TV tonight: a hit jumpy horror series returns with Dan Stevens
Tonight's TV listings feature the return of anthology horror series The Terror, whose third instalment stars Dan Stevens as Peter "Pepper" Coffin, a man wrongfully committed to a decrepit, understaffed psychiatric hospital. The story weaves together the pasts and presents of various patients, connected by an unsettling doctor played by John Benjamin Hickey, blending jump scares with a more atmospheric, creeping dread. Elsewhere, the BBC's The Piano reaches its emotional finale, featuring young pianists Grace, Harri, Sophie and Gabby competing on stage.
Other picks include a documentary on tornado science presented by Liev Schreiber, a climate-crisis strand looking at how extreme heat affects animals from Australian wombats to Zambian leopards, and a Proms broadcast of Mozart, Elgar, Britten and Thea Musgrave. A crime drama unfolds in a divided rust belt town with a cast including John Carroll Lynch and Leslie Odom Jr, while a new adaptation of Helen Macdonald's memoir sees Claire Foy training a goshawk to cope with grief after her father's death, played by Brendan Gleeson.
- The Terror returns with Dan Stevens in a haunted psychiatric hospital tale.
- The Piano's finale showcases four young pianists competing for the title.
- Other highlights: tornado science, climate-hit animals, the Proms and Claire Foy's goshawk drama.
New here? Start with this
Tonight's schedule leads with The Terror, an anthology horror series that reinvents its story and cast each season, this time following Peter "Pepper" Coffin, played by Dan Stevens, as he is wrongly locked up in a rundown, understaffed psychiatric hospital. The series is known for mixing sudden scares with a slower, more atmospheric sense of dread, and this run ties together the histories of various patients through an unsettling doctor figure. It sits alongside the finale of BBC talent show The Piano, in which young pianists perform in public settings before a judging panel.
Beyond these two, the night's listings take in a documentary on tornado science, a strand examining how extreme heat is affecting wildlife around the world, and a Proms concert featuring classical works by Mozart, Elgar, Britten and Thea Musgrave. There is also a crime drama set in a divided industrial American town, and a new screen adaptation of Helen Macdonald's memoir about training a bird of prey while grieving her father.
These listings matter mainly as a guide for viewers deciding what to watch, reflecting the range of drama, documentary and music programming on offer on a typical evening of British television.