Full BBC Four listings for Monday 2 November 2026, with times in London local time.

BBC Four is an art night, with a quiz in the middle

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

BBC Four’s Monday is built around art, and the best of it is The Story of Scottish Art at 8pm. If you have no appetite for Panorama on BBC One or Only Connect on BBC Two at the same time, this is where the channel is most itself.

The evening is short. The channel runs its This is BBC Four holding strand from 5.30am until two minutes to seven, 808 minutes of it, and then switches on properly at 7pm with Alaska: Earth’s Frozen Kingdom. That hour has crowded opposition: The One Show, American Pickers, NCIS and a pile of others. It is not a head-to-head the channel expects to win, but it can pick its own audience.

The Story of Scottish Art is the pick because it has the night’s one clear subject and an hour to give it. It sits between two programmes with art in the title: that is a considered run of programmes rather than a collection of whatever was in the cupboard. John Berger: The Art of Looking at 10pm is a 55-minute slot, a minute or so short of a full hour, and a late addition for the viewer who has made it through the evening. A late-night An Art Lovers’ Guide at 11.55pm rounds the theme off.

The surprise is in the middle. Classic Mastermind at 9pm and Call My Bluff at 9.30pm are half-hour slots, and both have been on the channel on two days of the last fortnight. Call My Bluff is the older of the two by a distance: it is a British panel game that began on BBC Two, has run to 125 episodes, and was built around Frank Muir, Robert Morley, Patrick Campbell, Arthur Marshall and Alan Coren. It faces MAS*H on Great TV and Benidorm on That’s TV at 9.30pm, so anyone watching it is there on purpose. That is an advantage.

The overnight hours are given to repeats. A Stitch in Time and Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius have each turned up on four days in the window, and Antiques Roadshow has been on the last two days. None of that is a problem for anyone with a recorder, and nobody is staying up for Peace in No Man’s Land at half past midnight, but the pattern is worth knowing.

The verdict: one proper evening of television, and the right kind for BBC Four. Start at 8pm and stay through to the end of John Berger.


Also on TV tonight at 9pm

  • BBC One: This City Is Ours
  • BBC Two: Escaping Idi Amin
  • ITV1: Adultery
  • Channel 4: New: Pierre
  • Channel 5: Murder: Suspect No 1
  • ITV2: Big Brother
  • ITV3: Midsomer Murders (from 8pm)
  • ITV4: Under Siege 2: Dark Territory
  • E4: Made in Chelsea
  • More4: Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive and Kids

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


Frequently asked questions

What’s on BBC Four tonight?

On Monday 2 November 2026, BBC Four shows Alaska: Earth’s Frozen Kingdom at 7pm, The Story of Scottish Art at 8pm, Classic Mastermind at 9pm, Call My Bluff at 9.30pm, John Berger: The Art of Looking at 10pm and Metalworks! at 10.55pm.

Is there a film on BBC Four tonight?

No. BBC Four has no films in its evening schedule on Monday 2 November 2026.

What’s on BBC Four late tonight?

After 11pm, BBC Four has An Art Lovers’ Guide at 11.55pm.

What time does BBC Four’s evening start?

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