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

Updated: 20 September 2026

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.

Sunday 20 September 2026 breaks BBC One’s regular Sunday shape early on. Princess Diana: My Sister’s Story takes the 6:30pm slot, with Laura Kuenssberg interviewing Earl Spencer, then Countryfile follows at 7pm and Antiques Roadshow takes the 8pm slot, before the channel launches its new legal drama The Split Up at 9pm — a spin-off of The Split centred on a new Manchester law firm. The night closes on the news, Match of the Day at 10:30pm and the film The Mercy from 11:40pm.

BBC One Schedule: Sunday 20 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete BBC One schedule for Sunday 20 September 2026, on Freeview 1.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on BBC One today: the daytime schedule

Sunday’s daytime opens with Breakfast at 6am, then a repeat of Saturday’s Match of the Day airs at 7:35am. Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg takes the current-affairs slot at 9am, followed by Politics London and Sunday Morning Live through the late morning, then Money for Nothing at 11:30am.

Bargain Hunt and Points of View carry the schedule into early afternoon, with the news, Songs of Praise’s harvest edition and Escape to the Country either side of 1pm. Back to the Future Part III fills the film slot from 2:20pm, and the drama Kingdom and Homes Under the Hammer run into early evening.

BBC One tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the BBC One primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 20 September 2026.

BBC News — BBC One, 6:05pm

The evening bulletin covers the day’s national and international headlines.

BBC London News — BBC One, 6:20pm

A regional update follows with news from London and the South East.

Weather — BBC One, 6:25pm

A short forecast ahead of the evening’s programmes.

Princess Diana: My Sister’s Story — BBC One, 6:30pm

Earl Spencer sits down with Laura Kuenssberg for half an hour on his sister, in an interview BBC One is billing as a UK exclusive. It replaces the Garden Rescue repeat that had been pencilled into this slot. Viewers sensitive to flashing images should note the programme carries a warning for them.

Countryfile — BBC One, 7pm

Countryfile keeps its regular Sunday slot, with its usual mix of farming stories, rural life and a look ahead at the week’s weather.

Antiques Roadshow — BBC One, 8pm

Series 49 continues from a new venue, as owners bring in family heirlooms and car-boot finds for the specialists to value.

The Split Up — BBC One, 9pm

BBC One launches The Split Up, a spin-off of the legal drama The Split, over two consecutive nights starting tonight. Ritu Arya plays Aria Kishan, a lawyer expected to take over her father’s Manchester divorce practice, Kishan Law; Sanjeev Bhaskar plays her father, Dhruv. Tonight’s opener sets up the firm and the family tensions underneath it rather than a single case, with the second episode following tomorrow at the same time.

BBC News and Weather — BBC One, 10pm

The ten o’clock bulletin rounds up the day’s news, with the regional update and forecast either side of it.

BBC London News — BBC One, 10:25pm

London’s local news follows the national bulletin.

Match of the Day — BBC One, 10:30pm

The day’s Premier League goals and studio analysis close out the football coverage.

The Mercy — BBC One, 11:40pm

The night ends with The Mercy, the 2018 film starring Colin Firth as Donald Crowhurst, the amateur sailor who entered a solo round-the-world yacht race in 1968 and quietly unravelled at sea as the deadlines passed and the lies he told about his position piled up.

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. There’s no episode on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, so tonight’s line-up runs without it. During Wimbledon fortnight the weekday 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?

Sunday 20 September 2026 opens with a late change to the usual Sunday shape: Princess Diana: My Sister’s Story at 6:30pm, then Countryfile at 7pm and Antiques Roadshow at 8pm, before the new legal drama The Split Up launches at 9pm. The night closes with Match of the Day at 10:30pm and the film The Mercy from 11:40pm.

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

The Split Up is the one to build the evening around: BBC One’s new Manchester-set legal drama launches at 9pm, with the second episode following tomorrow night at the same time. Antiques Roadshow and Countryfile carry the earlier evening, and Match of the Day closes out the football at 10:30pm ahead of the film The Mercy.

Daytime runs the standard Sunday shape: Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and Sunday Morning Live through the late morning, then Bargain Hunt, Escape to the Country and Homes Under the Hammer carrying the afternoon into early evening.

Watch

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