the best Star Wars has ever been as serious television
TV Guide: Early Evening (6pm – 8pm)
Wheel of Fortune – ITV2, 7:00pm
Series 2 opens with Graham Norton hosting the word-puzzle gameshow. The first series was a comfortable, undemanding good time, and Norton is the right kind of host for it -- he can fill the pauses without making them feel like padding and he doesn't make contestants feel stupid when they get something wrong. An easy watch while the rest of the evening assembles itself.
The One Show – BBC One, 7:00pm
Alex Jones and Roman Kemp on the sofa. Monday's edition, which typically has a slightly busier guest book than later in the week. Useful to have on while cooking.
Grand Tours of Scotland's Lochs – BBC Two, 7:30pm
Paul uncovers a First World War German prison camp, which turns out to be one of those pieces of Scottish history that's hidden in plain sight -- a significant piece of the landscape that most people have walked past without knowing what they were looking at. The series has been good on exactly this kind of discovery.
EastEnders – BBC One, 7:30pm
Mother's Day brings complications for the Brannings with the Beales involved, which in Albert Square terms means someone is going to say something they'll regret by the end of the half hour. Bea plays with fire (probably more literal than metaphorical, though with EastEnders you never quite know), and Jean extends an olive branch to someone who may not deserve one. Available on BBC iPlayer.
Fletchers' Family Farm – ITV1, 7:30pm
The new series from Kelvin and Liz Fletcher is off to a practical start: sheep scanning and an egg hunt with Marnie and Milo. The series has been a warmer proposition than most farming-family TV because the Fletchers seem genuinely unpolished in front of the camera in a way that the more established farming series have long since ironed out. Available on ITVX.
Mastermind – BBC Two, 8:00pm
The semi-final, and the specialist subjects tonight are a good pair: Jeff Buckley and Rafael Benitez's managerial career. Buckley specialists are always interesting contestants because the subject demands knowledge of both the music and the mythology -- his death on the eve of his second album gives the whole catalogue a particular weight that fans tend to carry with them. Clive Myrie presents. Available on BBC iPlayer.
University Challenge – BBC Two, 8:30pm
Quarter-final. Amol Rajan in the chair, two university teams, and the standard of questions at this stage of the competition is high enough that the wrong-answer buzz-ins can be genuinely painful to watch. One of the few quiz formats that gets harder as the series progresses rather than easier. Available on BBC iPlayer.
TV Tonight: Prime Time (8pm onwards)
Panorama: Assisted Dying: What Next? – BBC One, 8:00pm
Fergus Walsh is the right journalist to make this film -- he's been covering health policy long enough to have watched the assisted dying debate cycle through Parliament more than once without ever getting very far, and his approach here is plainly investigative rather than campaigning in either direction. He visits Western Australia, where voluntary assisted dying became legal in 2019, to see the system operating in practice rather than in theory: who uses it, what the safeguards look like, how the medical profession has adapted. Back in the UK he talks to supporters and opponents of the current bill. The argument over assisted dying in this country has generated enormous heat and relatively little light, and a Panorama that approaches it with some rigour is worth an hour of anyone's time. Available on BBC iPlayer.
Emmerdale – ITV1, 8:00pm
The village continues. Available on ITVX for those who've fallen behind.
Motorway Cops: Catching Britain's Speeders – Channel 5, 8:00pm
Tonight features gang-armed carjackers, which takes the show into territory darker than most Motorway Cops episodes manage. A pursuit ends in a hot tub, which is the kind of detail that writes itself. Available on My5.
Shed and Buried: Classic Helicopter – Quest, 8:00pm
Henry Cole's new project is a Bell 47 helicopter -- the first of its type ever built in the UK, manufactured by Westland Aircraft, and now 80 years old. Cole is attempting a flight to mark the anniversary, and the costs have forced him to sell parts of his motorcycle collection to fund it. Jonathan Hughes describes it as a labour of love, which is accurate, but the jeopardy here is real: this is an 80-year-old helicopter. Available on Freeview Play.
Coronation Street – ITV1, 8:30pm
Sam falling unconscious is the kind of Coronation Street plot point that tends to expand rather than resolve quickly, and Kit encountering a witness adds another thread to what's been a building week on the Street. Available on ITVX.
Trace, Track, Get My Car Back – BBC One, 8:30pm
Tracker Neil and his team are closing in on a Land Rover connected to Manchester robberies -- the programme has a pleasing procedural quality, following the vehicle recovery process with enough detail to show how the work actually gets done. Available on BBC iPlayer.
Batch from Scratch: Cooking for Less – Channel 4, 8:00pm
Series 2, episode 4 of the budget batch-cooking series, which has found an audience by taking the proposition seriously rather than treating it as a lifestyle exercise. Useful television for a Monday evening.
MasterChef: The Professionals – BBC One, 9:00pm
The semi-finals are where MasterChef: The Professionals shifts from competition television into something closer to high-stakes craft television -- the remaining eight chefs are all genuinely good, and the invention test format removes the safety net of a brief with an obvious answer. Tonight's constraint is no waste, and the vegetarian brief tightens the screw further. Chefs who have been coasting on their meat cookery will be exposed. Marcus Wareing has a particular talent for identifying exactly where a dish started to go wrong, Monica Galetti's technical standard is the benchmark the chefs are actually cooking towards, and Matt Tebbutt provides a more accessible register without softening the judgements. The two chefs who go through tonight will be in a very strong semi-final field. Available on BBC iPlayer. Runs until approximately 10:40pm.
Inside the Rage Machine – BBC Two, 9:00pm
Marianna Spring is the BBC's disinformation and social media correspondent and she's been watching this territory closely for years, which means this documentary doesn't spend its first twenty minutes explaining what an algorithm is before getting to the point. The premise is simple: social media platforms are designed to give you more of what keeps you watching, and from that simple idea -- give people what they want -- strange and dangerous effects follow. Echo chambers, misinformation, polarisation, outrage, addiction. Spring travels to the United States to interview insiders who shaped the platforms, and she examines leaked documents from major corporations where division and engagement are, as she puts it, very much part of the business model. What makes the film work beyond the obvious points is the detail: specific decisions made by specific people at specific companies, rather than the usual hand-waving about tech. David Butcher reviewed it warmly in the Radio Times. Available on BBC iPlayer.
Gone – ITV1, 9:00pm
Episode 3, and fresh intelligence is pushing the investigation in a direction that's putting pressure on Michael's relationship with Alana as much as on the case itself. The series has been building slowly and the patience is starting to pay off. Available on ITVX.
Handcuffed: Last Pair Standing – Channel 4, 9:00pm
Episode 5 of the handcuffed road trip through the British outdoors. By now the pairs know each other's rhythms well enough that the friction is more specific and therefore more interesting than in the early episodes. Channel 4 reality television at its most outdoorsy.
The Jetty – BBC Three, 9:00pm and 10:00pm
Two episodes tonight. Jenna Coleman stars as DC Ember Manning in this 2024 crime drama, now getting a BBC Three repeat run. The case that forms around a predator targeting underage girls is the kind of British crime drama that arrives without enormous fanfare and settles in quickly. The first episode establishes Manning and the geography of the threat with enough economy to leave the second episode room to develop rather than repeat. Both on BBC iPlayer.
DTF St. Louis – Sky Atlantic, 9:00pm
Episode 3. David Harbour and Jason Bateman in a drama about a love triangle in the middle of middle-age malaise that ends in murder. The series has been building its character work carefully enough that when things turn dark the darkness arrives with weight rather than shock-value convenience. Available on Sky Go or Now.
Andor – Sky One, 9:00pm
If Andor passed you by when it aired on Disney+ in 2022, Sky One running it now is a genuine opportunity. Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, Tony Gilroy writing and running the show, and the achievement is that it largely stops being a Star Wars property and becomes what Jack Seale in the Radio Times called "intelligent, thrilling and painfully timely" television about rising authoritarianism and the decisions ordinary people have to make when institutions fail them. It is also, scene for scene, extremely well made. Available on Now.
Police Interceptors: Taking Down the Shoplifting Gangs – Channel 5, 9:00pm
Officers targeting organised theft with a combined haul of £78,000 worth of stolen goods -- this is a different proposition from opportunistic shoplifting, involving coordination and sometimes violence. Available on My5.
Made in Chelsea – E4, 9:00pm
Series 30 opens with the cast heading to Scotland, which is either a brave production decision or exactly the right one depending on your tolerance for MIC doing anything outside its natural habitat. A blast from Sam Prince's past causes disruption. Available on Channel 4 streaming.
TV Guide UK: Late Night
Small Prophets – BBC Two, 10:00pm ⭐
Six episodes in, and Mackenzie Crook's folk-horror comedy reaches its finale tonight in what Mark Braxton's Radio Times review calls "a giddy mixture of Gremlins-style horror, mysteries solved and sweetly incongruous moments." The series has followed Michael Sleep (Pearce Quigley) whose increasingly detailed prophetic dreams are drawing him closer to a truth he can't quite see yet. Roy (Paul Kaye) is circling the house with designs on it. Neighbour Clive (Jon Pointing) has broken into Michael's shed and is trying -- with mixed results -- to report what he found. Kacey is in trouble. Jon Pointing, Paul Kaye and Crook (as DIY-store boss Gordon) are all excellent, which Braxton's review notes plainly: "the casting has been spot-on throughout." The folk score by Cinder Well has been threaded through the series with real care, and the animation from Ainslie Henderson and Will Anderson has given the show a visual texture that no other British comedy this year has matched. "Small is beautiful," Braxton concludes, and he's right. All six episodes are on BBC iPlayer from tonight. Note: airs at 11:05pm in Northern Ireland.
Trying – BBC One, 10:40pm and 11:05pm
Double bill. Rafe Spall and Esther Smith as Jason and Nikki, who have two children temporarily in their care and are learning, at speed, that the gap between wanting to be good parents and actually being good parents is wider than either of them imagined. Episode 3 turns on Nikki's growing fear that she can't bond with the children the way Jason has, and episode 4 puts the theory to the test at Tyler's birthday preparations, which lead to an outdoors weekend with other adoptive families that highlights -- clearly enough to sting -- that Jason is more fun than Nikki, and that Nikki knows it. The series is at its best when it refuses to flatten the comedy into reassurance. Available on BBC iPlayer.
Rooster – Sky One, 10:00pm
New sitcom. Katie (Charly Clive) has discovered her husband has been cheating -- and that he's protected by tenure at the prestigious Ludlow College, which means she can't simply remove him from her life. Enter Greg (Steve Carell), her overbearing novelist father, who is being seduced by a job offer at the same institution. As Huw Fullerton noted in his review, "it's easy to be seduced by the idealised university's leafy quads" -- and that seduction is the engine the comedy runs on. Gentle rather than sharp, designed to make you smile rather than laugh out loud. Available on Now.
All Her Fault – Sky Atlantic, 10:00pm
Episode 3, and Detective Alcaras shifts attention to the Chicago marathon. The series continues its careful pace. Available on Sky Go or Now.
Secret Sex Lives of Tyrants – Sky History, 10:00pm
New series, opening with Idi Amin and Uganda in the 1970s. The title is more salacious than the content -- this first episode is more interested in ritualised terror and what the review describes as "an atavistic form of tribalism" than in sexual gossip. Archive material has been colourised and given motion using AI, which adds presence to footage that might otherwise recede into historical distance. Available on Now.
Have I Got News for You – BBC One, 11:35pm
Martin Clunes hosts, with Helen Lewis and Ian Smith as guests. The topical panel show in its regular late Monday slot. Available on BBC iPlayer.
Tracey Emin Night – BBC Four, 10:00pm
Tracey Emin: Where Do You Draw the Line? -- an Imagine documentary filmed over twelve months following the Young British Artists movement, with Emin talking to the late Alan Yentob at the Tate Modern. Emin is, as the review notes, in a reflective mood -- which for Emin means candid, sometimes difficult and occasionally funny. Followed at 11:20pm by Emin/Munch: Between the Clock and the Bed, a 2020 documentary on the affinities between Edvard Munch and Emin as artists preoccupied with bodies, mortality and the interior life. Both on BBC iPlayer.
Sport
Premier League -- Sky Sports Main Event, kick-off 8:00pm (coverage from 6:30pm). Brentford v Wolves. Brentford pushing for European qualification; Wolves facing what looks increasingly like a settled fate at the bottom of the table. One of the more uneven matches on paper, but Brentford at home have been unpredictable this season.
World Snooker Open -- TNT Sports 1, from 6:00am and again at 11:30am. Day one from Yushan, China.
NBA -- Sky Sports Main Event, 11:00pm: Atlanta Hawks v Orlando Magic. 1:30am: Houston Rockets v LA Lakers.
See our full sport on TV guide for kick-off times and channels across every fixture tonight.
Tonight's TV Listings: Full Schedule
Here are the complete TV listings for Monday 16th March 2026 across all major Freeview, Sky and streaming channels.
| Time | Channel | Programme |
|---|---|---|
| 7:00pm | BBC One | The One Show (Alex Jones, Roman Kemp) |
| 7:00pm | ITV2 | Wheel of Fortune (Graham Norton, Series 2 Ep 1) |
| 7:00pm | BBC Two | Global Eye |
| 7:30pm | BBC One | EastEnders (Mother's Day drama -- the Brannings, the Beales) |
| 7:30pm | ITV1 | Fletchers' Family Farm (new series) |
| 7:30pm | BBC Two | Grand Tours of Scotland's Lochs (WWI German prison camp) |
| 8:00pm | BBC One | Panorama: Assisted Dying: What Next? (Fergus Walsh) |
| 8:00pm | BBC Two | Mastermind (semi-final -- Jeff Buckley, Benitez) |
| 8:00pm | ITV1 | Emmerdale |
| 8:00pm | ITV2 | Ant and Dec's Limitless Win |
| 8:00pm | Channel 4 | Batch from Scratch: Cooking for Less (S2 Ep 4) |
| 8:00pm | Channel 5 | Motorway Cops: Catching Britain's Speeders |
| 8:00pm | Quest | Shed and Buried: Classic Helicopter (new -- Bell 47) |
| 8:30pm | BBC One | Trace, Track, Get My Car Back (Land Rover, Manchester) |
| 8:30pm | BBC Two | University Challenge (quarter-final, Amol Rajan) |
| 8:30pm | ITV1 | Coronation Street (Sam unconscious; Kit and a witness) |
| 9:00pm | BBC One | MasterChef: The Professionals (semi-final, no-waste vegetarian test) |
| 9:00pm | BBC Two | Inside the Rage Machine (Marianna Spring) |
| 9:00pm | BBC Three | The Jetty (Jenna Coleman, Ep 1) |
| 9:00pm | ITV1 | Gone (Ep 3) |
| 9:00pm | ITV2 | The 1% Club (Lee Mack) |
| 9:00pm | Channel 4 | Handcuffed: Last Pair Standing (Ep 5) |
| 9:00pm | Channel 5 | Police Interceptors: Taking Down the Shoplifting Gangs |
| 9:00pm | E4 | Made in Chelsea (new S30 Ep 1 -- Scotland) |
| 9:00pm | Sky One | Andor (Diego Luna) |
| 9:00pm | Sky Atlantic | DTF St. Louis (Ep 3 -- Harbour, Bateman) |
| 10:00pm | BBC Two | Small Prophets (series finale, Ep 6/6) |
| 10:00pm | BBC Three | The Jetty (Jenna Coleman, Ep 2) |
| 10:00pm | BBC Four | Tracey Emin: Where Do You Draw the Line? -- Imagine |
| 10:00pm | Sky One | Rooster (Steve Carell) |
| 10:00pm | Sky Atlantic | All Her Fault (Ep 3) |
| 10:00pm | Sky History | Secret Sex Lives of Tyrants (new series -- Idi Amin) |
| 10:30pm | BBC Two | Newsnight |
| 10:40pm | BBC One | Trying (Ep 3 -- Rafe Spall, Esther Smith) |
| 10:45pm | ITV1 | Oscars Highlights (98th Academy Awards) |
| 11:05pm | BBC One | Trying (Ep 4) |
| 11:20pm | BBC Four | Emin/Munch: Between the Clock and the Bed (2020) |
| 11:35pm | BBC One | Have I Got News for You (Martin Clunes hosts) |
| 11:00pm | Sky Sports Main Event | NBA: Atlanta Hawks v Orlando Magic |
Freeview TV Guide: What's On Streaming
Can't watch live? This Freeview TV guide covers streaming options too. Use our now and next guide to see what's on right now, or browse the full channels list for every available station.
BBC iPlayer: Small Prophets (all six episodes from tonight), Inside the Rage Machine, MasterChef: The Professionals, EastEnders, Panorama: Assisted Dying: What Next?, Trying (double bill), The Jetty (Jenna Coleman), The One Show, Mastermind, University Challenge, Have I Got News for You, Tracey Emin: Where Do You Draw the Line?, Emin/Munch: Between the Clock and the Bed
ITVX: Gone, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Fletchers' Family Farm, Oscars Highlights
Channel 4 streaming: Made in Chelsea (new series), Handcuffed: Last Pair Standing, First Dates, Naked Attraction, Batch from Scratch
My5: Motorway Cops: Catching Britain's Speeders, Police Interceptors: Taking Down the Shoplifting Gangs
Sky Go / NOW: Andor (Sky One), Rooster (Sky One), DTF St. Louis (Sky Atlantic), All Her Fault (Sky Atlantic), Secret Sex Lives of Tyrants (Sky History)
Freeview Play: Shed and Buried: Classic Helicopter (Quest)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is EastEnders on TV tonight, Monday 16th March 2026?
Yes, EastEnders is on BBC One tonight at 7:30pm. Tonight's episode involves Mother's Day drama for the Brannings with the Beales involved, Bea playing with fire, and Jean extending an olive branch. The episode is available on BBC iPlayer after broadcast.
What time is MasterChef: The Professionals on tonight?
MasterChef: The Professionals is on BBC One at 9:00pm, running until approximately 10:40pm. Tonight is the start of the semi-finals: the remaining eight chefs face a no-waste vegetarian invention test, judged by Marcus Wareing, Monica Galetti and Matt Tebbutt. Chefs with a strong vegetarian background may have the advantage. Available on BBC iPlayer.
What time is Small Prophets on BBC Two tonight?
Small Prophets airs its series finale -- episode 6 of 6 -- on BBC Two at 10:00pm tonight (11:05pm in Northern Ireland). Michael Sleep's dreams are growing more detailed as he inches towards the truth. Time is running out for him and Kacey. All six episodes are available on BBC iPlayer.
What's the best thing to watch on TV tonight?
Small Prophets on BBC Two at 10:00pm is the pick of the night -- Mackenzie Crook's folk-horror comedy has been one of the most original things on British television this year and the finale delivers. Before that, Inside the Rage Machine on BBC Two at 9:00pm is the most timely documentary of the week: Marianna Spring on algorithms, extremism and the business model of outrage. MasterChef: The Professionals from 9:00pm on BBC One is reliable semi-final television. And if you haven't seen Andor on Sky One at 9:00pm, Diego Luna and Tony Gilroy's Star Wars series is as good as anything on TV this year.
What time is Inside the Rage Machine on BBC Two?
Inside the Rage Machine is on BBC Two at 9:00pm tonight. Marianna Spring investigates how social media algorithms on YouTube, X, Facebook and TikTok shape what we see, and how the logic of keeping people engaged feeds echo chambers, misinformation, extremism and outrage. She meets US insiders and examines leaked corporate documents. Available on BBC iPlayer.
What time does The Jetty start on BBC Three tonight?
The Jetty airs on BBC Three from 9:00pm with episode 1, followed by episode 2 at 10:00pm. Jenna Coleman stars as DC Ember Manning, who suspects a predator is targeting underage girls. Both episodes are available on BBC iPlayer.
TV Guide UK: Final Verdict
Monday 16th March 2026 is a better evening than its position in the week usually produces. The 9:00pm hour alone offers MasterChef: The Professionals semi-finals on BBC One, Inside the Rage Machine on BBC Two, The Jetty on BBC Three, Andor on Sky One and DTF St. Louis on Sky Atlantic -- which is a serious clash of good television for a Monday, and will require some decisions about what to catch live and what to leave for iPlayer.
The evening is anchored by Small Prophets at 10:00pm, which has been an odd and genuinely pleasurable series and deserves a send-off watched in real time rather than caught up with later. Mackenzie Crook has made something that doesn't much resemble anything else on British television, and the finale is the right occasion to mark it properly.
For those who want to extend the night: Trying's double bill from 10:40pm on BBC One is good, warm comedy, Rooster on Sky One at 10:00pm is pleasant if not essential, and BBC Four's Tracey Emin night from 10:00pm is well-programmed for anyone interested in the YBA generation. Browse the full channels list or check what's on now to follow the evening as it unfolds.