Tonight’s TV Picks: Marilyn and the Mob, Amanda’s Sofa Scandal, and a Detective in Capri

If you like your evenings served with a side of true-crime history, awkward domestic comedy and a dash of high-stakes medicine, tonight’s TV schedule has you covered.

At 10pm on Channel 4, a two-part series called Marilyn and the Mob examines how the star’s world overlapped with organised crime. The films trace how production figures, entertainers such as Frank Sinatra and even ties reaching as far as John F. Kennedy helped pull Marilyn closer to that shadowy orbit — all handled as an exploration of networks and influence rather than a gossip column.

BBC One’s Amandaland (9pm) takes a lighter, modern-comedy route. Lucy Punch’s Amanda has become a brand ambassador and, in the process of replacing her old sofa with the one she’s supposed to be selling, discovers a very unwelcome surprise: a used condom. Cue awkward conversations with her kids, sympathetic side-eye for Anne, a surreal exchange with ChatGPT and mummy Felicity trying to keep calm. It’s the kind of domestic embarrassment that’s both unglamorous and oddly relatable.

Over on BBC Two (9pm), Surgeons: At the Edge of Life returns with high-risk theatre work that’s as gripping as it is queasy. This episode follows a patient facing a rare double transplant — pancreas and kidney — and a separate case where part of a woman’s tongue must be removed to tackle aggressive cancer. It’s intense, humane and a reminder of how thin the line can be between life and the operating table.

ITV1’s A Taste for Murder (9pm) is pure escapist drama: Warren Brown plays a recently widowed detective who’s re-learning life — and cooking — while reconnecting with his daughter in Capri. This week’s mystery ties a scuba-diving accident to a crypto scam, so expect scenic views, family awkwardness and a side of sleuthing.

Peelers: The PSNI for Real (10pm, BBC Two), newly available on iPlayer after an earlier Northern Ireland screening, embeds Stephen Nolan with police in Belfast for an unflinching look at frontline work. The programme covers difficult, sometimes harrowing scenes — from attacks involving corrosive substances to tense community incidents — and aims to show policing up close rather than through headlines.

Finally, Andrew Davies Remembers: A Very Peculiar Practice (10pm, BBC Four) is a treat for anyone who enjoys sharp, 1980s satire. Davies revisits the creation of the dark-comedy series set in a fictional university — starring Peter Davison, Barbara Flynn and David Troughton — which skewered the era’s priorities with surreal wit. The whole series is on iPlayer if you want to binge a little Thatcher-era absurdity.

So, remote at the ready: whether you pick historical intrigue, toilet-paper-that-is-not-just-toilet-paper awkwardness, life-saving surgery or a sun-soaked mystery, tonight’s lineup proves television still knows how to surprise you.