Everything worth watching on Tuesday 27 October 2026, across 30 channels.

Tuesday’s best hour is nine o’clock, and Film4 owns it

See also: Wednesday's TV guide

Tuesday is a night of soaps, cops and old comedy until nine, and then the schedule wakes up. The one evening hour worth rearranging plans for is 9pm, when Film4 starts The World’s End and BBC One starts the fifth episode of Blue Lights’ fourth series. Take the film. It has Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine and Martin Freeman in the cast, it runs 130 minutes, and it is the one 9pm choice that gives the whole evening to a single story.

What you give up for nine o’clock

Choosing The World’s End means missing Blue Lights, and that is a real cost. Ghosts is the episode title, and BBC One has placed it straight after DIY SOS. If you would rather keep up with a series than sit through a film, flip the choice. The film is the better stand-alone evening; Blue Lights is the better habit.

Everything else at nine is a lesser bet. Gogglebox is on E4 at 9pm and again at 10pm, so E4 is giving it two hours. Big Brother is on ITV2 with a Group Chat spin-off at 10. Legend has Texas Rangers, a 2001 film with James Van Der Beek, Dylan McDermott, Usher and Ashton Kutcher, and it is the obvious second film if Film4 does not appeal. Sky Arts is opening Amadeus with its first episode, which makes it the odd one out among the channels fighting over this hour.

The eight o’clock fight

If you want something before the main event, the contest is more crowded than it looks. Channel 4 has The Great British Bake Off for 75 minutes, and 4seven carries the same night’s Pastry Week at 8pm. ITV3 has the first episode of Vera’s thirteenth series, Fast Love, and gives it two hours. Over on 5Star, Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts begins with its first episode, for anyone after something that starts from the beginning. BBC Two opens the fourth series of Highland Cops at 8pm.

My order: Vera if you want the longest sit-down, Bake Off if you want company, Highland Cops if you want something short. DIY SOS on BBC One is the safe choice and the least surprising one.

Later, and in the margins

4seven’s The Equalizer 2 starts at 9.15pm, with Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders and Bill Pullman. It is the one big-screen alternative if you have already seen The World’s End. Anyone still awake at 10.50pm gets Sudden Death on Legend, with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Powers Boothe, the late option for anyone who stays up. Our Man Flint on Talking Pictures TV at 8pm, starring James Coburn, is the quiet pick for people who want a 1960s evening.

At ten the news takes over: BBC News at Ten and ITV News at Ten run head to head, with Newsnight at 10.30pm on BBC Two. Nothing else is worth setting an alarm for.

If you read nothing else: put The World’s End on at 9pm, save Blue Lights for another night, and treat the rest as background.


What’s on tonight — Tuesday 27 October 2026

Time Channel Programme
19:00 4seven Jamie’s 20 Minute Meals: Episode 5
19:00 5Action Police Interceptors: Episode 8
19:00 5Star GPs: Behind Closed Doors: Episode 22
19:00 5USA NCIS: Swan Song
19:00 BBC One The One Show
19:00 BBC Two The Hairy Bikers Go West: Episode 2
19:00 Blaze Dickinson’s Real Deal: Ilkeston 2
19:00 Channel 5 Traffic Cops: Episode 16
19:00 E4 Hollyoaks: Episode 128
19:00 GREAT! Action Burn Notice: Question & Answer
19:00 GREAT! Movies Castle: Once Upon a Time in the West
19:00 GREAT! Romance Good News from GREAT!
19:00 GREAT! TV MAS*H: Give and Take
19:00 ITV2 Deal or No Deal: Banker’s Best Battles: Monz and Donna
19:00 Legend Babylon 5: The Corps Is Mother, the Corps Is Father
19:00 Really The Yorkshire Auction House: Wheels of Fortune
19:00 Sky Arts Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Tender Poisoner
19:00 BBC Four Secrets of Skin
19:00 Channel 4 Channel 4 News
19:00 Dave Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing
19:00 Quest Antiques Road Trip
19:00 Yesterday Explore
19:05 GREAT! Romance A Merry Christmas Match: Episode 2
19:20 Drama Last Of The Summer Wine
19:25 ITV2 Deal or No Deal: Banker’s Best Battles: Harry and Nay Nay
19:25 That’s TV Some Mothers Do Ave Em
19:30 BBC One EastEnders: Episode 171
19:30 E4 Brooklyn Nine-Nine: AC/DC
19:30 GREAT! TV MAS*H: As Time Goes By
19:30 BBC Four Gareth Edwards’s Great Welsh Adventure
19:30 ITV1 Tipping Point: Best Ever Finals
19:40 Dave Would I Lie To You?
19:55 More4 The Dog House: Episode 2
20:00 4seven The Great British Bake Off: Pastry Week
20:00 5Action Police Interceptors: Episode 12
20:00 5Star Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts: Episode 1
20:00 5USA NCIS: Pyramid
20:00 BBC One DIY SOS: A Home for Nathan
20:00 BBC Two Highland Cops: A Murder and a Manhunt in Inverness
20:00 Blaze Dickinson’s Real Deal: Ilkeston 3
20:00 Channel 5 Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders: Episode 4
20:00 E4 First Dates: Episode 8
20:00 GREAT! Action Burn Notice: End Run
20:00 GREAT! Movies Unforgettable: Gut Check
20:00 GREAT! Romance Welcome to Christmas: Episode 1
20:00 GREAT! TV MAS*H: The Pilot
20:00 ITV2 The 1% Club: Saturday 26 Apr
20:00 ITV3 Vera: Fast Love
20:00 ITV4 The Motorbike Show: Episode 1
20:00 Legend Walker, Texas Ranger: A Ranger’s Christmas
20:00 Really Antiques Road Trip: Natasha Raskin Sharp and Raj Bisram, Day 2
20:00 Sky Arts The Handel Scandal: The Making Of The Messiah
20:00 Talking Pictures TV Our Man Flint
20:00 BBC Four To the Manor Born
20:00 Channel 4 The Great British Bake Off
20:00 Drama Anna Pigeon Mysteries
20:00 ITV1 Emmerdale
20:00 Quest Sam Lovegrove: Race Mechanic
20:00 That’s TV Minder
20:00 Yesterday Bangers & Cash
20:20 Dave Would I Lie To You?
20:30 GREAT! TV MAS*H: To Market, to Market
20:30 BBC Four Keeping Up Appearances
20:30 ITV1 Coronation Street
20:55 GREAT! Romance Good News from GREAT!
21:00 5Action Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders: Episode 2
21:00 5Star Fare Dodgers: At War With The Law: Episode 3
21:00 5USA Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Let Me Bring Pardon
21:00 BBC One Blue Lights: Ghosts
21:00 BBC Two Surgeons: At the Edge of Life: Episode 4
21:00 Blaze Henry Cole’s Great British Treasure Hunt: Episode 1
21:00 Channel 5 Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild: Chilean Patagonia
21:00 E4 Gogglebox: Episode 3
21:00 Film4 The World’s End
21:00 GREAT! Action Venom: Episode 1
21:00 GREAT! Movies In Plain Sight: Second Crime Around
21:00 GREAT! Romance Welcome to Christmas: Episode 2
21:00 GREAT! TV Brush Strokes: Episode 12
21:00 ITV2 Big Brother: Episode 39
21:00 ITV4 Junk and Disorderly: Episode 7
21:00 Legend Texas Rangers
21:00 More4 Matt Baker: Our Barn in the Dales: Episode 3
21:00 Really Who Do You Think You Are?: Reggie Yates
21:00 Sky Arts Amadeus: Amadeus 1
21:00 BBC Four The Normans
21:00 Dave QI XL
21:00 Drama Father Brown
21:00 ITV1 New: Unbelievable Moments:…
21:00 Quest New: Richard Hammond’s Workshop
21:00 That’s TV Benidorm
21:00 Yesterday Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics
21:15 4seven The Equalizer 2
21:15 Channel 4 Tempting Fortune
21:40 GREAT! TV Brush Strokes: Episode 13
21:55 GREAT! Romance A Christmas Truce: Episode 1
21:55 That’s TV Shameless
21:56 GREAT! Action This Week Back Then
22:00 5Action Forensics: Crash Scene Investigators: Episode 1
22:00 5Star Call the Bailiffs: Time To Pay Up: Episode 4
22:00 5USA Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: … Or Just Look Like One
22:00 BBC One BBC News at Ten
22:00 BBC Two A Course Called Ireland: Feels Like Home
22:00 Blaze Weird Britain: Shropshire
22:00 Channel 5 Surgeons: A Matter of Life or Death: Episode 5
22:00 E4 Gogglebox: Episode 4
22:00 GREAT! Movies Curious Caterer: Dying for Chocolate: Episode 1
22:00 ITV2 Big Brother: The Group Chat: Episode 32
22:00 ITV3 Downton Abbey: Episode 3
22:00 ITV4 The Gentlemen: Episode 1
22:00 More4 24 Hours in A&E: Episode 8
22:00 Really Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace: Episode 1
22:00 Sky Arts Battle Of The Irish Dancers: A Fresh Start
22:00 BBC Four Storyville
22:00 Dave Have I Got A Bit More News For You?
22:00 Drama New Tricks
22:00 ITV1 ITV News at Ten
22:00 Quest The Repair Shop
22:00 Yesterday Bangers & Cash
22:01 GREAT! Action Venom: Episode 2
22:10 Talking Pictures TV Francis Durbridge’s The Doll: Episode 1
22:15 Channel 4 New: The Great British Bake…
22:20 GREAT! TV Brush Strokes: Episode 1
22:30 BBC One BBC London
22:30 BBC Two Newsnight
22:30 ITV1 ITV News London
22:40 BBC One Stacey Dooley: Death in the Barracks
22:45 ITV1 Britain’s Countryside…
22:50 GREAT! Romance Good News from GREAT!
22:50 Legend Sudden Death
22:55 GREAT! Romance A Christmas Truce: Episode 2
22:55 That’s TV Man About The House
22:56 GREAT! Movies Good News from GREAT!
22:58 BBC Two BBC Weather


Frequently asked questions

What’s the best thing to watch on TV tonight?

Our pick is The World’s End on Film4 at 9pm. Also worth watching: Blue Lights on BBC One at 9pm and The Great British Bake Off on 4seven at 8pm.

What film is on TV tonight?

17 films start after 6pm on Tuesday 27 October 2026, including A Merry Christmas Match (2019) on GREAT! Romance at 6.05pm, I, Robot (2004) on Film4 at 6.45pm, Welcome to Christmas (2018) on GREAT! Romance at 8pm, The Handel Scandal: The Making Of The Messiah (2026) on Sky Arts at 8pm and Our Man Flint (1966) on Talking Pictures TV at 8pm.

What’s on TV at 9pm tonight?

At 9pm on Tuesday 27 October 2026: Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders (5Action), Fare Dodgers: At War With The Law (5Star), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (5USA), Blue Lights (BBC One), Surgeons: At the Edge of Life (BBC Two), Henry Cole’s Great British Treasure Hunt (Blaze), Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild (Channel 5) and Gogglebox (E4).

Is EastEnders on tonight?

Yes: EastEnders is on BBC One at 7.30pm.

Is Coronation Street on tonight?

Yes: Coronation Street is on ITV1 at 8.30pm.

Is Emmerdale on tonight?

Yes: Emmerdale is on ITV1 at 8pm.

Is Hollyoaks on tonight?

Yes: Hollyoaks is on E4 at 7pm.