Whats On Tv Tonight: Channel 4’s Dirty Business and seven unmissable picks
If you’re wondering whats on tv tonight and this week, the schedules bring a mix of hard-hitting drama, mystery thrillers and returning favourites. Highlights include a Channel 4 factual drama about sewage pollution, a royal crime drama inspired by Jane Andrews, and a Prime Video train mystery starring Kaley Cuoco.
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Dirty Business: a Channel 4 factual drama about sewage and whistleblowers
The new three-part factual drama Dirty Business dramatizes a decade-long investigation into England’s water companies and the lives affected by sewage-polluted water. David Thewlis and Jason Watkins play two unlikely detectives — an ex-police detective Ash and his neighbour, biology professor Peter — who notice fish dying in the river running through their idyllic Oxfordshire hamlet and begin to investigate.
Their probe leads them to a local sewage plant, where one worker, disgusted by what he has seen, becomes a whistleblower desperate to end the scandalous lack of care. The series intersperses those investigations with the stories of victims whose lives have been horrifically impacted by raw sewage leaking into the water system. Dirty Business arrives at 9pm on Monday 23rd February.
Royal crime drama inspired by Jane Andrews lands on ITV1 and ITVX
A partly fictionalised royal crime drama is inspired by Jane Andrews and stars Mia McKenna-Bruce as Jane Andrews, who was the dresser for the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, played by Natalie Dormer. The story tracks Andrews’s fall after a murder conviction that saw her fairy tale come crashing down; the events made headlines around the world in 2001.
The drama is scheduled to arrive at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX on Sunday 21st February.
Whats On Tv Tonight: the train mystery with Kaley Cuoco and Sam Claflin
A twisty Prime Video mystery follows Alice, played by Kaley Cuoco, whose boyfriend Tom, played by Sam Claflin, mysteriously disappears on a train bound for the City of Love. As Alice tries to find Tom she uncovers shocking secrets about the man she thought she knew. That series arrives on Friday 27th February.
Netflix returns and period tensions — Benedict, Sophie and a cliffhanger
Netflix will deliver the second half of series 4 roughly a month after part 1 landed. In the part 1 cliffhanger Benedict, played by Luke Thompson, asked his love interest Sophie, played by Yerin Ha, "Be my mistress?" The answer could change everything: if Sophie says yes, Benedict risks being ostracised from society and his family by choosing a maid. The second half arrives on Thursday 26th February.
The roundup also hails Vanished as "the best mystery thriller in ages, " and lists The Lady among the week’s buzzy titles.
Returning political thriller on Disney+ and other notable picks
Series 2 of a post-apocalyptic political thriller returns on Monday 23rd February. The first series was set in an underground bunker in Colorado three years after a doomsday event and followed US Secret Service agent Xavier Collins, played by Sterling K. Brown, on a mission to discover the truth behind the killing of the US President. Collins came under suspicion for the president’s death and is now back searching for his wife after learning she may have survived.
Other picks noted for this week include a favourite cooking competition returning for its 21st series with a new crop of chefs tasked with creating dishes; a disturbing short film about a reclusive teenager named Angus who catfishes his single mother and sees the prank hijacked by a dangerous hacker; and a comedy-drama led by Woody Harrelson about a disgraced minor league basketball coach who, after breaking the law, finds new purpose training a team of adults with learning difficulties.
Documentaries and true-crime: Robert Black, Swiped and Chasing A Killer
For true crime viewers, there is a documentary series following the crimes and lengthy police pursuit of Scottish serial killer Robert Black, who hunted very young girls across the UK, including Leeds, Edinburgh and Antrim, throughout the early 1980s. Prime Video’s Chasing A Killer: Gary Allen is also recommended; the coverage notes Allen "literally got away with murder in 2000, only to feel the might of Lady Justice almost 20 years later. "
Family viewing suggestions include Swiped: The School that Banned Smartphones, streaming now on Netflix; the two-part experiment first aired on Channel 4 in December 2024 and follows 12‑year‑olds who give up their devices for 21 days, exploring how social media, algorithms and screen withdrawal affect tweens and parents.
Jason Watkins on why Dirty Business matters
On the decision to make the sewage drama, Jason Watkins said, "I wanted to make this series because of how human and grounded the story is. It’s told through ordinary people who refuse to look away when something isn’t right. " That sentiment is threaded through the series’ focus on whistleblowers, victims and local investigators.
