CBBC TV Guide: Listings, Schedule & What’s On CBBC Tonight

Published: 22 August 2026

CBBC is the BBC’s channel for children roughly aged 6 to 12, on air every day from 7am until close around 7pm on Freeview 201. No adverts, on any platform, because the TV Licence pays for it. Today is Sunday 23 August 2026, and with the summer holidays still on, the schedule runs at its full length rather than working around school hours.

CBBC Schedule: Sunday 23 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete CBBC schedule for Sunday 23 August 2026, on Freeview 201.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

What’s on CBBC today

Sunday’s line-up opens at 7am with Shaun the Sheep, then a run of British-made regulars: Danger Mouse, Dennis & Gnasher Unleashed! and Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese, before Newsround takes its usual 7:45am slot. SpongeBob SquarePants and Grizzy and the Lemmings follow, then two back-to-back episodes of Duck and Frog at 8:15am and 8:25am, Counterfeit Cat at 8:30am and The Amazing World of Gumball at 8:45am. Teen Titans Go! opens the 9am hour, then Deadly 60 sends Steve Backshall up a Suriname river at 9:10am ahead of a Jamie Johnson FC final at 9:40am. So Awkward and 4 O’Clock Club carry the schedule to 11am, followed by Go Get Arty, BMX All Stars and Operation Ouch! at 11:45am.

The afternoon opens with Horrible Histories at 12:15pm and Horrible Science half an hour later, then Bro’s in Control and Gladiators: Epic Pranks close out the 1pm hour before a SpongeBob SquarePants double at 1:40pm. Submarine Jim runs three episodes back to back from 2:05pm, Total Dramarama does the same from 2:40pm, and a further Duck and Frog pair takes the schedule to 3:30pm, when Malory Towers airs. Jamie Johnson, The Next Step: Cheer and Stage Stars fill the 4pm hour, before The Football Academy at 5:20pm and Bro’s in Control again at 5:45pm lead into the evening’s two programmes: The Dumping Ground at 6pm and Mrs Armitage on Wheels at 6:30pm. CBBC signs off for the night at 6:58pm.

CBBC tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

CBBC’s evening is short by design, just two programmes either side of half six, on Sunday 23 August 2026.

The Dumping Ground — CBBC, 6pm

Series 13 continues with “Tangled” (episode 8). Maisie has her sights on a place at fashion school, and getting there proves harder than she expected, while back at the house Shanice is having a bad hair day and Vinny can’t get his homework finished. Three small storylines rather than one big one, which is how the drama usually spreads its weekly half hour around the whole cast.

Mrs Armitage on Wheels by Quentin Blake — CBBC, 6:30pm

This is the third instalment in the Quentin Blake’s Box of Treasures anthology, narrated by Adrian Lester, adapting the author’s illustrated story about an inventor who can’t leave her bicycle alone. She sets off on a simple ride and keeps bolting on one more gadget, until the bike barely resembles the one she started with. A gentle, funny way to close out the schedule before bedtime.

Close — CBBC, 6:58pm

CBBC hands its frequency over for the night straight after, with a short card confirming programmes resume at 7am. Not a programme in itself, so it needs no more than a mention here.

What kind of shows are on CBBC

Drama

Crookhaven is the newest of CBBC’s dramas and the most ambitious: a boarding school that trains pickpockets to use the skill for good, back for a second run with a book range to go with it. Jamie Johnson FC, the football drama, is four series deep. Those two and Malory Towers give older viewers the thing most of the schedule can’t, which is characters and storylines that carry from one week to the next.

Comedy and animation

Most of the daytime is short-form comedy and animation. Danger Mouse and Dennis & Gnasher Unleashed! keep the old British characters ticking over, SpongeBob SquarePants and Teen Titans Go! cover the American imports, and newer originals like Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese and Duck and Frog fill the ten- and fifteen-minute gaps between them. The one worth actually sitting down for is Odd Squad, a live-action comedy about child agents who solve their cases with maths.

Factual and entertainment

Horrible Science, Operation Ouch!, Gladiators: Epic Pranks and Deadly Dinosaurs with Steve Backshall keep CBBC’s factual slots closer to sketch comedy or a game show than a documentary.

News and long-running strands

Newsround goes out every morning, weekends included, and it is still proper news explained without talking down. Blue Peter is the channel’s other fixture: into its seventh decade, having changed presenters dozens of times and almost nothing else.

How to watch CBBC

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find CBBC across the main UK television platforms:

CBBC is free on all of the above platforms, with no subscription required.

Streaming online

CBBC streams live and free on BBC iPlayer at bbc.co.uk/iplayer, and via the iPlayer app on smart TVs, phones, tablets, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and most streaming sticks. You’ll need a free BBC account, which costs nothing to set up. Most CBBC programmes also stay available on demand for at least 30 days after broadcast, so a missed episode of Crookhaven or Blue Peter is rarely gone for good. A valid TV Licence is required to watch live or to stream a programme on the day it airs.

CBBC and CBeebies

CBeebies is the sister channel for the under-6s, on Freeview channel 202 from around 6am to 7pm. Shorter programmes, slower pace, nothing that has to be followed week to week. The switch across usually happens when talking animals stop cutting it and teen drama is still a way off, which is more or less the gap CBBC was built to sit in. See our CBeebies TV guide for that channel’s full schedule.

Frequently asked questions

What’s on CBBC today?

CBBC’s Sunday 23 August 2026 schedule runs at full length through the school summer holidays, opening with Shaun the Sheep at 7am and running through The Amazing World of Gumball, Deadly 60 and a run of afternoon regulars including Malory Towers, Horrible Histories and Horrible Science. The evening brings two programmes, The Dumping Ground at 6pm and Mrs Armitage on Wheels at 6:30pm, before CBBC signs off for the night at 6:58pm. Full times are in the schedule table above.

What time does CBBC start and finish each day?

CBBC broadcasts from 7am to 7pm every day, then hands its frequency to BBC Three until 7am the next morning.

Is CBBC free to watch, and does it carry adverts?

Yes, CBBC has no adverts on any platform. It’s funded by the TV Licence rather than advertising, though a valid TV Licence is required to watch it live or on the day of broadcast via iPlayer.

Can I watch CBBC on BBC iPlayer?

Yes. CBBC streams live on BBC iPlayer and most programmes stay available on demand for at least 30 days afterwards. You’ll need a free BBC account and a valid TV Licence to watch live or same-day content.

What’s the difference between CBBC and CBeebies?

CBBC is for roughly 6-to-12-year-olds and includes longer dramas, competitive formats and Newsround. CBeebies is aimed at under-6s, with shorter, gentler programmes and a calmer pace.

Verdict

The pitch for a parent is simple enough. Twelve hours a day you don’t have to vet first, and no autoplay quietly nudging a seven-year-old towards something you’d rather they hadn’t found.

It won’t compete with CBeebies for calm, or with streaming for anything aimed at teenagers, and it isn’t trying to. What it offers is Newsround done properly, and a schedule either side of it that doesn’t need a parent hovering.

Related: What’s On TV Tonight | CBeebies TV Guide | Films on TV This Week