TV Times – 8 August 2026
Summary
Alex Jones and Roman Kemp celebrate 20 years of The One Show on the cover of TV Times 8-14 August 2026, a 114-page weekly that leads with an oral history of the BBC1 magazine show. The anniversary episode airs Friday as a one-hour special titled The One Show at 20.
Behind the cover, the issue stacks Hit Point, a new comedy drama; The Big Deal with Steph McGovern on BBC2; Van der Valk's Darrell D'Silva on his character's health crisis; Emmerdale's Bradley Riches on his character's storyline; A House Through Time returning for a new series; and The Hairdresser Mysteries with Sunetra Sarker. The eclipse feature — tracking the total solar eclipse across Europe — serves as the issue's standout service piece. My Brilliant Career rounds out the features.
Soaps run 6 pages; films rate 4 pages; the TV guide fills 70 pages across seven days. Regulars close with puzzles, reader poll, and a retro cover from 1975.
Content Guide
▸ Cover Story / Daytime
p.6 · The One Show at 20 — Alex Jones and Roman Kemp Celebrate
An oral-history feature with clips from past presenters — Adrian Chiles, Christine Lampard, Matt Baker — and the show's original producer. The piece reveals that the first episode in 2006 had a budget of 8,000 pounds per show. Watch the Friday one-hour special for the unreleased outtakes from 2009.
p.8 · Hit Point — New Comedy Drama
A workplace comedy set inside a video-game development studio. The lead actor trained as a game designer before switching to acting and performs his own motion-capture scenes.
p.11 · The Big Deal with Steph McGovern
Steph McGovern's BBC2 business-news format expands to a weekly hour-long episode. She interviews small-business owners who turned 5,000-pound start-ups into seven-figure companies.
▸ Drama & Crime
p.12 · Van der Valk — Darrell D'Silva on His Character's Health Scare
D'Silva's Commissioner van der Hoorn faces a heart condition that sidelines him for two episodes. D'Silva researched the role by spending a day with an Amsterdam cardiac unit. Watch episode 3 for the hospital-bed interrogation scene.
p.18 · The Hairdresser Mysteries — Sunetra Sarker
Sarker plays a salon-owner-turned-sleuth in a new U&Drama series. The gimmick: each episode's crime is solved through overheard client gossip. The pilot was filmed in a working Bristol salon.
▸ Science & Travel
p.21 · Eclipse Across Europe
A practical guide to the total solar eclipse visible across Spain, southern France, and Italy on August 12. The article lists viewing locations, expected cloud cover statistics, and safe-viewing equipment. Buy eclipse glasses rated ISO 12312-2 before August 10 — stocks sell out 48 hours before the event.
p.22 · My Brilliant Career — New Drama Adaptation
Based on the Miles Franklin novel, this BBC adaptation resets the story in modern-day Australia. The lead actress learned to shear sheep for the role.
▸ Documentaries
p.17 · A House Through Time
The BBC2 series returns for a fifth season, tracing the history of a single terraced house in Liverpool. The new episode uncovers that the 1881 census lists a ship's captain who later died in the Titanic sinking.
Editor's Take
The eclipse guide is the most practically useful piece TV Times has published all summer — specific locations, equipment advice, and a clear deadline. The One Show anniversary piece is pleasant but thin; the 8,000-pound budget figure is the only hard detail. The Hairdresser Mysteries sounds like a one-joke premise stretched to series length. The TV guide remains the core product, and the highlights selections this week are stronger than usual because of the eclipse programming.
Strengths
• Total solar eclipse guide with safety-equipment buying deadline
• Hit Point behind-the-scenes on motion-capture training
• Van der Valk health storyline with real cardiac-unit research
Weaknesses
• The One Show anniversary piece lacks critical perspective
• The Hairdresser Mysteries premise wears thin after one paragraph
Verdict: Recommended — Buy for the eclipse guide; stay for the drama previews.
