BBC One (BBC 1) TV Guide: Listings, Schedule & What’s On BBC One Tonight

BBC One is the UK’s most-watched television channel, running around the clock and streaming live on BBC iPlayer. This guide covers tonight’s line-up and the regular weekly schedule, plus where to find the channel across every platform.

Tuesday 18 August 2026: EastEnders is back in its regular 7:30pm slot, straight after The One Show. The Great British Sewing Bee opens a children’s week at 8pm, and a new series of Celebrity MasterChef starts its first heat at 9pm. After the late bulletins, the 1987 gangster film The Untouchables, with Kevin Costner and Sean Connery, closes out the night from 10:40pm.

BBC One Schedule: Tuesday 18 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete BBC One schedule for Tuesday 18 August 2026, on Freeview 1.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on BBC One today: the daytime schedule

Breakfast holds the sofa until 9:30am, then Countryfile Treasures takes over (series 2025, episode 20), followed by Garden Rescue at 10:30am (series 10, episode 31) and Homes Under the Hammer at 11:15am (series 29, episode 28).

Bargain Hunt opens the afternoon at 12:15pm (series 70, episode 1), ahead of BBC News at One, which folds in BBC London News. Money for Nothing follows at 2pm (series 18, episode 14), then Escape to the Country at 2:45pm (series 13, episode 18) and The Repair Shop at 3:30pm (series 14, episode 7).

The Answer Run rounds off the afternoon at 4:30pm (series 3, episode 12), before Pointless takes its usual 5:15pm teatime slot (series 30, episode 15). BBC News at 6pm and BBC London News at 6:30pm close out the pre-primetime run.

BBC One tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the BBC One primetime line-up for tonight, Tuesday 18 August 2026.

BBC News — BBC One, 6pm

The early evening bulletin, with the national forecast attached.

BBC London News — BBC One, 6:30pm

A half-hour of regional news and weather for London and the South East ahead of the evening’s entertainment run.

The One Show — BBC One, 7pm

Roman Kemp and Lauren Laverne front the studio sofa for another round of guests and topical chat before EastEnders.

EastEnders — BBC One, 7:30pm

George and Nicola’s row still hasn’t cooled, Ravi turns to Zack for a way out of his latest mess, Max slips back into old habits, and Penny keeps knocking back Vinny’s offers of help. Series 2026, episode 131.

The Great British Sewing Bee — BBC One, 8pm

Children’s week reaches the workroom: a tutu pattern to follow, home-made superhero outfits to design, and old fleece to turn into soft toys. Series 12, episode 6.

Celebrity MasterChef — BBC One, 9pm

Series 21 opens its first heat. Comedian Joe Pasquale, broadcaster Jason Mohammad and former Olympic weightlifter Emily Campbell take their turn under pressure alongside Shakira Khan and Jay McGuiness, all cooking to avoid becoming the opening night’s elimination.

BBC News and Weather — BBC One, 10pm

The late bulletin rounds up the day’s headlines before the film.

BBC London News — BBC One, 10:30pm

A short regional update closes out the local news for the night.

The Untouchables — BBC One, 10:40pm

Brian De Palma’s 1987 Prohibition-era thriller sends Kevin Costner’s Eliot Ness after Al Capone, played by Robert De Niro. Sean Connery won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar as the streetwise beat cop who helps train Ness’s team. It runs to just before 12:35am.

Popular shows on BBC One

Soaps

EastEnders is the anchor: 7:30pm, Monday to Thursday, running since February 1985 and still among the highest-rated things on British television. Walford is fictional. The Queen Vic is a set at Elstree.

Entertainment and Quizzes

Pointless is the cleverest of the BBC’s teatime quizzes. Find the answers a survey group didn’t think of, score as low as you can: it rewards obscure knowledge over fast fingers, which is why it plays well with people who are terrible at buzzer rounds. Alexander Armstrong has fronted it since 2009.

The Apprentice comes back each autumn for Lord Sugar’s boardroom firings, and Strictly Come Dancing arrives in September and runs to the December final. Blankety Blank, revived with Bradley Walsh, and Celebrity Bridge of Lies with Ross Kemp fill the lighter Saturday teatime slots.

Drama

Death in Paradise is the dependable one, a Caribbean murder procedural that runs the same formula every week and has never pretended otherwise. Casualty has held Saturday nights at 8pm since 1986.

Newer drama tends to arrive as a limited series of three to six episodes at 9pm, rotating through the year rather than occupying a permanent slot.

Sport

BBC One carries Match of the Day on Saturday nights, still the UK’s most-watched football highlights programme, plus major international tournaments, Wimbledon shared with BBC Two, the FA Cup and Sports Personality of the Year each December.

Factual and News

Panorama, on air since 1953, is the current affairs strand. Countryfile takes Sunday evenings, usually with a Natural History Unit documentary and Antiques Roadshow after it.

How to watch BBC One live and on demand

Channel Numbers

Here’s where to find BBC One depending on your platform:

BBC One is free-to-air on all of these platforms, with no subscription required. The regional version you receive is determined by your postcode.

BBC iPlayer

BBC One streams live and free on BBC iPlayer at bbc.co.uk/iplayer, and via the iPlayer app on smart TVs, iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and most streaming sticks.

Most BBC One programmes stay on iPlayer for 30 days after transmission. EastEnders sometimes sticks around longer.

Freely

BBC One is available on the Freely platform, the free streaming service set up jointly by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 for broadband-connected televisions. If you have a Freely-enabled smart TV, BBC One is on channel 1.

Do You Need a TV Licence?

Yes. Watching BBC One live requires a valid TV Licence, whether that’s via aerial, satellite, cable or an online stream, and so does watching iPlayer content on the day of broadcast. As of April 2026 a colour licence costs £180 a year.

BBC One regional variations and the nations

BBC One is not a single national feed. It splits into regional and national opt-outs that swap network programmes for local ones.

In England, that mostly means the 6:30pm news: BBC North West Tonight, BBC London, Look North and the rest, made in regional centres around the country, with further opt-out windows during the day.

The devolved nations get more than that. BBC One Scotland, BBC One Wales and BBC One Northern Ireland share most of the network schedule but run their own news and commissions, with Wales Today and BBC Newsline as the respective evening bulletins.

Every regional and national variant is on BBC iPlayer. On satellite or cable, the version you get is tied to your registered postcode.

BBC One HD is available on all the main platforms and is the default for most viewers with an HD set. There’s no separate BBC One +1 channel.

Frequently Asked Questions

What channel number is BBC One on Freeview?

BBC One is on channel 1 on Freeview. If you have a Freeview HD receiver or an HD-ready TV with a built-in tuner, BBC One HD is on channel 101. Both carry your regional version of the channel.

What channel is BBC One on Sky?

BBC One is on channel 101 on Sky. This applies to Sky Q, Sky Stream and Sky Glass. The regional opt-out you receive depends on the postcode registered to your Sky account.

What channel is BBC One on Virgin Media?

BBC One is on channel 101 on Virgin Media.

What channel is BBC One on Freesat?

BBC One is on channel 101 on Freesat. The regional version is determined by the postcode entered during your box’s initial setup.

What time is EastEnders on BBC One?

EastEnders airs on BBC One at 7:30pm, Monday to Thursday, and has done since the Friday episode was axed in 2022. During Wimbledon fortnight those episodes sometimes shift over to BBC Two if the tennis runs long into the evening. Every episode lands on BBC iPlayer from 6am on the day of broadcast.

What’s on BBC One tonight?

Tuesday 18 August 2026: EastEnders airs its regular 7:30pm episode after The One Show, followed by The Great British Sewing Bee’s children’s week at 8pm and the opening heat of a new series of Celebrity MasterChef at 9pm. Kevin Costner and Sean Connery lead the Prohibition-era film The Untouchables from 10:40pm, after the late bulletins.

Does BBC One have adverts?

No. BBC One carries no commercial advertising on any platform, and nor does any other BBC channel. The BBC is funded entirely by the TV Licence fee.

Can I watch BBC One online without a TV aerial?

Yes. BBC One streams live on BBC iPlayer and on Freely for broadband-connected TVs, so no aerial or satellite dish is needed. You do need a broadband connection, a free BBC account and a valid TV Licence. The iPlayer app runs on smart TVs, phones, tablets, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and most major streaming devices.

Verdict

A strong Tuesday for BBC One, with two of its biggest returning entertainment formats sitting back to back. EastEnders resets its storylines at 7:30pm, then The Great British Sewing Bee’s children’s week gives the 8pm hour some warmth before Celebrity MasterChef opens a new run at 9pm.

None of it is a repeat: the Sewing Bee episode is new, MasterChef is starting from scratch, and The Untouchables at 10:40pm is a proper film rather than a schedule-filler rerun. Anyone in for the evening has a genuinely full night to choose from.

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Related: What’s On TV Tonight | BBC One Schedule | Films on TV This Week