Full BBC Four listings for Sunday 1 November 2026, with times in London local time.

BBC Four ends Sunday with two and a half hours of Shakespeare

See also: What's on tonight across all channels | Wednesday's TV guide

BBC Four’s evening is built to lead somewhere, and where it leads is 10pm: The BBC Television Shakespeare, given 150 minutes, the longest programme of the evening. Everything before it is a run-up. Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius at 9pm sets the subject, and the late slot then lets it breathe until half past midnight. For anyone who wants to stay with a single idea for the whole of the night, this is a coherent schedule.

The pick is the 10pm slot. Its competition is thin by design: BBC Weekend News on BBC One, Later … with Jools Holland on BBC Two, and on the commercial side White House Down, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and The Other Woman. Nothing there asks for 150 minutes of attention, which is exactly what this does. Four stars. BBC Four isn’t saying which play it is.

The hour before it

Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius is the surer bet for a casual viewer, because it is an hour rather than a long evening. It turns up on BBC Four on four days in the current window, so it is not hard to catch. The value of the 9pm placement is the handover: it hands the audience straight to the main event at ten. Three stars.

The early part of the night

Antiques Roadshow opens primetime at 7pm. It is a long-running show: 40 series and 712 episodes to date, with Bruce Parker, Lennox Cato, David Battie, Clive Farahar and Justin Croft among its cast. It is also the weakest-placed item on the night, since it sits against Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One, and the audience that wants valuations on a Sunday evening is not the Strictly audience. Three stars.

A Stitch in Time at 8pm runs for half an hour, followed by Pubs, Ponds and Power: The Story of the Village at 8.30. Both are short, and the channel has repeated A Stitch in Time across four days in the window, which suggests it is being used as a fixture. Against Blue Planet III on BBC One at the same hour it is easily ignored. Three stars, with a note that the half-hour format at least keeps the evening moving.

Overnight

After midnight it is a mixed bag for the recorder: Arena at 12.20am, To the Manor Born and Keeping Up Appearances back to back, Fungi: The Web of Life, then Full Circle with Michael Palin at 3am. Keeping Up Appearances and To the Manor Born both turn up on three days across the window, so they are well worn.


Also on TV tonight at 9pm

  • BBC One: This City Is Ours
  • BBC Two: Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing
  • ITV1: Adultery
  • Channel 4: New: Bradley Walsh’s Million…
  • Channel 5: Live: NFL on 5
  • ITV2: Big Brother
  • ITV3: Midsomer Murders (from 8pm)
  • ITV4: Under Siege
  • E4: One Born Every Minute
  • More4: 999: On the Front Line

Every channel tonight, side by side · Films on TV tonight · Tomorrow’s TV


Frequently asked questions

What’s on BBC Four tonight?

On Sunday 1 November 2026, BBC Four shows Antiques Roadshow at 7pm, A Stitch in Time at 8pm, Pubs, Ponds and Power: The Story of the Village at 8.30pm, Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius at 9pm and The BBC Television Shakespeare at 10pm.

Is there a film on BBC Four tonight?

No. BBC Four has no films in its evening schedule on Sunday 1 November 2026.

What time does BBC Four’s evening start?

The evening schedule starts with This is BBC Four at 6.58pm.