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.

Channel 4 News shifts to an early 6:30pm slot on Sunday 16 August, ahead of Gogglebox at 7pm. Two premieres follow back to back: Richard E. Grant’s Very Modern Odyssey heads to Tunisia at 8pm, then The Piano returns for a new heat at 9pm. Celebrity Gogglebox picks over the week’s telly at 10pm, and the drama Alice, Darling closes out the night at 11:05pm.

Channel 4 Schedule: Sunday 16 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 4 schedule for Sunday 16 August 2026, on Freeview 4.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Channel 4 today: the daytime schedule

The overnight run opens with the drama Monos at 1am, then Gordon Ramsay tries to rescue a struggling guesthouse in the third episode of Ramsay’s Hotel Hell at 2:45am. Location, Location, Location follows at 3:35am, and Kirstie Allsopp’s craft strand at 4:30am leads into three back-to-back episodes of The Simpsons running past 5am.

Four editions of Cheers take the schedule from 5:50am, followed by two of Everybody Loves Raymond and a further three Simpsons repeats through to 10am, when Sunday Brunch goes out live for its usual three-hour run. The Dog House takes over at 1pm, then five episodes of Four in a Bed follow that week’s guest houses through to 4:35pm, when Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive and Kids picks up the Owen family’s build. Worst House on the Street fills 5:35pm, and Channel 4 News closes the daytime run at 6:30pm.

Channel 4 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Channel 4 primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 16 August 2026, closing out the week with two premieres back to back.

Channel 4 News — Channel 4, 6:30pm

The weekend bulletin opens the evening with a shorter run-through of the day’s headlines than the weeknight edition.

Gogglebox — Channel 4, 7pm

Gogglebox (series 27, episode 18) opens primetime proper at 7pm, with the usual mix of households working through the week’s television from their own front rooms.

Richard E. Grant’s Very Modern Odyssey — Channel 4, 8pm

Richard E. Grant’s Very Modern Odyssey reaches its third stop at 8pm, with the actor tracing the Tunisian coastline said to have inspired Homer’s account of the lotus eaters. It’s a gentler kind of travel series than the format usually produces — less bucket-list itinerary, more a working actor poking around ruins and asking what stuck around from the myth and what didn’t.

The Piano — Channel 4, 9pm

The Piano returns at 9pm for a new heat, with Claudia Winkleman and Mika back among commuters at a station piano while a hidden professional judges the amateurs who stop to play. Three heats in, the format still gets real mileage out of not telling the passers-by who’s listening.

Celebrity Gogglebox — Channel 4, 10pm

Celebrity Gogglebox (series 7, episode 2) closes out the regular schedule at 10pm, with famous faces giving their verdict on the week’s telly, The Piano likely among it.

Alice, Darling — Channel 4, 11:05pm

The drama Alice, Darling rounds off the night at 11:05pm.

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, Sunday 16 August 2026: Gogglebox opens primetime at 7pm, followed by two premieres back to back — Richard E. Grant’s Very Modern Odyssey heads to Tunisia at 8pm, then The Piano returns for a new heat at 9pm. Celebrity Gogglebox follows at 10pm and the drama Alice, Darling closes the night at 11:05pm. There’s no Hollyoaks or any other soap on a Sunday.

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

Sunday’s schedule leans on two of Channel 4’s steadiest returning formats rather than anything new-format or heavy. Richard E. Grant’s Very Modern Odyssey and The Piano run back to back from 8pm, either side of Gogglebox opening the evening at 7pm, so it’s close to three hours in a similar easy register before Celebrity Gogglebox and Alice, Darling take the schedule on past 10pm.

There’s no soap or panel show to break up the run, but there’s not much need for one — travelogue, talent format and clip show sit together comfortably enough on a Sunday night.

Watch

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