TV Guide: Go before you go unless you want to be caught short behind a dinosaur

Dozens of grey portable toilets stretch across Blackheath this morning. It’s either a convention of Incontinents Anonymous or the return of the London Marathon. Almost 60,000 runners will take part today, selected from a record 1.13 million who applied, and it’s best to go before you go.

The elite field includes Tigst Assefa, the women’s Olympic silver medal winner, and Sabastian Sawe, winner last year in London and Berlin, while Marcel Hug, the Swiss wheelchair athlete, hopes to match David Weir’s record of eight wins in the capital. In the mass start, famous faces include the actor James Norton, the former Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel and the Olympic cycling legend Dame Laura Kenny, but the streets will, as usual, also be filled with an array of dinosaurs, pantomime cows and cartoon characters (today, BBC One, 8.30am).

For those who want to warm up for this endurance event on the sofa, the Madrid marathon is also on today. While less celebrated, it is an older event, having first been run in 1978, three years before London (Premier Sports 1, 7.30am).

It’s the time of year when the Wembley turf gets well trampled. Manchester City and Southampton had their fun yesterday and now Chelsea play Leeds United in the second FA Cup semi-final. Chelsea might have been considered favourites – they reached three finals in a row not long ago – but have just sacked another manager. Could Leeds reach their first final since 1973 (today, TNT Sports 1, 3pm)?

Two other clubs hope to recapture old cup glories when Nottingham Forest meet Aston Villa in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final. While Villa reached the third-tier Conference League semi-final two years ago, Forest have not got to this stage in Europe since they were beaten by Anderlecht in the Uefa Cup in 1984, two years after Villa won the European Cup. Braga or Freiberg await the winners (Thursday, TNT Sports 1, 8pm). Arsenal have two Champions League semi-finals this week – involving three matches. The men go to Atlético Madrid on Wednesday, while the women continue the defence of their title against Lyon, at the Emirates today (BBC Two, 3.30pm) and in France on Saturday (BBC iPlayer, 2pm).

The last two rounds of the Formula One season, in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, were cancelled because of the war in Iran. The FIA will be hoping that has calmed down by the time they return to the Middle East for the final two races in November. When the drivers left Japan four weeks ago, the teen prodigy Kimi Antonelli led the standings. Can he keep it going on the resumption in Miami (Sprint race, Saturday, Sky Sports F1, 5pm)?

Photograph by John Phillips/UK Press via Getty Images