TONIGHT’S telly has a simple offer: put the kettle on, turn it up, and let Paul Heaton do the heavy lifting.

In a listing of what to watch this evening, Heaton’s late-night slot on BBC Two is billed as a hugely fun live performance that digs into the songs people actually came for — the hits from The Beautiful South and The Housemartins.

It’s an enticing proposition because Heaton’s catalogue is built for communal listening. These are songs that live in choruses, in pub corners, in that familiar moment when you realise you know far more words than you thought. A night of live music can sometimes feel like homework; this one is framed as joy first, nostalgia second, and polish firmly left in the wings.

The emphasis on “all the hits” matters, too. It suggests a setlist that doesn’t disappear down deep cuts or detours, but leans into the material that’s travelled furthest — the stuff that’s become shorthand for an era of British pop with bite, wit and a big, generous hook.

And if your taste runs to the darker corners of cultural mythology, there’s another thread in tonight’s viewing: a programme asking just how deep Elvis Presley’s connections to organised crime really went. Even as a question, it’s catnip — the kind of premise that trades on the tension between a global icon’s clean legend and the murkier stories that cling to fame.

Taken together, it’s a pleasingly sharp little double bill: a celebratory blast of live music from one of Britain’s most enduring songwriters, followed by a probe into the shadowy lore that forever circles the King. That’s a pretty strong argument for staying up late — for joy, for intrigue, or for both.