Friday night telly is all about Stand Up to Cancer. Channel 4's throwing everything at it tonight - a launch show, a documentary from inside a cancer clinic, and a Celebrity Gogglebox special featuring Josh Hartnett, Kieran Culkin and a few Rugby players. Elsewhere, BBC One wraps up Return to Paradise with a wedding day murder, and Channel 5 invites us to gawp at rich people's cheese. Something for everyone.

Table of Contents

Quick Picks: Tonight's Best

Early Evening (6:30pm - 8pm)

Snow Dogs - BBC Two, 7pm

Snow Dogs

Gordon Buchanan fulfills his childhood dream of commanding a husky team through the Yukon wilderness. Inspired by Jack London's Call of the Wild, he's trekking the old Klondike Gold Rush trail with seven dogs and expert musher Pierre-Luc Fortin. Gorgeous scenery, enthusiastic dogs, and Buchanan doing that thing where he looks genuinely moved by nature. Cosy Friday evening viewing.

Stand Up to Cancer: The Launch - Channel 4, 7:30pm ⭐

Davina McCall gets things rolling for this year's Stand Up to Cancer campaign. She's promising "unexpected Hollywood stars" and appearances from the beloved "hundys" - that'd be the hundred-year-olds from Celebrity Traitors, in case you missed that particular bit of telly magic.

This is the appetiser before the main event: a documentary at 8pm from inside Addenbrooke's cancer clinic in Cambridge, followed by Celebrity Gogglebox at 9pm. Channel 4's going all-in tonight.

Emmerdale - ITV1, 7:30pm

Yorkshire soap doing its Friday thing. If you're invested, you know the drill.

Prime Time: Drama and Documentary (8pm onwards)

Return to Paradise - BBC One, 8pm

Season two finale of the Death in Paradise spin-off. Glenn and Daisy's wedding hits a snag when a guest drops dead from fast-acting poison found on the order of service. Because nothing says "Australian cosy crime" quite like murder at a wedding.

Look, is it Shakespeare? No. But the franchise knows exactly what it is - sunny locations, unlikely murders, comfortingly predictable detective work. If you've been following this series, tonight's the payoff.

Cancer Clinic Live - Channel 4, 8pm

The centrepiece of tonight's Stand Up to Cancer programming. This documentary takes cameras inside Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, following patients and families through testing, diagnosis and treatment.

It's aiming for something quite specific: not just awareness, but genuine insight into the clinical and emotional reality of cancer treatment. The sort of documentary that's difficult but important.

Gardeners' World Winter Specials - BBC Two, 8pm

Gardeners' World Winter Specials

Adam Frost and friends demonstrate there's plenty to do in a winter garden if you know where to look. Adam's repairing a roof, cleaning a nest box and planting broad beans - the full December package. Rekha Mistry visits a community allotment in Sheffield for those who prefer their gardening with a social edge.

Gentle, practical, and exactly what you want from this show.

Coronation Street - ITV1, 8pm

Friday night Weatherfield. The cobbles continue.

Celebrity Gogglebox for SU2C - Channel 4, 9pm

Celebrity Gogglebox

Here's the hook: Kieran Culkin and Jazz Charton, Josh Hartnett and Tamsin Egerton, plus Nick Mohammed and rugby player Joe Marler, all watching telly together for charity. Hollywood couples reacting to British television. There's something inherently funny about watching Succession's Roman Roy squinting at whatever Channel 4 throws at him.

Part of the Stand Up to Cancer programming block - lighter than the documentary but still raising money.

Inside the Four Seasons at Christmas - Channel 5, 9pm

Inside the Four Seasons

Channel 5 leans into what it does best: showing us lives we'll never lead. This time it's the Four Seasons Mayfair at Christmas, where head chef Benjamin selects "the best cheese London has to offer" and Ruth worries her Christmas tree might be too big. Ten men delivered it, apparently.

The documentary makes no apologies for the excess. Michelin-starred afternoon teas, chocolate baubles the size of footballs, giant mirrorballs. If you enjoy this sort of thing ironically or unironically, here it is.

All Her Fault - Sky Atlantic, 9pm

This episode opens where most thrillers end: missing child returned. But for Marissa, that's when things get stranger. Meanwhile Jenny realises she's been carrying far too much blame for everything that's happened.

Glossy Irish thriller that's been building nicely. If you've been watching, this should deepen the mystery rather than wrap it up.

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

Friday night satirical panel show. Ian and Paul doing what they've been doing for thirty-odd years. Still capable of landing a decent joke about the week's news, even if the format hasn't changed since the Major government.

The 1% Club Rollover - ITV1, 9pm

Lee Mack's logic puzzle quiz with a rollover jackpot. The questions that "only 1% of the population can answer" remain entertainingly frustrating. Good for shouting at the telly.

Michael Palin's Himalaya: Journey of a Lifetime - BBC Two, 9pm

Michael Palin's Himalaya

Palin revisits his fifth travel series - the Himalaya trek that fulfilled a boyhood dream sparked by Hillary and Tensing's 1953 Everest ascent. Starting at the Khyber Pass, travelling through Pakistan and India, eventually reaching Everest base camp.

Classic Palin: curious, warm, and making remote places feel accessible. Good Friday night comfort viewing if cancer documentaries aren't your thing.

Daddy Issues - BBC One, 9:35pm

Aimee Lou Wood and David Morrissey's father-daughter sitcom continues. Tonight Gemma (Wood) finds herself baffled by a children's entertainer called Rocky. "I'm not sure it was entirely necessary for him to be topless during Twinkle Twinkle Little Star..."

Less father-daughter screentime this week, but the show remains charming. Wood's comic timing carries it.

Late Night: For Night Owls (10pm onwards)

The Graham Norton Show - BBC One, 10:40pm

End-of-week chat show staple. Celebrities, anecdotes, red chair stories. You know what you're getting.

Get Carter - BBC Two, 11pm

Get Carter

Michael Caine in the 1971 British gangster classic. Jack Carter returns to Newcastle for his brother's funeral and uncovers a mess of drugs, porn and corruption. Mike Hodges directs with bleak efficiency; Caine's cold fury anchors everything.

Still one of the best British crime films ever made. The Newcastle locations, the violence, the nihilism - it's all there. Britt Ekland and Ian Hendry in support. Rated 18 for good reason.

If You're Not Into Cancer Programming

Silent Night - Sky Max, 9pm

Joel Kinnaman action thriller from 2023. Grieving father, Christmas Eve revenge, ruthless gang. Exactly what it sounds like. If you want something completely uncomplicated and violent, this'll do.

What's on Streaming

If you'd rather avoid broadcast, Netflix has new episodes of various ongoing series, Disney+ continues pushing Star Wars content, and ITVX has the Stand Up to Cancer programming if you want to catch up.

The Viewing Schedule Table

Time Channel Programme
7:00pm BBC Two Snow Dogs
7:30pm Channel 4 Stand Up to Cancer: The Launch
7:30pm ITV1 Emmerdale
8:00pm BBC One Return to Paradise
8:00pm BBC Two Gardeners' World Winter Specials
8:00pm Channel 4 Cancer Clinic Live
8:00pm ITV1 Coronation Street
9:00pm BBC One Have I Got News for You
9:00pm BBC Two Michael Palin's Himalaya
9:00pm ITV1 The 1% Club Rollover
9:00pm Channel 4 Celebrity Gogglebox for SU2C
9:00pm Channel 5 Inside the Four Seasons
9:00pm Sky Atlantic All Her Fault
9:00pm Sky Max Silent Night
9:35pm BBC One Daddy Issues
10:40pm BBC One The Graham Norton Show
11:00pm BBC Two Get Carter

Final Verdict

Friday's dominated by Stand Up to Cancer - three hours of Channel 4 programming for a good cause, featuring proper Hollywood star power in the Gogglebox special. If charity telly isn't your thing, BBC One's Return to Paradise finale delivers cosy crime satisfaction, and BBC Two has the Palin Himalaya retrospective. Late-night viewers get Michael Caine at his coldest in Get Carter. And if you want to watch wealthy people fret about oversized Christmas trees, Channel 5 has you covered.

Nick Bain writes about television for TVRadar.co.uk