Wondering what's on tv tonight? Thursday's tv guide is nothing short of a scheduling catastrophe -- in the best possible way. Five shows worth watching collide at 9pm across five different channels, Europa League quarter-finals are running in parallel on TNT Sports, and Nicola Coughlan returns late night on Channel 4 with Big Mood series 2. Check the full tv listings below, browse the Freeview TV guide for live updates, or see the now-and-next listings -- and then start deciding which of tonight's clashes you are actually going to watch live and which ones go on the catch-up pile.
What's On TV Tonight: Quick Picks
- The Apprentice: The Final ⭐ – BBC One, 9pm – SERIES FINALE, S20 ep 12/12; 20th anniversary finale; two finalists; Lord Sugar decides
- Taskmaster – Channel 4, 9pm – S21 ep 2; Greg Davies; Amy Gledhill, Armando Iannucci, Joel Dommett, Joanna Page, Kumail Nanjiani
- Bergerac – U&Drama, 9pm – NEW SERIES; Damian Molony; Jersey; a groom who promised no more secrets turns up dead
- Big Mood – Channel 4, 10pm & 10:30pm – NEW SERIES S2 eps 1 & 2; Nicola Coughlan; Lydia West; back as best mates Maggie and Eddie
- Race Across the World – BBC One, 8pm – ep 3/9; Istanbul; one team faces elimination; taxis versus trains
- Europa League – TNT Sports, k/o ~8pm – Forest v Porto, Villa v Bologna; Conference League: Palace v Fiorentina
See what's on right now for live updates.
TV Tonight: Sport
Europa League Quarter-Finals – TNT Sports, k/o ~8pm
Three English clubs in European action tonight, which is not something you can say every Thursday. Nottingham Forest host Porto in the Europa League quarter-final second leg on TNT Sports 1 -- coverage from 7pm, kick-off around 8pm. Aston Villa take on Bologna in the other Europa League tie on TNT Sports 2, also from 7pm. Crystal Palace face Fiorentina in the Conference League quarter-final second leg on TNT Sports 3. A big night for English football in Europe.
Premier League Darts: Rotterdam – Sky Sports Main Event, from 6pm. Quarter-finals, including Luke Littler against Gerwyn Price. If European football is already full, darts is a reliable alternative.
Live PGA Tour: RBC Heritage – Sky Sports Golf, 7pm. Day one from Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island.
TV Guide: Early Evening (6:30pm – 8pm)
Great Japanese Railway Journeys – BBC Two, 6:30pm
Episode 4 of 15. Michael Portillo arrives in Kanazawa, one of Japan's more underrated cities -- known for its preserved samurai districts, excellent seafood, and a contemporary art museum with a swimming pool installation that has been photographed by approximately everyone. Half an hour of elegant railway travel before the soaps take over. Available on BBC iPlayer.
EastEnders – BBC One, 7:30pm
Vicki has run out of moves tonight, and the Max-versus-Lauren dynamic continues to burn. All three major soaps are running -- Emmerdale at 8pm and Coronation Street at 8:30pm on ITV1 -- so the full weeknight block is intact. See the BBC One schedule for more. Available on BBC iPlayer.
Race Across the World – BBC One, 8pm
Episode 3 of 9. Five teams depart Istanbul knowing that whoever arrives last at the next checkpoint is going home. Jo and Kush spend money on taxis they cannot really afford; Puja and Roshi opt for Izmir and its sensible transport connections; Katie wants to detour through Cappadocia, which is scenic but not necessarily fast; Mark and Margo pick up work at a local café to fund a high-speed train to Konya. The show's appeal is precisely this -- a single questionable transport decision can flip the whole race. Tense and warm in equal measure. Available on BBC iPlayer.
Paul Merton Driving Amazing Trains – Channel 4, 8pm
New series, episode 2. Paul Merton is in Switzerland this week -- the Glacier Express, a funicular up to the Jungfraujoch (Europe's highest railway station, which is the kind of fact that sounds made up but isn't), and a stop at Reichenbach Falls, where Sherlock Holmes supposedly tumbled to his death. Merton notes that the food offering -- chicken curry and champagne -- makes British rail catering look rather bleak. He is not wrong. Available on Channel 4 streaming.
TV Tonight: Prime Time (9pm onwards)
Right. Five shows. One timeslot. No good solution.
Thursday 9pm has become a five-way collision between The Apprentice (BBC One), Taskmaster (Channel 4), Bergerac (U&Drama), Missed Call (Channel 5), and Inside Barlinnie (BBC Two). Add I'm a Celebrity... South Africa on ITV1 and you have six simultaneous shows competing for your attention. It is the kind of scheduling decision that makes you wonder if the broadcasters are doing it deliberately, or whether the people who plan these things simply don't talk to each other. Either way, streaming catch-up is not optional tonight -- it is survival.
The Apprentice: The Final ⭐ – BBC One, 9pm
Series 20 has reached its conclusion, and it happens to be the 20th anniversary of the whole enterprise. Twenty years. Twenty series. Hundreds of candidates who could not work out whether to agree with each other in the taxi home or shove their teammates under the proverbial bus. Hundreds of "You're fired" moments from Lord Sugar, delivered with varying degrees of actual irritation.
The format should feel creaky by now. A lot of British reality TV from 2005 does. The Apprentice, somehow, has not entirely fallen apart. This anniversary series has been a reasonable run -- double firings when the mood took hold, team tasks ranging from children's publishing to laughter workshops and salsa classes. Tonight the final two candidates launch their business plans to a panel of industry experts before Lord Sugar makes his choice.
Has the show changed? Barely. Does it still work? More often than it should. Nick Hewer, Lord Sugar's long-serving aide until 2014, cast a long shadow over those early years, and there is something nostalgic about revisiting how the programme's world has shifted since. But the DNA is intact -- besuited candidates catastrophically overestimating their own abilities, Lord Sugar dispensing verdicts with the patience of a man who has seen it all before, and a final that always, somehow, feels like it matters more than it probably should. Available on BBC iPlayer.
Taskmaster – Channel 4, 9pm
Series 21, episode 2. The new series is under way, and the format shows no signs of running out of ways to make intelligent people do baffling things. Greg Davies -- enormous, magnificently unfair, constitutionally incapable of giving anyone the benefit of the doubt -- presides over this year's intake.
Series 21 brings in Amy Gledhill, Armando Iannucci, Joel Dommett, Joanna Page, and Kumail Nanjiani. This episode reportedly involves a daring stunt from Iannucci -- Kumail Nanjiani moves bowling pins with oven gloves, and Joanna Page unwisely attempts a handstand, per the EPG. Alex Horne stands beside Greg Davies with his clipboard, as ever. Available on Channel 4 streaming.
Bergerac – U&Drama, 9pm
New series opener. The reimagined Bergerac returns for its second run, and the opening scene is exactly the right kind of television: a groom at his Jersey wedding reception stands up and announces, in front of everyone, that there will be no more secrets from this moment on. It is the sort of declaration that functions as a dramatic guarantee. He is dead shortly afterwards.
The grieving new bride is played by Lesley Sharp, and Jim Bergerac (Damian Molony) arrives to investigate carrying his own complications -- he has been spending time with a fellow recovering alcoholic who, it emerges, is closely connected to the case. Not the most straightforward starting position for someone supposed to be impartial. The Jersey setting continues to do a lot of the atmospheric heavy lifting, and Molony remains a credible lead. Worth making space for. Available on U streaming.
Missed Call – Channel 5, 9pm
Episode 4 of 5. The body count in Saint-Michel continues to rise, which is one way of narrowing the list of suspects. Sarah (Joanna Scanlan) is still searching for her daughter, and a new phone message raises the possibility she is still alive -- though every fresh lead seems to open another trapdoor of village secrets. Friendly gendarme Virginie (Claire Keim) remains her most reliable ally in a community that has perfected the art of not answering questions. The series concludes tomorrow. Available on My5.
Inside Barlinnie – BBC Two, 9pm
Episode 2 of 2, series finale. Scotland's largest prison, final episode. Long-term addict Bobby begins his rehabilitation programme. Billy is trying to demonstrate that the changes he claims to have made are not just words. A tough watch, done with care. Contains very strong language. Available on BBC iPlayer.
TV Guide UK: Late Night
Big Mood – Channel 4, 10pm & 10:30pm
Series 2, episodes 1 and 2. Nicola Coughlan and Lydia West are back as Maggie and Eddie, the codependent best mates who made the first series one of the more talked-about comedy debuts of 2024. They return having not spoken for a year, thrown back together as bridesmaids at a mutual friend's wedding -- exactly the kind of situation where everything that should not be said tends to get said. Second episode sends them across London chasing drag show tickets, which sounds exhausting and probably is. The show's particular skill is finding real emotional weight inside the mess. One of the better late-night options in a while. Available on Channel 4 streaming.
The Miniature Wife – Sky Atlantic, 9pm
Episode 2. Les (Matthew Macfadyen) built a cellular reduction device intended for fruit and vegetables. His wife Lindy (Elizabeth Banks) is now six inches tall and living in a doll's house while he yells encouragement at her through a tiny megaphone. Macfadyen commits to the absurdity while Banks carries the more grounded panic of someone who did not agree to any of this. There is a fairly clear metaphor running underneath the screwball mechanics about a husband who protects and diminishes in the same breath. Episode 2 tests whether that metaphor can support an ongoing series. Available on Sky.
DMV: Department of Motor Vehicles – ITV1, 10:05pm
New series. American workplace sitcom set at the East Hollywood DMV -- the sort of institution that exists at the exact intersection of bureaucracy and human desperation. Harriet Dyer plays Colette and Molly Kearney plays Barbara. A late addition to ITV1's comedy slate and worth fifteen minutes of your time to decide if it works for you. Available on ITVX.
Tonight's TV Listings: Full Schedule
Here are the full tv listings for Thursday 16th April 2026 across all major Freeview, Sky, and streaming channels.
| Time | Channel | Programme |
|---|---|---|
| 6pm | Sky Sports Main Event | Premier League Darts: Rotterdam (quarter-finals) |
| 6:30pm | BBC Two | Great Japanese Railway Journeys (ep 4/15) |
| 7pm | BBC Two | Great British Menu (S21 ep 24/29) |
| 7pm | TNT Sports 1 | Nottingham Forest v Porto – Europa League (coverage; k/o ~8pm) |
| 7pm | TNT Sports 2 | Aston Villa v Bologna – Europa League (coverage; k/o ~8pm) |
| 7pm | TNT Sports 3 | Fiorentina v Crystal Palace – Conference League (coverage; k/o ~8pm) |
| 7pm | Sky Sports Golf | PGA Tour: RBC Heritage Day 1 |
| 7:05pm | BBC Three | Doctor Who: 20 Years of Tennant |
| 7:30pm | BBC One | EastEnders |
| 8pm | BBC One | Race Across the World (ep 3/9) |
| 8pm | ITV1 | Emmerdale |
| 8pm | Channel 4 | Paul Merton Driving Amazing Trains (NEW, ep 2) |
| 8pm | Channel 5 | Yorkshire's Poshest Hotel Grantley Hall (LAST IN SERIES) |
| 8pm | BBC Two | This Farming Life (S7 ep 8/12) |
| 8:30pm | ITV1 | Coronation Street |
| 9pm | BBC One | The Apprentice The Final (SERIES FINALE S20 ep 12/12) |
| 9pm | Channel 4 | Taskmaster (S21 ep 2) |
| 9pm | U&Drama | Bergerac (NEW SERIES) |
| 9pm | Channel 5 | Missed Call (ep 4/5) |
| 9pm | BBC Two | Inside Barlinnie (ep 2/2 -- SERIES FINALE) |
| 9pm | ITV1 | I'm a Celebrity South Africa (S2 ep 9) |
| 9pm | Sky Atlantic | The Miniature Wife (NEW, S1 ep 2) |
| 10pm | Channel 4 | Big Mood (NEW SERIES S2 ep 1) |
| 10:30pm | Channel 4 | Big Mood (S2 ep 2) |
| 10:05pm | ITV1 | DMV Department of Motor Vehicles (NEW) |
| 10:40pm | BBC One | Question Time |
Freeview TV Guide: What's On Streaming
Can't watch live? Here's where everything lands. The Freeview TV guide for tonight's catch-up platforms:
BBC iPlayer: The Apprentice: The Final, Race Across the World, EastEnders, Inside Barlinnie, Great Japanese Railway Journeys, Great British Menu, This Farming Life
Channel 4 streaming: Taskmaster, Paul Merton Driving Amazing Trains, Big Mood (both episodes)
My5: Missed Call
ITVX: Emmerdale, Coronation Street, I'm a Celebrity... South Africa, DMV: Department of Motor Vehicles
U streaming: Bergerac
TNT Sports: Nottingham Forest v Porto, Aston Villa v Bologna, Fiorentina v Crystal Palace (all subscription required)
What's On TV Tonight: Frequently Asked Questions
Is EastEnders on TV tonight, Thursday 16th April 2026?
Yes, EastEnders is on BBC One at 7:30pm tonight. Vicki is out of options and Max and Lauren are still at each other. Emmerdale follows on ITV1 at 8pm and Coronation Street at 8:30pm -- all three soaps running as normal. Catch up on EastEnders anytime via BBC iPlayer.
What time is The Apprentice finale on tonight?
The Apprentice series finale is on BBC One at 9pm tonight, Thursday 16th April 2026. Episode 12 of 12 closes out the 20th anniversary series. Two finalists pitch their businesses to industry experts before Lord Sugar makes his final decision. Available on BBC iPlayer.
What time is Taskmaster series 21 on tonight?
Taskmaster series 21 continues on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight. Episode 2 features contestants Amy Gledhill, Armando Iannucci, Joel Dommett, Joanna Page, and Kumail Nanjiani, with Greg Davies presiding and Alex Horne alongside him as ever. Available on Channel 4 streaming afterwards.
What time is the Europa League on TV tonight?
Nottingham Forest v Porto is on TNT Sports 1 from 7pm (k/o ~8pm). Aston Villa v Bologna is on TNT Sports 2 from 7pm. Crystal Palace v Fiorentina in the Conference League is on TNT Sports 3 from 7pm. All three require a TNT Sports subscription.
What time is Big Mood series 2 on tonight?
Big Mood series 2 returns on Channel 4 with two episodes back to back -- episode 1 at 10pm and episode 2 at 10:30pm. Nicola Coughlan and Lydia West are back as Maggie and Eddie. Both episodes available on Channel 4 streaming immediately after broadcast.
What's the best thing to watch on TV tonight?
The Apprentice finale on BBC One at 9pm is the headline event -- a 20th anniversary series closer that has earned a bit of ceremony. If you would rather laugh than watch business pitches, Taskmaster series 21 on Channel 4 at the same time is the smart alternative. Bergerac on U&Drama is worth recording if you missed the first series. Late night, Big Mood on Channel 4 from 10pm is the strongest two-episode return of the spring so far.
TV Guide UK: Final Verdict
Thursday's tv guide is -- honestly, the scheduling this evening is a mess in the most entertaining way possible. Five serious shows at 9pm, three English clubs in European action on TNT Sports, and a late-night double bill from one of British television's better new comedy series. The 9pm decision is the one that matters most: The Apprentice if you want the big BBC One event, Taskmaster if you want to laugh, Bergerac if you want something with a bit more dramatic weight.
The simplest approach is to pick one to watch live and queue the rest. Stream The Apprentice finale on BBC iPlayer if you miss it, catch Taskmaster on Channel 4 streaming, and keep Big Mood for when the football is done. Tonight has more worth watching than most nights manage in a week.
Browse the full channels list, check what's on right now, or see the tonight highlights for a live summary.