What to Watch Tonight UK · Thursday 5 November 2026
All six episodes of Black Doves series 2 land on Netflix today, with Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw back as London’s deadliest double act. It is Bonfire Night, so Film4 has Attack the Block at 9pm, ITV1 has Pierce Brosnan’s The World Is Not Enough at 10.45pm, and Interstellar arrives on Netflix too.
OUT TODAY: Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw return in Black Doves series 2, Netflix
- Service: Netflix
- Episodes: All six episodes, out today
- Age rating: 15
- Created by: Joe Barton
- Starring: Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw, Sarah Lancashire, Ambika Mod, Neve Campbell, Sam Riley and Babou Ceesay
- Critics: Series one scored 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, and early reviews say series two is even funnier
- UK availability: Streaming on Netflix in the UK from today, Thursday 5 November
Helen is still selling secrets to the Black Doves, but her husband Wallace is now Prime Minister, so every lie happens a little closer to Number 10. Sam, meanwhile, is drinking alone in Soho and taking cheap hits until a mysterious fixer offers him a way out. Ambika Mod joins as Laila, a foul-mouthed agent who steals every scene. It is a darkly funny spy romp with plenty of gunpowder and treason, which feels right for tonight.
Perfect if you liked Slow Horses, Killing Eve or The Day of the Jackal. It was in our Weekly Streaming Highlights, and now it is here.
BONFIRE NIGHT ON FILM4: John Boyega fights off aliens in Attack the Block (2011)
- Channel: Film4 at 9pm, until 10.45pm
- Runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes
- Age rating: 15
- Written and directed by: Joe Cornish
- Starring: John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, Nick Frost and Luke Treadaway
- Critics: 91% on Rotten Tomatoes
- UK availability: On Film4 tonight. Also on HBO Max and to rent or buy on the main digital stores
There is no better film for tonight. Attack the Block is set on Bonfire Night on a south London estate, where a teenage gang mug a nurse and then find themselves defending their tower block from furry, glow-in-the-dark-jawed aliens. John Boyega became a star here, years before Star Wars, and a pre-TARDIS Jodie Whittaker is terrific as the nurse who ends up on their side. It is funny, tense and very British, and it is over in under 90 minutes.
Perfect if you liked Shaun of the Dead, Gremlins or Super 8.
BOND ON ITV1: Pierce Brosnan in The World Is Not Enough (1999)
- Channel: ITV1 at 10.45pm, until 12.55am
- Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes
- Age rating: 12
- Directed by: Michael Apted
- Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle, Denise Richards and Judi Dench
- Critics: Mixed: 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. Not the best Brosnan, but a fun late-night Bond
- UK availability: On ITV1 tonight. Also on ITVX and Prime Video
Brosnan’s third outing has a thunderous Thames boat chase, Robert Carlyle as a villain who cannot feel pain, and Sophie Marceau giving the best performance in the film as the oil heiress Elektra King. It was also Desmond Llewelyn’s last film as Q, and it introduced John Cleese as his successor. With the hunt for the next 007 still in the headlines, it is a good night to revisit the Brosnan years. And yes, Ben Whishaw later played Q too.
Perfect if you liked GoldenEye, Mission: Impossible or True Lies. Catch up on the latest from the 007 casting race in our Evening News.
NEW ON NETFLIX: Christopher Nolan’s space epic Interstellar (2014)
- Service: Netflix, added today
- Runtime: 2 hours 49 minutes
- Age rating: 12A
- Directed by: Christopher Nolan
- Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Michael Caine
- Honours: Won the Oscar for best visual effects; rated 8.7 out of 10 by IMDb users
- UK availability: Streaming on Netflix from today. Also on Prime Video and NOW Cinema, and to rent or buy on the main digital stores
Earth is dying of dust and failed harvests, so a former pilot leaves his children behind to travel through a wormhole and look for a new home for humanity. Nolan mixes real physics with a huge, emotional father and daughter story, and Hans Zimmer’s organ score is enormous. Some of the science dialogue is heavy going, but the docking scene and the black hole Gargantua still look astonishing. Turn the lights off and the sound up.
Perfect if you liked 2001: A Space Odyssey, Contact or Arrival. Plan more nights in with our UK Release Calendar.
HIDDEN GEM: Aki Kaurismäki’s deadpan love story Fallen Leaves (2023), free on BBC iPlayer
- Service: BBC iPlayer, free
- Runtime: 1 hour 21 minutes
- Age rating: 12A
- Language: Finnish, with English subtitles
- Written and directed by: Aki Kaurismäki
- Starring: Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen
- Critics: 97% on Rotten Tomatoes; it won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2023
- UK availability: Free on BBC iPlayer. Also on MUBI and to rent or buy on the main digital stores
If the fireworks are too much, try this instead. Two lonely people in Helsinki, a supermarket worker and a hard-drinking labourer, meet in a karaoke bar and keep losing each other through bad luck, a lost phone number and a bus. Kaurismäki tells it with a straight face and very few words, and it is funny, sad and quietly hopeful. It is short, gentle and one of the best films of 2023 that most people never saw.
Perfect if you liked Past Lives, Paterson or Brief Encounter.
X-FILES CLASSIC: Mulder faces his fear of fire in “Fire” (1993) on Disney+
- Service: Disney+ (also on Prime Video and free with adverts on 5)
- Episode: Season 1, episode 12, about 45 minutes
- Age rating: 15
- Written by: Chris Carter
- Starring: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Amanda Pays and Mark Sheppard
- UK availability: Streaming on Disney+ in the UK
A Bonfire Night pick with a British twist. Mulder’s old Oxford flame, Scotland Yard inspector Phoebe Green, asks for help when British aristocrats start bursting into flames, and the trail leads to a caretaker who can start fires with his bare hands. We also learn that Mulder is terrified of fire. Mark Sheppard is creepy as the arsonist, and the fire stunts are impressive for 1993 TV: Duchovny even burned his hand during filming.
Perfect if you liked Firestarter, Fringe or Luther. Our last X-Files pick was “Ice” in What to Watch Tonight on 1 November; find your next one in our X-Files watch guide.
Movieversalfilm Takeaway
Start Black Doves on Netflix tonight, then make room for Attack the Block on Film4 at 9pm, the perfect Bonfire Night film. Bond fans have Brosnan on ITV1 later, and Fallen Leaves is a free, gentle treat on iPlayer.
More picks: What to Watch.
What are you watching tonight?
The Morning News follows at 8am, and the Evening News at 6pm.