What to Watch Tonight UK · Monday 2 November 2026
Tonight is all about clever chimps and very clever television. Film4 has Rise of the Planet of the Apes at 9pm, our hidden gem is the true story of a chimpanzee raised as a human child, and Doctor Who’s most frightening statues are waiting on BBC iPlayer.
Tonight’s three picks
ON TV TONIGHT: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) on Film4 at 9pm
- Channel: Film4 at 9pm, until 11.05pm
- Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Age rating: 12
- Directed by: Rupert Wyatt
- Starring: James Franco, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox and Tom Felton
- UK availability: On Film4 tonight. Also streaming on Disney+, and to rent or buy on the main digital stores
A San Francisco scientist testing a drug for Alzheimer’s takes home a baby chimp, Caesar, and raises him like a son. Caesar grows up far smarter than anyone planned, and when he is locked away, he starts to organise. Andy Serkis’s performance-capture work as Caesar is the heart of the film, and the reboot it launched still holds up. The final charge across the Golden Gate Bridge is a real Monday night treat.
Perfect if you liked King Kong, District 9 or Jurassic Park. Stay up and Film4 follows it with Jordan Peele’s Nope at 11.05pm.
HIDDEN GEM: Project Nim (2011), the Chimp Raised as a Child
- Service: Prime Video, included with a Prime subscription
- Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes
- Age rating: 12
- Directed by: James Marsh, who also made Man on Wire
- Type: Documentary
- UK availability: Streaming on Prime Video. Also to rent or buy on the main digital stores
In the 1970s, a Columbia University professor set out to prove a chimpanzee could learn language. Baby Nim was taken from his mother and raised by a family in New York, wearing clothes and learning sign language. What follows is funny, then troubling, then heartbreaking, as the people who loved him move on and Nim is left to pay the price. Watch it after tonight’s film and Caesar’s story will hit very differently.
Perfect if you liked Man on Wire, Blackfish or My Octopus Teacher. Plan more nights in with our UK Release Calendar.
DOCTOR WHO CLASSIC: Doctor Who — “Blink” (2007) on BBC iPlayer
- Service: BBC iPlayer, free
- Episode: Series three, episode ten
- Runtime: 44 minutes
- Written by: Steven Moffat
- Directed by: Hettie MacDonald
- Starring: Carey Mulligan, David Tennant and Freema Agyeman
- UK availability: Streaming on BBC iPlayer
Sally Sparrow finds a message to her hidden under the wallpaper of an empty house, signed by a stranger called the Doctor. The Doctor is barely in it, and it does not matter. Carey Mulligan carries the episode, and the Weeping Angels, statues that move only when you look away, are still the best monsters the revived series has made. With no Doctor Who this Christmas and the 63rd anniversary on 23 November, it is the perfect time to catch up.
Perfect if you liked Sapphire and Steel, Inside No. 9 or The Twilight Zone. Our last Doctor Who pick was “Midnight”, see why there is no Doctor Who this Christmas, read why Peter Capaldi turned down the tender bids, and find your next episode in our Doctor Who watch guide.
Movieversalfilm Takeaway
Make it a chimp double bill: Rise of the Planet of the Apes on Film4 at 9pm, then Project Nim for the real story. If you only have 45 minutes, watch “Blink”, and don’t blink.
Find more picks on What to Watch.
What are you watching tonight?
The Morning News follows at 8am, and the Evening News at 6pm.