Channel 4 TV Guide: Listings, Schedule & What’s On Channel 4 Tonight

Channel 4 is the UK’s publicly owned but ad-funded broadcaster, free to watch and responsible for a fair chunk of the odder British television of the past forty years. You’ll find it at 4 on Freeview, and at 104 on Freeview HD, Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat. It streams live and on demand for free at channel4.com and through the Channel 4 app. Channel 4 News runs weeknights at 7pm; Gogglebox is the Friday 9pm fixture.

Thursday 6 August is a normal weekday for Channel 4: syndicated comedy and property formats fill the daytime, and Channel 4 News runs at its usual 7pm slot. Primetime brings a new episode of Renovation Rescue at 8pm, before a new Murder Case: The Digital Detectives investigates a fatal stabbing in Ormskirk at 9pm, followed by The Body Detectives and Social Media Monsters.

Channel 4 Schedule: Thursday 6 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 4 schedule for Thursday 6 August 2026, on Freeview 4.

What’s on Channel 4 today — the daytime schedule

Thursday’s daytime runs on syndicated comedy: three episodes of The King of Queens from 6:30am, then three of Everybody Loves Raymond from 7:45am, before four back-to-back Frasier episodes carry the morning to 11:10am. Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA takes the mid-morning slot, and Find It, Fix It, Flog It and The Great House Giveaway fill the hours either side of 12:10pm.

Countdown returns at 2:10pm, A Place in the Sun takes 3pm, and Saving Country Houses with… Penelope Keith fills 4pm. Chateau DIY runs to 6pm, ahead of American Pickers and the 7pm news.

Channel 4 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Channel 4 primetime line-up for tonight, Thursday 6 August 2026.

American Pickers — Channel 4, 6pm

Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz call on collector Woody, whose former textile mill has become a 200,000 square foot warehouse of vintage film and TV props (series 17, episode 9).

Channel 4 News — Channel 4, 7pm

Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Cathy Newman anchor the day’s headlines and the deeper analysis Channel 4 News built its reputation on, with the weather closing out the half hour.

Renovation Rescue — Channel 4, 8pm

Vogue Williams and Luke Mabbott step into a stalled seaside project in West Sussex, where Penny is trying to finish a retirement home near family before the build defeats her (new episode, series 2, episode 2).

Murder Case: The Digital Detectives — Channel 4, 9pm

Tonight’s new instalment is built around the killing of Matthew Daulby, stabbed in a street fight in Ormskirk. His killer left the country within days, and the episode traces the digital evidence that eventually brought the case home (series 2, episode 4).

The Body Detectives — Channel 4, 10pm

A retired detective and a team of forensic specialists reopen cases of unidentified bodies found around Britain. The first case centres on a body recovered off the Norfolk coast, and the work of establishing who he was (series 1, episode 1).

Social Media Monsters — Channel 4, 11:05pm

A late-night strand on crimes that took hold online. The opening case follows Holly, fifteen, whose hacked social accounts were used by an ex-partner in a campaign of abuse that ended in violence (series 1, episode 1).

Popular shows on Channel 4

Comedy and entertainment

Gogglebox has been running since 2013, filming regular families and friends reacting to the week’s telly from their own sofas. When something big happens in the culture, their reactions often land harder than any think-piece. It won the BAFTA for Reality and Constructed Factual in 2014 and is still going more than a decade later.

Taskmaster moved to Channel 4 from Dave in 2020 and has run a new series most years since. Greg Davies’s mock authority and Alex Horne’s deadpan make for a double act that never feels forced. Series 21 began in April 2026 with Amy Gledhill, Armando Iannucci, Joanna Page, Joel Dommett and Kumail Nanjiani.

Factual and documentary

24 Hours in A&E films inside a working NHS hospital, originally St George’s in Tooting and later King’s College, with fixed cameras and no presenter. It trusts the patients and staff to carry it, which they do. Dispatches, running since 1987, does the investigative work few other British programmes go near; its 2023 Russell Brand investigation was made jointly with two national newspapers.

Baking, lifestyle and food

The Great British Bake Off can make an entire nation care about proving times and choux pastry. It moved from the BBC to Channel 4 in 2017 and still pulls some of the biggest entertainment audiences of the year each autumn. Bake Off: The Professionals swaps the amateurs for trained pastry chefs, and the sugar-work sculptures they produce are frankly ridiculous. Come Dine With Me just keeps going in the afternoons, held together entirely by Dave Lamb’s narration.

How to watch Channel 4 live and on demand

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find Channel 4 depending on your platform:

All of these are free-to-air, no subscription needed. Channel 4 takes no money from the TV Licence; it runs on advertising and commercial partnerships, which is why you get ad breaks on both the linear channel and the stream.

Channel 4 streaming service

Channel 4 streams live and on demand for free at channel4.com and through the Channel 4 app, which runs on smart TVs, iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and most major streaming sticks. You need a free account to watch; registration takes a couple of minutes. Alongside the live feed there’s the full on-demand library, box sets, and some series that never appear on linear TV. Most programmes stay up for at least 30 days after broadcast. The service used to be called All 4 before Channel 4 folded it under its own name in 2023.

The Channel 4 family of channels

Channel 4 runs a group of free-to-air digital channels alongside the main service.

E4 is the entertainment and comedy channel aimed at younger viewers. It’s the linear home of Hollyoaks, which airs weeknights on E4, with the omnibus appearing on Channel 4 overnight on Tuesdays. E4 also carries American imports including The Big Bang Theory and Friends. It’s on Freeview 28, Sky 140 and Virgin Media 144.

More4 is where the factual and lifestyle back catalogue goes to live a second life — property, true crime, acquired documentary series, and a great many daytime repeats. More4 is on Freeview 18, Sky 144 and Virgin Media 148.

Film4 is the free movie channel, and a genuinely good one: mainstream Hollywood in the evenings, world and independent cinema later on, no subscription anywhere in it. Film4 is on Freeview 15, Sky 313 and Virgin Media 428.

4seven replays the past week of Channel 4 and its sister channels at different times of day, for anyone who’d rather not use the app. It’s on Freeview 47 and Sky 149.

Frequently asked questions

What channel number is Channel 4 on Freeview?

Channel 4 is on channel 4 on Freeview. If you have a Freeview HD receiver or a TV with a built-in Freeview HD tuner, Channel 4 HD is on channel 104. Both carry the same programmes.

What channel is Channel 4 on Sky?

Channel 4 is on channel 104 on Sky, which covers Sky Q, Sky Stream and Sky Glass. Channel 4 HD is the default feed at 104.

What channel is Channel 4 on Virgin Media?

Channel 4 is on channel 104 on Virgin Media.

What channel is Channel 4 on Freesat?

Channel 4 is on channel 104 on Freesat. If you’re in Wales you may find S4C at 104 on some tuners; check your regional listing accordingly.

What time is Channel 4 News on?

Channel 4 News is on Monday to Friday at 7pm, running until 7:55pm. It’s produced by ITN and streams free on channel4.com and the Channel 4 app alongside the linear broadcast. Weekend bulletins are shorter and earlier: 6pm on Saturday and Sunday, running around thirty minutes.

What time is Gogglebox on Channel 4?

Gogglebox airs on Fridays at 9pm on Channel 4. Episodes are one hour long and are available on the Channel 4 streaming service shortly after broadcast.

What’s on Channel 4 tonight?

Tonight, Thursday 6 August 2026: Channel 4 News at 7pm leads into a new episode of Renovation Rescue at 8pm. A new Murder Case: The Digital Detectives follows at 9pm, investigating the killing of Matthew Daulby in Ormskirk. The Body Detectives takes 10pm, and Social Media Monsters closes the night at 11:05pm. Full times are in the schedule above.

Can I watch Channel 4 online for free?

Yes. Channel 4 streams live and on demand for free at channel4.com and through the Channel 4 app. A free account is required to watch. The service is available on smart TVs, phones, tablets, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and most streaming sticks. Channel 4 is ad-supported, so adverts are included in the stream.

Does Channel 4 have a streaming service?

Yes. It’s the same free service covered above at channel4.com and via the Channel 4 app, previously known as All 4 before Channel 4 dropped the separate branding in 2023.

Verdict

Murder Case: The Digital Detectives is the one to build the evening around. This new instalment reconstructs the fatal stabbing of Matthew Daulby in Ormskirk and the manhunt that followed once his killer fled abroad, with the digital evidence trail at the centre of how the case was eventually cracked.

Renovation Rescue at 8pm is a solid watch ahead of it, following Vogue Williams and Luke Mabbott as they try to rescue a stalled West Sussex build. The Body Detectives and Social Media Monsters carry the night through to midnight.

Watch

Related: What’s On TV Tonight | Channel 4 Schedule | BBC One TV Guide