Friday night's telly is all about choice: heartwarming charity telethons, heavyweight historical documentaries, or zombies getting medieval. Whatever your mood, there's something worth parking yourself on the sofa for.

Table of Contents

Quick Picks: Tonight's Best

  • Empire with David Olusoga (BBC Two, 9pm) ⭐ - The historian tackles Britain's slave trade and Australia's dark colonial past
  • Children in Need 2025 (BBC One, 7pm) - Sara Cox finishes her 135-mile challenge; Big Zuu and Paddy McGuinness join the fundraising fun
  • The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (Sky Max, 9pm) - Finally, some action! Zombie siege at a Spanish fortress
  • Gardeners' World (BBC Two, 8pm) - Monty Don won't let November gloom stop him planting a woodland garden

Early Evening: Family Viewing (6:30pm - 8pm)

Children in Need 2025 - BBC One, 7pm

Children in Need 2025

Sara Cox will hopefully have finished her mammoth 135-mile walk/jog/run by now, and she's celebrating with the annual fundraiser. This year's got fresh faces including Big Zuu and Paddy McGuinness, plus a children's choir doing Coldplay's Yellow that'll have you reaching for tissues. It's feel-good telly at its finest - expect celebrity challenges, tear-jerking VTs, and Pudsey doing his thing. Perfect for the whole family, though you might want to hide your credit card before the donation appeals start.

Gardeners' World - BBC Two, 8pm

Gardeners World

November's gathering gloom hasn't dampened Monty Don's enthusiasm one bit. He's at Longmeadow creating a brand-new woodland garden from scratch, planting grasses and hellebores, and potting up hyacinth bulbs for winter colour. There's also a visit to a Buckinghamshire garden where an acer superfan has collected 70 varieties of the tree. Honestly, if you're the type who thinks gardening's boring, this probably won't convert you - but it's soothing viewing with gorgeous autumnal shots.

Unreported World - Channel 4, 7.30pm

Unreported World

Not exactly family-friendly, this one. Krishnan Guru-Murthy investigates the unsolved murders of hundreds of Arab citizens in Israel each year. He uncovers links to organised crime, weapons trafficking allegedly involving security forces, and a community that doesn't trust Israeli police to solve the cases. The authorities deny they're looking the other way, but the evidence Guru-Murthy presents is disturbing. It's important journalism, but definitely for older viewers.

Prime Time: Documentaries & Drama (9pm onwards)

Empire with David Olusoga - BBC Two, 9pm ⭐

Empire with David Olusoga

This is tonight's must-watch. David Olusoga continues his epic series about Britain's empire legacy, and this episode doesn't pull punches. By the 1770s, Britain was transporting 45,000 Africans into slavery every year. Olusoga visits Bunce Island, where captured Africans were sold, before the fallout of the American revolution takes him to Australia.

Here's where it gets interesting: Australia had already been home to natives for at least 40,000 years, including the Tasmanian Truganini, whose story is heartbreaking. Olusoga's brilliant at connecting historical dots most of us never learned in school. It's weighty stuff, but his presentation makes it accessible without dumbing it down. Essential viewing if you want to understand how we got here.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - Sky Max, 9pm

Finally! After episodes of Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) enjoying rustic tapas in a sleepy Spanish village - which, let's be honest, wasn't exactly edge-of-your-seat stuff - we get the action we've been waiting for. This instalment features an absolute barnstormer of a medieval smackdown as the walls of Solaz del Mar get besieged by a marauding zombie horde.

It's what the show does best: visceral, creative kills and genuine tension. If you've been sticking with this spinoff despite its leisurely pace, you'll be rewarded tonight. Fair warning: it's a 15 rating for good reason.

All Her Fault - Sky Atlantic, 9pm

"Your nanny, who you hired, kidnapped her five-year-old son – do you really think the two of you are friends?" The school-gate gossip is reaching fever pitch as Jenny (Dakota Fanning) helps Marissa (Sarah Snook) find missing Milo. But more theories about what actually happened are circulating through the media and authorities.

Sarah Snook's been brilliant in this - she's got that Succession edge that makes you question whether to trust her character. It's twisty thriller territory, though some of the plot developments require a fairly hefty suspension of disbelief.

Late Night: For Film Fans

Mickey 17 - Sky Cinema Premiere, 8pm & 12.35pm

Bong Joon-ho's follow-up to Parasite is another sharp comedy about class and capitalism, but this time it's set in space. Robert Pattinson - who's quietly becoming one of the most interesting character actors around - plays Mickey, an "expendable" whose identity gets downloaded so he can die repeatedly and just get reprinted in a new body.

When he hits version 17, an encounter with the new planet's louse-like inhabitants throws a spanner in the works. It's not subtle (Mark Ruffalo plays a Trumpesque politician), but the farcical action's played with gusto by Pattinson alongside Naomi Ackie and Toni Collette. It's weird, it's darkly funny, and it'll divide audiences. I'm here for it.

If You're Not Into Heavy Stuff

Look, if empire documentaries and dystopian sci-fi aren't your vibe, stick with Children in Need for wholesome fundraising fun, or let Monty Don's soothing voice lull you into a gardening-induced trance on BBC Two at 8pm. Sometimes you just need uncomplicated telly, and there's nothing wrong with that.

What's on Streaming

Apple TV - Come See Me in the Good Light: Ryan White's documentary about performance poet Andrea Gibson dealing with incurable ovarian cancer is an instant weepie. It's intimate and filled with love as Gibson and their wife Megan Falley come to terms with the diagnosis. Gibson's poetry is interspersed with surprisingly funny thoughts about living with dying. Oddly life-affirming despite the subject matter.

Prime Video - Belén: Argentina's Oscar entry tells the true story of a young woman jailed for homicide after a miscarriage in 2014. Dolores Fonzi co-wrote, directed, and stars as the lawyer who fights to overturn the decision. It's a rousing political drama that's sadly still relevant - the conservative male establishment's control over women's reproductive rights hasn't exactly disappeared, has it?

Tonight's Full Schedule

Time Channel Programme
7:00pm BBC One Children in Need 2025
7:30pm Channel 4 Unreported World
8:00pm BBC Two Gardeners' World
8:00pm Sky Cinema Mickey 17
9:00pm BBC Two Empire with David Olusoga
9:00pm Sky Max The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
9:00pm Sky Atlantic All Her Fault

Final Verdict

Friday's offering something for everyone, but David Olusoga's Empire is the standout - it's the kind of documentary that'll stick with you long after the credits roll. If you need lighter fare, Children in Need delivers wholesome entertainment for a good cause. And for those wanting escapism, there's zombies, space clones, and competitive gardening (which is more dramatic than you'd think). Decent Friday night telly all round.

By Felicity Smith | Updated 14th November 2025