TV tonight: the unmarried women who wereforced to give up their babies
An enraging documentary hears from women sent away for becoming pregnant outside marriage. Plus: the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Here’s what to watch this evening
This story summarizes reporting from The Guardian. Read the original for full context. Wire items stay in our news sitemap for seven days. Editorial policy.
Ali Catterall, Priya Elan, Phil Harrison, Hollie Richardson, Graeme Virtue and Simon Wardell2 Sept 2026, 05:20 amUpdated 9h ago3 min readTelevision & radioTelevision & radio
Television & radio — Ali Catterall, Priya Elan, Phil Harrison, Hollie Richardson, Graeme Virtue and Simon Wardell
TV tonight: the unmarried women who were forced to give up their babies
Ann in Wales was sent away by her parents when she became pregnant after being raped (“I didn’t blame them, I blamed myself”). Joan in Sunderland gave evidence in court against the teacher who raped and got her pregnant – but he was acquitted. They tell their stories in this blood-boiling documentary, along with other women who were unmarried, pregnant and sent to so-called “mother and baby homes” between 1949 and 1976. People who worked in those places also speak, as do some of the grown-up children who were adopted by mostly white, middle-class families. It brings their fight up to date as they demand an apology from the state. Remarkably, there are some joyful moments to hang on for. Hollie Richardson
It is the 25th anniversary of one of this century’s defining geopolitical events and this two-part documentary offers a straightforward but still striking commemoration of that terrible day. It hears from rescue workers, witnesses and survivors of the attack on New York but also explores the assault on the Pentagon and the fate of the fourth airliner, which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The horror still startles but so does the courage of many of the initial responses. Phil Harrison
Two mating dinosaurs in Antarctica take the spotlight in this week’s episode. How long before their time runs out and they feel the ripple effects of the seven-and-a-half-mile-long asteroid that has just landed in Mexico? Your enjoyment will very much depend on how much of the uncanny CGI you can stomach. Priya Elan
A suspicious death at a tailor’s emporium is the latest two-part whodunnit for Mark Gatiss’s tweedy postwar sleuth Gabriel Book. But why is the 75-year-old proprietor so keen to confess to murder? Meanwhile, Book’s rascally apprentice Jack (Connor Finch) just happens to have acquired a snazzy new suit. Graeme Virtue
After school inspector Tyrone Walsh is found murdered following a spate of burglaries, Professor T and co explore the possible motives: was Walsh’s “cultural bias against alternative education” a factor in his murder? Meanwhile, Miss Snares (Sarah Woodward) investigates whether or not Dean is Jasper’s (Ben Miller) biological father. Ali Catterall
Behold the edited highlights of a star-studded and presumably quite messy weekend of music in a field just outside Reading. This year, the festival sees performances from Chase & Status, Dave, Florence + the Machine, Raye and, both touting excellent new material, Fontaines DC and Charli xcx. PH
Little Big Man (Arthur Penn, 1970), 11.45am, 5Action
Arthur Penn’s revisionist western about the “sole white survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn” may have Dustin Hoffman as its hero, but it is the Native Americans he meets, befriends and lives with who are at the film’s warm, melancholy heart. Hoffman’s 121-year-old Jack Crabb relates his picaresque history, from being orphaned after a Pawnee attack and raised by Cheyenne tribal leader Old Lodge Skins (a deadpan Chief Dan George) to surviving in a “civilised” white world of adulterers, snake-oil salesmen and, most horrifically, genocidal soldiers led by the likes of Gen Custer. Simon Wardell
It is the 25th anniversary of one of this century’s defining geopolitical events and this two-part documentary offers a straightforward but still striking commemoration of that terrible day. It hears from rescue workers, witnesses and survivors of the attack on New York but also explores the assault on the Pentagon and the fate of the fourth airliner, which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The horror still startles but so does the courage of many of the initial responses. Phil Harrison
This report is published with credit to The Guardian. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on The Guardian →
Source: The Guardian · Ali Catterall, Priya Elan, Phil Harrison, Hollie Richardson, Graeme Virtue and Simon Wardell. Published 2 Sept 2026, 05:20 am.
