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.

Friday 21 August brings motorsport into the evening line-up, with Channel 4 News at 7pm followed by F1: Dutch GP Sprint Qualifying Highlights at 7:30pm, a look back at Zandvoort as the season returns from its summer break. Surgery Secrets of the Super Rich then closes its run at 8pm, before 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown at 9pm and a Big Fat Quiz: Best Bits compilation at 10pm take the schedule into the late evening. Sarah Millican closes the night at 11:05pm.

Channel 4 Schedule: Friday 21 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 4 schedule for Friday 21 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 a new Outback Murder Highway at 12:05am, followed by Crime Scene Cleaners at 12:55am and an early episode of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA at 1:50am. The Schoolgirl Terrorist? airs at 2:40am, ahead of Dictator: The Hitler Interviews at 3:35am and Couples Come Dine with Me at 4:30am. A Place in the Sun airs a repeat at 5:25am, and Countdown opens proper daytime viewing at 5:50am.

Breakfast belongs to sitcom reruns: three episodes of The King of Queens run from 6:30am, then three of Everybody Loves Raymond from 7:45am, then four straight episodes of Frasier carry the schedule through to 11:10am, when Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA returns for a later-series outing. A Channel 4 News Summary lands at 12:05pm, ahead of Find It, Fix It, Flog It at 12:10pm and The Great House Giveaway at 1:10pm. Countdown returns for its afternoon edition at 2:10pm, A Place in the Sun follows at 3pm with a different episode from its earlier airing, and The Great B&B Challenge runs from 4pm. Chateau DIY closes out the afternoon at 5pm before American Pickers opens the evening at 6pm with a fresh episode, and Channel 4 News at 7pm.

Channel 4 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Channel 4 primetime line-up for tonight, Friday 21 August 2026.

American Pickers — Channel 4, 6pm

Mike and Robbie are back rummaging through barns and back gardens in a fresh outing (series 18, episode 9) — a different haul from anything shown earlier in the week.

Channel 4 News — Channel 4, 7pm

The regular hour of news and analysis, running its usual 55 minutes ahead of the evening’s entertainment.

F1: Dutch GP Sprint Qualifying Highlights — Channel 4, 7:30pm

A run-through of Sprint Qualifying from Zandvoort, the first grand prix weekend since the summer shutdown. This is highlights coverage rather than a live feed, packaging the session for anyone who missed it earlier in the day.

Surgery Secrets of the Super Rich — Channel 4, 8pm

The series reaches its last episode tonight. Victoria opts for non-surgical skin tightening rather than going under the knife, while JC pays to have his own fat cells harvested and put into storage. It’s a fittingly odd note to end the run on.

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown — Channel 4, 9pm

A new series gets under way, with the usual mash-up of panel-show banter and Countdown’s numbers and letters rounds.

Big Fat Quiz: Best Bits — Channel 4, 10pm

Billed as “Ultimate Rants”, this is a compilation pulled from the archive rather than a fresh recording — familiar clips resurfacing rather than new material.

Sarah Millican: Bobby Dazzler — Channel 4, 11:05pm

A stand-up special from the North Shields comedian to close out the night.

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, Friday 21 August 2026: Channel 4 News is at 7pm as usual, followed by F1: Dutch GP Sprint Qualifying Highlights from Zandvoort at 7:30pm. Surgery Secrets of the Super Rich closes its run at 8pm, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown starts a new series at 9pm, and a Big Fat Quiz: Best Bits compilation follows at 10pm. Sarah Millican: Bobby Dazzler closes the night 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

Friday’s schedule is a study in contrasts: a documentary series signing off, a panel show starting a new run, and a compilation dressed up as an event. Surgery Secrets of the Super Rich ends its six-part run at 8pm with two more unlikely procedures, before 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown launches series 29 at 9pm proper.

The F1 highlights at 7:30pm are a tidy way to catch up on Zandvoort qualifying without needing to have watched it live, and worth noting they are highlights rather than a live broadcast. Big Fat Quiz: Best Bits at 10pm is worth tuning into for the jokes, but it’s archive material rather than a new recording, so anyone hoping for fresh chaos should manage expectations. Sarah Millican rounds off the night with stand-up rather than anything scripted.

Watch

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