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.

American Pickers opens the evening at 6pm, followed by Channel 4 News at 7pm. A new Extraordinary Extensions airs at 8pm, then a new Spy Next Door: The Anna Chapman Story at 9pm, before 24 Hours in A&E and 999: On the Front Line close out primetime at 10pm and 11:05pm.

Channel 4 Schedule: Wednesday 12 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 4 schedule for Wednesday 12 August 2026, on Freeview 4.

What’s on Channel 4 today: the daytime schedule

Naked Attraction opens the graveyard slot at 12:05am, followed by Ramsay’s Hotel Hell at 1am and Levison Wood: Walking with Orangutans at 1:50am, in which the explorer tracks down Borneo’s remaining orangutans. The 2020 Adam Brody comedy-drama The Kid Detective fills the 2:45am block, then A Place in the Sun and The Piano run back to back from 4:25am ahead of Countdown at 5:50am.

Three episodes each of The King of Queens and Everybody Loves Raymond carry the schedule to 9am, then Frasier runs across four episodes from 9:10am, before Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA and the lunchtime news summary. Find It, Fix It, Flog It and The Great House Giveaway fill the early afternoon, Countdown returns at 2:10pm, and A Place in the Sun, Saving Country Houses with Penelope Keith and Chateau DIY run through 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, Wednesday 12 August 2026.

American Pickers — Channel 4, 6pm

Frank has his eye on a 1946 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead tucked away inside a private California compound, and this episode of series 18 turns on whether he can talk its owner into selling rather than keeping the bike parked for good.

Channel 4 News — Channel 4, 7pm

Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Cathy Newman lead the nightly bulletin, still one of the few UK news slots that gives a story room to breathe before the weather closes things out.

Extraordinary Extensions — Channel 4, 8pm

New: Extraordinary Extensions returns for series 3, episode 3. One couple bolt an unlikely mash-up extension onto an old Canterbury B&B. Elsewhere, a Nottingham homeowner who reached the Miss Vintage UK final chases a full 1960s Hollywood look for her dormer bungalow.

Spy Next Door: The Anna Chapman Story — Channel 4, 9pm

New: this two-parter opens with Anna Chapman’s arrival in London, tracing how the Russian agent worked her way into wealthy social circles before her cover eventually reached Washington. Episode one of two.

24 Hours in A&E — Channel 4, 10pm

Series 34 continues with three patients moving through the department at once: a 44-year-old woman brought in after a cardiac arrest at home, a 94-year-old man being assessed for a head injury, and a five-year-old whose leg gave way mid-dance with her mother.

999: On the Front Line — Channel 4, 11:05pm

A paramedic crew has to improvise when a woman’s waters break unexpectedly at home, and elsewhere a call comes in from a daughter worried that her mother has collapsed and seems confused.

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, Wednesday 12 August 2026: American Pickers opens the evening at 6pm, Channel 4 News follows at 7pm, and a new Extraordinary Extensions airs at 8pm. A new Spy Next Door: The Anna Chapman Story follows at 9pm, 24 Hours in A&E is at 10pm, and 999: On the Front Line closes primetime at 11:05pm.

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

Wednesday’s schedule is worth building around the 8pm and 9pm double premiere. Extraordinary Extensions brings genuinely different projects in Canterbury and Nottingham, and it leads straight into the opening half of Spy Next Door: The Anna Chapman Story, a strong hook for anyone who likes their true-life espionage played out in the drawing rooms of the wealthy.

24 Hours in A&E remains dependable at 10pm, moving between three unconnected patients without needing to dramatise any of them. 999: On the Front Line closes the night at 11:05pm with two calls that show how quickly an ordinary evening can turn into an emergency.

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Related: What’s On TV Tonight | Channel 4 Schedule | BBC One TV Guide | Films on TV This Week