UK News
Parents hit by Child Maintenance Service errors
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which runs the CMS, did not address the experiences of John Hammond and other individual cases, or explain why in some cases money was taken wrongly from bank accounts. It said it tries to arrange voluntary arrears payments and “enforcement measures are only taken if parents continue not to pay”.
Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final 2026
8pm, BBC One
It’s time for either the best or worst music event of the year! For the contest’s 70th year, the final 20 acts will light up Wiener Stadthalle arena in Vienna – minus Spain, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia, who are not taking part due to Israel’s participation. As ever, Graham Norton is on hand with razor-sharp commentary, and the UK’s hope lies in electro act Look Mum No Computer with his song Eins, Zwei, Drei. Hollie Richardson
Britain’s Got Talent
6pm, ITV1
It’s the fourth semi-final. Who from this week’s lineup will join Mizuki the aerialist (and her acrobatics to Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill), the terrifying Mega Unity dance squad, who all dressed like the Joker, and 17-year-old harpist Niamh? HR
World’s Most Secret Hotels
8pm, Channel 4
More uniquely niche getaways are showcased, including a freight crane that has been transformed into a sea-view hotel in Hamburg, a wagon retreat in Utah that will make your inner cowboy go “yee-haw!” and a land-bound submarine-cum-hotel in the Scottish Highlands. No key cards required. Priya Elan
Royal Peacemaker: Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh
9pm, Channel 5
She was working in PR when she married Prince Edward so perhaps it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh was able to ride out an embarrassing tabloid sting in 2001 and evolve into a respectable, reliable royal. This breezy profile charts her under-the-radar rise in the House of Windsor. Graeme Virtue
Monsieur Spade
9pm, U&Drama
Photograph: Jean-Claude Lother/AMC
Coolly atmospheric and freighted with a seriousness that so many modern crime dramas wilfully lack, this US series casts Clive Owen as Dashiell Hammett’s detective Sam Spade, retired to the south of France in 1963 but now investigating the appalling murder of six nuns. As the case develops, Spade finds himself in danger. Jack Seale
Saturday Night Live UK
10pm, Sky One
The confirmation of a well-deserved second season of this variety show reflects a series that has delivered more than it promised. Expect a celebratory vibe to the final episode whose pointed state-of-the-nation lampooning will be presided over by former Time Lord Ncuti Gatwa. Music comes from indie-pop singer Holly Humberstone. Phil Harrison
Film choices
The Testament of Ann Lee, out now, Disney+
Mona Fastvold’s astonishing drama about the founder of the Shakers Christian sect in the 18th century defies simple classification – which may be why it was unjustly shunned during awards season. At heart it’s a historical biopic: Manchester cotton worker Ann Lee (a performance of great intensity from Amanda Seyfried) joins the Quakers, then forms her own group founded on celibacy, and ends up migrating to America to seek religious freedom. It’s also a highly choreographed folk musical, centred on the Shakers’ ecstatic singing and dancing. And it’s a fascinating tale of female empowerment in an age when the obstacles to self-determination were vast. Simon Wardell
The Teachers’ Lounge, 9pm, BBC Four
The conceit of the school as a microcosm of wider society is used brilliantly in İlker Çatak’s German drama. Leonie Benesch plays new teacher Carla, who investigates after thefts from the staff room. Issues of racism, surveillance, trust and the delicate power balance between educators, pupils and parents crop up as her discoveries throw the entire institution into turmoil – much of it focused on her favourite pupil, Oskar (Leonard Stettnisch). The excellent Benesch exudes empathy, as Carla strives to do the right thing while events overwhelm her. SW
Live sport
Scottish Premiership Football, Celtic v Hearts, 11.30am, Sky Sports Main Event The title decider at Celtic Park.
Men’s Cycling: Giro d’Italia, noon, TNT Sports 3 Stage eight, from Chieti to Fermo.
FA Cup Final: Chelsea v Man City, 2pm, BBC One Pep Guardiola (pictured above) goes for his second domestic cup.
PGA Championship Golf, 3pm, Sky Sports Golf Day three at Aronimink Golf Club.
Prem Rugby Union: Harlequins v Exeter, 3.30pm, TNT Sports 2 Saracens v Gloucester is at 6.15pm.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised retribution against Russia on Friday after laying red roses at the rubble of a Kyiv apartment building where a Russian missile strike killed 24 people, including three children. “Ukraine will not allow any of the aggressor’s strikes that take the lives of our people to go unpunished,” the president said after meeting top military and intelligence officials to discuss retaliatory long-range strikes. Zelenskyy said later in his nightly video address that retaliatory actions had already been approved, and pointed to an overnight attack on an oil refinery that the military said triggered a large fire in the central Russian city of Ryazan.
The strike on Ryazan’s huge oil refinery was part of a large-scale Ukrainian long-range drone attack targeting several regions in Russia after Moscow’s forces pounded Ukraine with three days of massive strikes with missiles and drones, reports Peter Beaumont. The scale of the attacks appeared to put paid to claims of Donald Trump that a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine was close, after recent remarks by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, that the war might be approaching an end.
Trump told reporters that the strikes on Kyiv – launched hours after a three-day US-brokered ceasefire expired – could disrupt efforts to find a diplomatic resolution to the war.
A Russian court has ordered Belgian financial group Euroclear to pay about $250bn in damages over the freezing of billions of dollars’ worth of Russian assets in the EU since the Ukraine war. It was not clear how Russia intended to recover the funds, and Euroclear said it did not recognise the Russian court’s jurisdiction. The Moscow court said it upheld the Russian central bank’s claim, while Euroclear told Agence France-Presse the bank’s claims were “without merit”.
Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, doubling the number of oil refineries targeted since the start of the year, according to information posted on social media by Russian officials. The strikes have reduced Russia’s oil output – the world’s third-largest after the US and Saudi Arabia – adding pressure to Moscow’s federal budget.
Ukraine’s mental health crisis is palpable and growing amid the war, the World Health Organization said, warning the effects could be felt for generations. WHO’s latest data showed 71% of people “have episodes of anxiety, stress, sleepless nights”, said its representative in Ukraine, Jarno Habicht.
Greek investigators believe a military sea drone found on a Greek island last week went off course due to a technical failure and may not have travelled far, Reuters quoted sources as saying on Friday. The explosives-laden drone – which Greece says is Ukrainian, a claim Kyiv has denied – was discovered on the shores of Lefkada on 7 May, triggering diplomatic tensions between Athens and Kyiv.
A Russian attack struck a grain terminal at a Ukrainian port, injuring seven people and causing other damage, Ukraine’s development ministry said on X on Friday, without specifying the port.
German prosecutors said a German judge had enforced an arrest warrant against a Ukrainian national suspected of spying for Russia. The defendant, identified only as Sergey N, had been detained in Spain at the end of March and extradited to Germany on Thursday, the prosecutors added.
If the Greater Manchester mayor goes on to win the by-election, he would be able to launch a leadership challenge against the PM.
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