What's On TV - Sunday, 9 November 2025

Sunday night's got a properly heavyweight drama about Catholic-Protestant romance during the Troubles, plus the usual suspects: sequins, eliminations, and Attenborough talking about predators. Let's get into it.

Quick Picks: Tonight's Best

• ⭐ Trespasses - Channel 4, 9pm - Star-crossed lovers in 1970s Northern Ireland (this one's special)
• Kingdom - BBC One, 6:20pm - Attenborough's back with leopards vs hippos in Zambia
• Strictly Results - BBC One, 7:10pm - Someone's getting the chop
• Riot Women - BBC One, 9pm - Sally Wainwright's band drama hits hard

Table of Contents

• Early Evening: Ballroom Bloodshed (7pm - 8pm)
• Prime Time: Drama & Defusing (8pm - 9pm)
• Late Night: Tension & Tears (9pm onwards)
• If You're Not Into Drama
• What's on Streaming
• The Viewing Schedule Table
• Final Verdict

Early Evening: Nature & Ballroom (6:20pm - 8pm)

Kingdom - BBC One, 6:20pm

Attenborough's back, and he's brought leopards. This new six-part series kicks off in Zambia's South Luangwa national park, where hippos and elephants are spending their days scaring off predators whilst the actual predators - leopards, wild dogs, hyenas, lions - are fighting amongst themselves to dominate the territory.

It's classic Attenborough: stunning shots of animals doing what they do best (mostly fighting and eating each other), that soothing narration, and the kind of nature footage that makes you wonder how the camera crew didn't get trampled. Perfect early evening viewing before the heavy drama kicks in later.

Strictly Come Dancing: The Results - BBC One, 7:10pm

It's week seven of strictly come dancing, which means we're getting to the business end of the competition where everyone starts crying about "the journey" and pretending they're devastated their rumba was scored a six. Tonight someone's getting the boot, and the tension's thicker than fake tan in that makeup room.

You know the format: group dances that look hastily rehearsed, a guest performance from someone flogging their Christmas album, and then the bit we actually care about - the bottom two doing their routine again whilst trying not to sob. It's perfect Sunday night viewing if you like your entertainment with a side of schadenfreude.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? - ITV1, 7pm

Classic Sunday comfort viewing. There's something deeply satisfying about watching someone bottle it on the £16,000 question when you're sat there knowing full well the answer is "Mount Vesuvius" whilst eating crisps on the sofa. Jeremy Clarkson's hosting, which means you'll get at least three eye-rolls and one barely-concealed sigh when someone phones a friend who doesn't know what year the First World War started.

Prime Time: Drama & Defusing (8pm - 9pm)

Antiques Roadshow - BBC One, 8pm

This week they're at Lister Park and Cartwright Hall, which sounds dead posh but is actually in Bradford. Expect someone to bring in a vase they've been using as a plant pot that turns out to be worth £30,000, plus the obligatory bloke with a creepy Victorian doll collection who's disappointed to learn it's only worth fifty quid.

Game of Wool: Britain's Best Knitter - Channel 4, 8pm

I'm not making this up. Channel 4's taken Bake Off's format and applied it to knitting. There's probably a technical challenge involving Fair Isle patterns and someone crying because their tension's all wrong. It's weirdly compelling once you get into it - like watching someone solve a Rubik's cube, but with yarn.

If you're thinking "that sounds naff," you're right, but it's the good kind of naff. Perfect background telly whilst you're scrolling your phone and half-watching.

Top Gear - BBC Two, 8pm

The post-Clarkson era continues. They'll probably race something ridiculous against public transport, destroy a reasonably nice car in the name of entertainment, and make jokes that land about 60% of the time. It's comfort food telly for anyone who likes cars but doesn't take them too seriously.

Dance Passion Bradford - BBC Four, 8pm

Bradford's getting its dance moment. The Royal Ballet's Natalia Osipova performs at the Alhambra - the same stage Anna Pavlova graced a century ago - whilst 500 dancers gather on the Yorkshire moors to celebrate both Brontë's and Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights. It's ambitious, it's celebratory, and it's the kind of arts programming BBC Four does brilliantly when it's not showing documentaries about brutalist architecture.

Late Night: Heavyweight Drama (9pm onwards)

Trespasses - Channel 4, 9pm ⭐

This is tonight's must-watch. Based on Louise Kennedy's brilliant novel, it's a forbidden love story set against the Troubles in 1970s Northern Ireland - and if you watched Say Nothing last year, you'll recognize Lola Petticrew (she played Dolours Price). Here she's Cushla, a Catholic teacher who pulls pints in her family's pub and falls for Michael (Tom Cullen), an older Protestant barrister. The chemistry's dangerous, the timing's worse, and you can feel the disaster coming from a mile off.

What makes this special is the performances - Petticrew and Cullen are crackling, and Gillian Anderson turns up as Cushla's alcoholic-but-sharp mother Gina. It's not just "forbidden romance" melodrama; it's about how personal choices get crushed by sectarian violence, how love doesn't stand a chance when your community sees the other side as the enemy.

Channel 4's been doing this kind of prestige drama brilliantly lately, and this looks like another one that'll stick with you. Don't expect a happy ending - this is the Troubles, after all.

Riot Women - BBC One, 9pm

Sally Wainwright's band drama hits its penultimate episode, and things are getting messy. After last week's brutal events, Nisha's in hospital, Kitty's dealing with the fallout from punching Tom's slimy father-in-law, and Holly's trying to work out how to get justice for Nisha. It's got that Sally Wainwright magic - raw, honest, and completely gripping.

Episode 5 of 6, so we're building to the finale. The writing's brilliant, the performances are spot-on, and it's got that gritty energy that makes British drama work when it's not trying too hard. If you've been following this, you'll know everyone's at breaking point.

Trigger Point - ITV1, 9pm

Series 3, episode 5, and Vicky McClure's bomb disposal expert is racing against the clock to find a device that's targeting something "symbolic of the entire terror campaign." No pressure then.

Look, this show knows exactly what it's doing: ratcheting up the tension until you're practically holding your breath, throwing in red herrings, and making you genuinely worried they might blow up a major landmark. It's edge-of-your-seat stuff, but don't expect subtlety. This is "heart racing, sweaty palms, shouting at the telly" drama.

If you've been following the series, this is the penultimate episode, so expect cliffhangers and last-minute revelations that'll have you fuming you have to wait a week for the finale.

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing - BBC Two, 9pm

The antidote to all that drama. Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse sitting by the Rochdale Canal talking about life, death, and fish. It's gentle, it's funny in that low-key British way, and it'll make you want to book a fishing trip despite never having held a rod in your life.

It's the television equivalent of a warm bath. Put this on if Trigger Point's giving you heart palpitations.

War Paint: Women at War - Sky Arts, 9pm

Margy Kinmonth's documentary asks what women see that men don't when it comes to war. It's a history of female war artists from WW2 painters like Laura Knight through to contemporary artists like Fiona Banner and Rachel Whiteread, covering conflicts from Iran to Sudan to Ukraine. It's enlightening stuff that highlights neglected talents who deserve more recognition. Perfect if you want something thoughtful and substantial.

Daisy May and Charlie Cooper's NightWatch - BBC Two, 9:30pm

The Cooper siblings (from This Country) are spending the night at Chillingham Castle in Northumberland with Sir Humphry Wakefield, who's been experiencing "curious ghostly goings-on" since he saved it from demolition in the 1980s. Tonight they're trying to avoid the curse of the Spanish Witch, though Humphry insists "there are lovely ghosts here!" It's silly, it's fun, and it's got that British comedy-meets-paranormal vibe down pat.

If You're Not Into Drama

Midsomer Murders - ITV3, 8pm

"Death and the Divas" - which sounds like someone's murdered a pop group, knowing Midsomer. It's reliable comfort viewing where posh people get bumped off in increasingly unlikely ways and DCI Barnaby solves it by chatting to villagers in the pub. You've seen it a hundred times before, but that's sort of the point.

Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow - ITV4, 8:20pm

They made SEVEN of these? Honestly, this is so bad it circles back round to being entertaining. It's the 1994 one where they go to Russia, and it's aged about as well as milk left in the sun. Perfect late-night nonsense if you want to switch your brain off entirely.

What's on Streaming

Since it's Sunday night, the streamers are keeping it low-key:

• Netflix: Catch up on whatever true crime documentary everyone's banging on about this week
• BBC iPlayer: All the Strictly backstage content you could want, plus the entire back catalogue of David Attenborough if you're feeling wholesome
• ITVX: Previous episodes of Trigger Point if you've lost track of who's trying to blow up what

The Viewing Schedule Table

Final Verdict

Tonight's all about Trespasses - seriously, don't miss it. It's the kind of drama that Channel 4 does brilliantly: smart, heartbreaking, and based on a cracking book. If you're watching two things, pair it with Riot Women for a double bill of quality British drama. Otherwise, start with Attenborough's Kingdom at 6:20pm and work your way through to the heavy stuff at 9pm. Kettle on, tissues ready.