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

Published: 22 September 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 Wednesday 23 September 2026, running the same seven-hour day the channel keeps every day of the week.

CBBC Schedule: Wednesday 23 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete CBBC schedule for Wednesday 23 September 2026, on Freeview 201.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

What’s on CBBC today

CBBC opens at 7am with Shaun the Sheep and Danger Mouse, then Super Happy Magic Forest and Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese carry breakfast alongside Newsround at its usual 7:45am slot. A Grizzy and the Lemmings double, SpongeBob SquarePants and a Duck and Frog pairing lead into Odd Squad and Shark Bites, before the school-day slate takes over: an art-themed Bitesize Daily episode at 9am is followed by Hey You What If?, Horrible Histories, Horrible Science, Operation Ouch! and Go Get Arty, with Africa filling the hour before lunch.

Game on Grandparents opens the afternoon at midday, followed by Andy and the Band, Football Fantastics and Octonauts. A run of shorter titles — Big Lizard, Piripenguins, a Duck and Frog double and Super Happy Magic Forest again — carries into Winx Club: The Magic Is Back at 2pm and Pokemon Horizons: The Series at 2:25pm, before Nine Minute Ninja, Shaun the Sheep, Dennis & Gnasher Unleashed! and Danger Mouse lead the schedule towards the evening line-up below.

CBBC tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the CBBC primetime line-up for tonight, Wednesday 23 September 2026.

High Hoops — CBBC, 6pm

CBBC’s evening run begins with High Hoops at 6pm, continuing series two with its third episode.

The Next Step: Cheer — CBBC, 6:30pm

A new episode of The Next Step: Cheer follows at 6:30pm — episode 13 of series one. The same premiere flag has shown up in the feed on consecutive nights this week, so it’s worth checking rather than taking on trust: a live listings source confirms tonight’s instalment genuinely is new, not a leftover tag.

Winx Club – The Magic Is Back — CBBC, 6:55pm

Winx Club – The Magic Is Back closes out the schedule with a brief three-minute episode at 6:55pm, just ahead of sign-off.

Close — CBBC, 6:58pm

CBBC goes off air at 6:58pm, with a card confirming programmes resume at 7am tomorrow.

What kind of shows are on CBBC

Drama

The Next Step is the nearest thing CBBC has to a returning drama serial: a dance show now ten series deep, with an ensemble cast and storylines that carry from one episode into the next, which is more than most of the schedule attempts. It’s been part of the daytime run for years rather than months. Crookhaven, the boarding school that trains pickpockets to use the skill for good, is the channel’s most ambitious recent commission and has a book range behind it, though it isn’t part of today’s line-up. Malory Towers does a similar job for older viewers, though it isn’t part of today’s line-up either.

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 originals like Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese, Duck and Frog and Grizzy and the Lemmings 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

DIY Deadly with Steve Backshall and the quiz-format Mystery Lane are closer to a game show or an outdoor challenge than a documentary, which is fairly typical of how CBBC handles factual ground these days — almost nothing goes out as straight non-fiction any more.

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 The Next Step 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 opens with Shaun the Sheep and Danger Mouse at 7am, and Newsround holds its usual 7:45am slot. Horrible Histories, Horrible Science, Operation Ouch! and Go Get Arty fill the late morning, then an afternoon of animation carries through to a new episode of The Next Step: Cheer at 6:30pm, just ahead of closedown 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 | CBeebies and CBBC Channel Numbers