TV tonight: Our highlights for Friday, June 9

On TV tonight, Black Ops wraps up, Gardeners' World offers up some new ideas for green-fingered viewers, Susan Calman's Grand Day Out takes her to Morecambe, Hidden Treasures of the National Trust visits a medieval manor in Kent, and Tom Holland stars in the latest Apple TV Plus thriller, The Crowded Room. Here's what you shouldn't miss on TV Tonight.

Our hand-selected recommendations for what's on TV tonight include TV shows, a film, live sport and the latest trending need-to-binge-on-now box set
Keep up to date with the latest soap spoiler storylines on TV tonight with our daily soap synopsis
For more information about what’s on TV tonight see our TV Guide

What's on TV tonight

Our expert TV journalists have picked the best things on TV tonight...

Best TV shows on TV tonight

Black Ops, 9.30 pm, BBC One/iPlayer (box set)

Dom and Kay in police gear in Black Ops

(Image credit: BBC/Ricky Darko)

Gardeners' World, 8 pm, BBC Two

If coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show has inspired you to get planting, this BBC2 perennial is always blooming with ideas. There’s home-grown fruit and veg on the menu tonight, with Monty Don harvesting gooseberries and planting out squash. Rekha Mistry faces a few challenges as she starts planning out her new garden in the Peak District, while Adam Frost is inspired by a visit to an Arts and Crafts garden in North Yorkshire.

★★★ JPM

The Crowded Room, Apple TV Plus

Tom Holland in The Crowded Room

(Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

We’re used to seeing Tom Holland playing an all-action movie hero like Spider-Man, but this psychological thriller sees the star flexing those acting muscles as Danny, a shy teen who’s arrested after a shooting in New York City in 1979 – an incident he claims to have no memory of. Through a series of intense interviews with interrogator Rya (Mamma Mia!’s Amanda Seyfried), Danny unlocks a traumatic past which sheds light on who committed the crime. While it’s a slow burn, the series boasts a tour de force turn from Holland that is so mesmerising, you’ll be glued. The first three episodes are available today.

★★★★ VW

Susan Calman's Grand Day Out, 8 pm, Channel 5

This week’s itinerary includes wild swimming in Darwen in Lancashire and a visit to Carnforth railway station, where Brief Encounter was filmed. In Morecambe, Susan is thrilled to not only be in the birthplace of her comedy hero Eric Morecambe but to visit an RSPB hide named after him (he was a keen birdwatcher) and use his own binoculars. She also gets some training at a local boxing gym – cue the Rocky theme and a montage of Susan in a tracksuit and headband – and visits the restored theatre at the Winter Gardens. ‘There’s always a welcome and there’s always cake,’ is how Susan sums up her visit to Morecambe. Who could ask for anything more?!

★★★★ JP

Hidden Treasures of the National Trust, 9 pm, BBC Two

Ightham Mote on a sunny day in Hidden Treasures of the National Trust

(Image credit: BBC/Blast Films/National Trust/Chris Jonas)

If you know someone with a mania for redecorating every two or three years, tonight’s episode could be triggering for them, as the drawing-room wallpaper in Ightham Mote has been there since the 18th century. The National Trust medieval manor house in Kent has had many fascinating inhabitants, with the wallpaper imported from China by ambitious courtiers the Selbys. Now, however, it needs attention as it’s being eaten by silverfish. Less than half an hour’s drive away is Winston Churchill’s former home, Chartwell. In his library, a relief map of a World War Two invasion is showing signs of cracking. Can it be saved before the damage becomes too great?

★★★ JP

Best box set on TV tonight

Poker Face, Sky Max/NOW (box set)

Natasha Lyonne in Poker Face

(Image credit: Peacock)

Rian Johnson’s anthology series has a pleasing retro feel about it from the titles onwards. Imagine, if you can, Mr Benn in the hands of Quentin Tarantino, as drifting ‘Poker Face’ Charlie (Natasha Lyonne) sets out to solve a different mystery in each episode.

★★★★ JP

Best film on TV tonight

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, 8 pm, 5Star

The party of dwarves and their hobbit ally continue the quest to reclaim their lost kingdom, journeying through the forest home of ancestral enemy the elves and finally facing the dragon that drove them from their home. Meanwhile, Gandalf the wizard investigates the rise of Necromancer, a mysterious dark power residing in Dol Guldur with the ability to summon the spirits of the dead. Part two of Peter Jackson's fantasy adventure trilogy based on JRR Tolkien's novel, starring Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage and Orlando Bloom, with Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly and Benedict Cumberbatch.