What to watch on TV this week: Wednesday 20 to Friday 29 May

Ready for a jam-packed schedule of telly treats? Joseph Fiennes stars as Gareth Southgate in the TV adaptation of the Olivier Award-winning play Dear England. Emma Myers is back as Pip Fitz-Amobi in the second series of the brilliant A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder. Plus, World War II With Tom Hanks begins its epic run of 20 episodes. Happy viewing! 

With all this plus our usual sport and movie picks of the week, there’s something for all tastes across the service. And don’t forget, with Virgin TV Go, you can take your TV with you on the move.

There’s so much good stuff on this week that we’ve compiled a list of the best TV shows to watch. Bookmark this page to keep up to date with the latest changes.

Pick of the day: RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026
2pm, BBC One HD (CH 101) + 8pm, BBC Two HD (CH 102)

Now that the Chelsea Flower Show is in full bloom (see what we did there?), join Nicki Chapman and Angellica Bell as they chat to the gardeners going for gold with their beautiful blooms and prize-winning plants.

What else to watch:

• Amandaland – 9pm, BBC One HD (CH 101)

• Falling – 9pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

• Harry Hill: New Bits & Greatest Hits – 9pm, Sky One HD (CH 109)

• Only Child – 9.30pm, BBC One HD (CH 101)

• Marilyn And The Mob – 10pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

Pick of the day: Race Across The World: The Final
8pm + 9pm, BBC One HD (CH 101)

After travelling 11,000km across Asia, five teams face the final leg of their arduous journey as they race to the remote village of Hatgal in Mongolia to claim victory and the £20,000 prize. Stay tuned for behind-the-scenes footage and a team reunion.

What else to watch:

• RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 – 2pm, BBC One HD (CH 101) + 8pm, BBC Two HD (CH 102)

• Taskmaster – 9pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

• The Hardacres – 9pm, 5 HD (CH 105)

• From – 9pm, Sky One HD (CH 109)

• Prisoner – 9pm, Sky Atlantic HD (CH 111)

Pick of the day: PONIES
9pm, Sky Atlantic HD (CH 111)

Emilia Clarke (Game Of Thrones) and Haley Lu Richardson (The White Lotus) are two “PONIES” – that’s “persons of no interest” in intelligence speak – thrust into a dangerous conspiracy after their husbands are murdered in Soviet Russia. From the minds behind underrated comedy thriller The Spy Who Dumped Me, it also stars Adrian Lester (The Undeclared War) and Harriet Walter (Killing Eve).

What else to watch:

• RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 – 2pm, BBC One HD (CH 101) + 8pm, BBC Two HD (CH 102)

• World’s Biggest Curry Restaurant – 8pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

• Hidden Treasures Of The National Trust – 9pm, BBC Two HD (CH 102)

• Smoggie Queens – 10pm + 10.30pm, BBC Three HD (CH 107/113)

• Fatboy Slim: Radio 1’s Big Weekend Sunderland – 10.40pm, BBC One HD (CH 101)

Pick of the day: Two Weeks In August
9pm, BBC One HD (CH 101)

Jessica Raine (The Devil’s Hour) leads a stellar ensemble – including Damien Molony (Bergerac), Leila Farzad (KAOS), Antonia Thomas (The Good Doctor), Nicholas Pinnock (For Life) and Hugh Skinner (Fleabag) – as a group of old friends who’ve finally made good on a decade of WhatsApp promises and booked a Greek island holiday together. But what starts with an illicit kiss quickly turns the dream into a nightmare. Written by Catherine Shepherd (Sally4Ever) and from the team behind I May Destroy You, this is proper, confident, deliciously dark telly. Two episodes tonight. Clear the diary.

What else to watch:

• Britain’s Got Talent – 7pm, ITV1 HD (CH 103)

• Casualty – 8.10pm, BBC One HD (CH 101)

• Cher At The BBC – 9pm, BBC Two HD (CH 102)

• Nobody’s Fool – 9pm, ITV1 HD (103)

• Monsieur Spade – 9pm, U&Drama HD (CH 116)

Pick of the day: Dear England
9pm, BBC One HD (CH 101)

James Graham’s Olivier Award-winning play about Gareth Southgate and the England men’s football team has been adapted into a four-part BBC series by the team behind The Crown – and if the sold-out stage production was anything to go by, it’s going to be extraordinary. Joseph Fiennes (The Handmaid’s Tale) reprises his acclaimed stage role as the man who inherited a team with one of the worst penalty shoot-out records in world football and somehow turned the team around. Jodie Whittaker (Toxic Town) plays psychologist Pippa Grange, the woman brought in to fix the players from the inside out. Must-see television – and brilliantly timed, given a certain tournament is on the horizon…

What else to watch:

• Deal Or No Deal: Celebrity Special For Soccer Aid – 7pm, ITV1 HD (CH 103)

• Lucy Worsley Investigates The American Revolution – 8pm, BBC Two HD (CH 102)

• The 1% Club Kids Special – 8pm, ITV1 HD (CH 103)

• Cruising To The Ends Of The Earth – 8pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

• Inside The CIA: Secrets And Spies – 9pm, Discovery HD (CH 177)

Pick of the day: Springwatch
8pm, BBC Two HD (CH 102)

The nation’s favourite wildlife show is back, and this year it’s heading somewhere it’s never been before – the National Trust’s Crom Estate in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan are on presenting duties as ever, live among the fallow deer, pine martens, red squirrels and otters that call one of Northern Ireland’s most important conservation areas home. There’s something genuinely restorative about sitting down to Springwatch – the cameras, the wildlife, the complete lack of narrative tension beyond whether that osprey is going to catch something. It’s the best possible antidote to whatever the rest of May has thrown at you.

What else to watch:

• Sicily: The Wonder Of The Mediterranean – 3.30pm, BBC Two HD (CH 102)

• Italia 90: Four Weeks That Changed The World – 7pm, 8pm + 9pm, Sky Documentaries HD (CH 121)

• Dear England – 9pm, BBC One HD (CH 101)

• Nobody’s Fool – ITV1 HD (CH 103)

• Euphoria – 9pm, Sky Atlantic HD (CH 111)

Pick of the day: World War II With Tom Hanks
9pm, Sky HISTORY HD (CH 131)

Tom Hanks – the star of Saving Private Ryan and the driving force behind Band Of Brothers and The Pacific – fronts this landmark 20-part documentary series for Sky HISTORY, drawing on never-before-seen archive footage and a world-class lineup of historians. This isn’t just another documentary about the Second World War. It is, by some margin, the most comprehensive television retelling of the conflict since The World At War – and Hanks’s lifelong passion for this history is evident in every sentence as our guide through the conflict. The series opens tonight with its first episodes. You can read all about why it’s essential viewing right here.

What else to watch:

• Springwatch – 8pm, BBC Two HD (CH 102)

• Bake Off: The Professionals – 8pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

• Who Do You Think You Are? – 9pm, BBC One HD (CH 101)

• Falling – 9pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

• Celebs Go Dating – E4 HD (CH 106)

Pick of the day: A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder
9pm, BBC Three HD (CH 107/113)

Pip Fitz-Amobi is back – and if you thought solving Andie Bell’s murder was going to make life easier for her, you were very much mistaken. Emma Myers (Wednesday) returns as everyone’s favourite teenage sleuth for series 2, this time adapting Holly Jackson’s novel Good Girl, Bad Blood. As Max Hastings’s trial approaches, key witness Jamie Reynolds vanishes, and Pip is dragged into another dangerous investigation. Zain Iqbal returns alongside new faces including Jack Rowan (Noughts And Crosses) and Misia Butler (KAOS). The first series was one of BBC Three’s biggest ever hits, and all six episodes land tonight on BBC iPlayer.

What else to watch:

• Springwatch – 8pm, BBC Two HD (CH 102)

• Location, Location, Location – 8pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

• Richard Madeley In Jail – 9pm, Channel 5 HD (CH 105)

• Amandaland – 9pm, BBC One HD (CH 101)

• Saint-Pierre – 9pm, U&Alibi HD (CH 114)

Pick of the day: Taskmaster
9pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

Greg Davies sits in judgement, Alex Horne scurries around with a clipboard and five comedians make increasingly questionable decisions in the name of winning points. Series 21 has been so good with Amy Gledhill (I Hate Suzie Too), Armando Iannucci (The Thick Of It), Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacey), Joel Dommett (The Masked Singer) and Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick) – a line-up that has already delivered some of the most chaotically funny television of the year. If you’ve somehow missed the series so far, all episodes are on Channel 4’s streaming service. Tonight is an excellent entry point. It really, truly never gets old.

What else to watch:

• Springwatch – 8pm, BBC Two HD (CH 102)

• Reported Missing – 9pm, BBC One HD (CH 101)

• The Hardacres – 9pm, Channel 5 HD (CH 105)

• Make That Movie – 10pm + 10.30pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

• The Miniature Wife – 10pm, Sky Atlantic HD (CH 111)

Pick of the day: Olly Murs: Steps Into The Unknown
9pm, ITV1 HD (CH 103)

In case you missed it, Olly Murs spent a week running, rowing and cycling 400km from Old Trafford to the London Stadium, with no idea each morning which direction he’d be heading, all in aid of Soccer Aid for UNICEF’s 20th anniversary. This one-off documentary chronicles every hill, every stretch of open water, and every moment the former X Factor finalist probably questioned his life choices. If it follows the usual format of these kinds of documentaries, by the time it’s over, you’ll almost certainly be donating while you dab tears off your rather wet face.

What else to watch:

• Have I Got News For You – 9pm, BBC One HD (CH 101)

• Hidden Treasures Of The National Trust – 9pm, BBC Two HD (CH 102)

• Gogglebox – 9pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

• First Dates – 10pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

• Smoggie Queens – 10pm + 10.30pm, BBC Three HD (CH 107/113)

Football: Premier League – Final Day
2pm, Sky Sports Premier League (CH 502) + Sky Sports Action HD (CH 510) + 4pm, Sky Sports+

The title race may be done and dusted after Man City’s draw at Bournemouth handed the Premier League glory to Arsenal, but there’s still plenty to sort out on a thrilling final day. The European qualification placings are very much in play: the top six have secured their spots but below that, every team down to Fulham in 13th are theoretically in contention.

At the bottom, Spurs are favourites to stay up thanks to a two-point cushion over West Ham and a superior goal difference, but you never know… Sky Sports has all the final-day action across its channels and Sky Sports+ as all the matches kick off simultaneously at 4pm. Build-up starts at 2pm.

What else to watch:

Looking for more sport this week? We can help with that.

• All the best live sport you can watch on TV this week

• Got a Sky Sports subscription? Check out our monthly guide

• If you’ve got TNT Sports, your monthly guide is here

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Bank Holiday Monday, 10pm, BBC Two HD (CH 102)

Judy Blume’s beloved 1970 novel took more than 50 years to reach the big screen, and when it finally did, it was absolutely worth the wait. Eleven-year-old Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson) has just been uprooted from New York City to the suburbs of New Jersey, navigating new friends, a new school and the thoroughly bewildering experience of being on the cusp of adolescence – all while quietly talking to a God she hasn’t quite decided she believes in yet. Rachel McAdams (Mean Girls) is mesmerising as her mother Barbara, equally lost in her own way, and Kathy Bates (Misery) is an absolute joy as Grandma Sylvia. Then again, it’s Kathy Bates, so what did you expect? 

Written and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig (The Edge Of Seventeen) and produced by Blume herself, who has said publicly that the film is better than the book, this is a perfect Bank Holiday film.

What else to watch:

Looking for more movies this week? We can help with that.

• Our monthly Sky Cinema guide featuring the best movies this month

• Looking for something on Netflix? Try our monthly guide to new releases

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