What to watch on TV this week: 15th - 21st February
The White Lotus season 3 and A Thousand Blows are among our picks for what to watch on TV this week.
It's been 40 years since soap opera EastEnders first arrived on our screen, and fittingly the BBC is pulling out all the stops to mark the occasion, with a live, interactive episode, as well as a retrospective documentary called 40 Years on the Square.
Meanwhile, it's also a big week of awards shows on the BBC, with the broadcast of the BAFTA Film Awards 2025 and a behind-the-scenes look at The MOBO Awards 2025 both set to air.
Meanwhile, there are also some major new dramas on the schedule, with Zero Day and A Thousand Blows both debuting, the former fronted by Robert De Niro and the latter by Stephen Graham.
That's not to mention the returning shows, with hits like Sky's The White Lotus, Reacher on Prime Video and Surface on Apple TV+ all set to return this week.
Here, you'll find our top picks for this week – read on for our full choice of what to watch.
BAFTA Film Awards 2025
Release date: Sunday 16th February, 7pm, BBC One
There’s nothing as huge as 2023’s 'Barbenheimer' phenomenon in this year’s awards race, but the sheer unpredictability of BAFTA’s class of ’24 is sure to make the latest gala a must-watch.
Vatican drama Conclave goes in the frontrunner with 12 nominations, including best British film, with Spanish-language musical Emilia Pérez just behind it on 11. But the latter has become so embroiled in controversies that this is far from a two-horse race. American dramas Anora, The Brutalist and A Complete Unknown, which stars Timothée Chalamet as a young Bob Dylan, round out the best film category.
Elsewhere, Demi Moore and Hugh Grant are gunning for gold as best actress and actor respectively for their transformative turns in horror movies The Substance and Heretic, while Irish-language hip-hop biopic Kneecap brings a helping of punk spirit to proceedings with its six nominations.
Having proved his hosting skills last year, David Tennant is back to compere, while Take That and Jeff Goldblum (co-star of nominee Wicked: Part I) are among the musical guests.
Calum Baker
The White Lotus season 3
Release date: Monday 17th February, 2am, Sky Atlantic
Three seasons in and you could argue that The White Lotus operates from one crib sheet: a shocking death takes place, the clock rewinds a week, and the antics of overprivileged sun-seekers play out. This season starts no differently. Yet while the acclaimed drama may be a one-trick pony, boy, is that pony a glossy, glamorous and irresistible creature.
Thailand is the setting for creator Mike White’s latest twisted saga. A perma-smiling welcoming party of employees wave as a boatload of wealthy tourists arrive for what they hope will be a relaxing trip. They clearly haven’t read the brochure.
The usual type of patrons are in attendance: the wealthy older man with his younger girlfriend (Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood); the all-American family (headed up by Jason Isaacs); and a TV star (Michelle Monaghan) on holiday with her two best friends. It’s a promising start, although there’s a metaphorical empty sun lounger: Jennifer Coolidge’s character Tanya embodied the show but dramatically departed at the end of last season. Nonetheless, spa manager Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) makes a very welcome return. But will she be the only familiar face?
Frances Taylor
EastEnders: 40 Years on the Square
Release date: Monday 17th February, 8pm, BBC One
It’s heartening to see the BBC making such a fuss of EastEnders as it marks its four-decade milestone. In addition to the show itself (tonight’s episode is on at 7.30pm), the centrepiece of the celebrations is this documentary presented by Ross Kemp, aka Grant Mitchell, in which cast members past and present recall how the show’s bold storytelling changed the face of TV drama.
At 11.10pm (11.35pm in Northern Ireland), there’s another chance to see how the cast fared on DIY SOS in 2023 when they transformed a derelict building into a charity hub. They might need those skills to rebuild the Queen Vic after it burns down later this week.
Johnathon Hughes
Zero Day
Release date: Thursday 20th February, Netflix
A conspiracy drama from the creator of Narcos, with real heft in the casting: as well as Jesse Plemons, Joan Allen, Angela Bassett, Connie Britton and Lizzy Caplan, we have Robert De Niro as former president of the United States George Mullen. When a massive cyber attack cripples American society and stalls its democratic processes, the country looks to the beloved elder statesman Mullen for guidance, and he's tapped up to lead a new kind of national government. As the show looks at how fragile our institutions and infrastructure are, we are set for a tense political thriller - until a dizzying rug-pull of a twist at the end of episode 1...
Jack Seale
Reacher season 3
Release date: Thursday 20th February, Prime Video
Glistening beef mountain Alan Ritchson struts back into view as the hero of a taut, wryly funny thriller based on Lee Child's clipped best-sellers. Season 3 is based on the book Persuader and returns Reacher to a more familiar set-up, after he was part of a gang of super-competent avengers last time out. Now he's back working solo, and his innate ability to find trouble soon sees him foil an abduction attempt and then infiltrate the criminal empire of the victim's father. Ritchson's deadpan machismo is a scream.
Jack Seale
EastEnders Live
Release date: Thursday 20th February, 7:30pm, BBC One
An explosive week in honour of the soap’s 40 years reaches a thrilling climax that already qualifies as a must-watch event, as this episode will be broadcast live. Lapsed or curious viewers may just tune in hoping for mishaps, but for true fans some compelling plots will come to a head. If previous live instalments are anything to go by, prepare for some spectacular twists.
With the Square a disaster zone following the Queen Vic fire, Sonia is in labour and understandably terrified. Last time she gave birth it was on Dot’s sofa with Big Mo as the midwife – has this woman never heard of a maternity ward? As well as birth there is more than likely to be death, with characters fighting for their lives among the carnage. The vote closes on Denise’s interactive love triangle minutes before going to air, so her choice of Jack or Ravi will be delivered from a script that will be hot off the press. The whole thing promises to be ambitious, gripping and unmissable – as EastEnders always is when it’s on top form.
Johnathon Hughes
A Thousand Blows
Release date: Friday 21st February, Disney Plus
Writer Steven Knight has shown his versatility since the end of Peaky Blinders, but he's back on familiar territory now as he pitches us into Victorian London, its criminal underworld and its brutal boxing scene. Instead of the Blinders we have the Forty Elephants, an (also real) all-female collective of thieves whose leader takes a talented Jamaican immigrant under her wing. That means crossing the East End's nastiest boxers and gangsters, who are the same people. Peaky fans will love the gritty period atmosphere and the even gnarlier idioms and violence.
Jack Seale
Surface season 2
Release date: Friday 21st February, Apple TV+
There are signs of life in season 2 of a drama that was hard to love previously: Gugu Mbatha-Raw was always strong as Sophie, a Brit in San Francisco with amnesia, but the plot around her was slow and frustratingly murky. Now she's in London, going by her real name Tess and reconnecting with figures and places from her past, which she has to pretend to remember. It still has an oddly glacial tone but with a dodgy super-rich family, a dogged investigative reporter and a cold-case murder tossed into the new mix, the fresh start might work.
Jack Seale
The MOBO Awards 2025: Access All Areas
Release date: Friday 21st February, 11:25pm, BBC One
The original function of the MOBOs, to act as a pointed corrective to the overwhelming whiteness of mainstream music awards ceremonies, is no longer quite as needed as it once was. Or at least, it would be nice to think so. Either way, it is still a valuable chance to celebrate the best in black music over the past 12 months, and for music fans who are maybe not quite up to speed with the latest sounds to catch up.
In Newcastle, Radio 1 Xtra presenter DJ Target is behind the scenes, adding backstage gossip and interviews, plus a dash of red-carpet glamour, to performances from the likes of London hip-hop veterans Krept & Konan; Odeal, purveyor of the Afrobeat/RnB fusion genre Alté, whose track Soh-Soh sparked a viral dance craze and is nominated here for Song of the Year; grime/punk crossover duo Nova Twins; dancehall singer Spice; and rapper Bashy, whom you might know better as the actor Ashley Thomas (Top Boy, The Ipcress File). We’ll also hear from the hosts of the show, Eddie Kadi and Indiyah Polack.
Jack Seale
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Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
