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

Published: 26 August 2026

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 27 August continues both of this week’s true-crime documentaries rather than starting anything new. Channel 4 News opens primetime at 7pm and runs its full weekday hour, then Renovation Rescue continues at 8pm before The Murder Detective returns for the second of its three episodes at 9pm. The Never Ending Murder closes the night with its concluding double bill at 10pm and 11pm, wrapping the case up in two hours back to back. There’s no film anywhere in tonight’s schedule.

Channel 4 Schedule: Thursday 27 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 4 schedule for Thursday 27 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 hours open with two episodes of the true-crime documentary Spy Next Door: The Anna Chapman Story from 12:05am, then two of Celebrity Hunted from 1:55am. Couples Come Dine with Me takes 3:50am and Jamie: Eat Yourself Healthy follows at 4:45am, before Countdown opens the day proper at 5:50am. Breakfast belongs to the American sitcom archive again: three episodes of The King of Queens from 6:30am, then three of Everybody Loves Raymond from 7:45am.

Frasier takes the late-morning slot, four episodes back to back from 9:10am, followed by Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back at 11:10am. The afternoon is Channel 4’s own factual and format strand: a Channel 4 News Summary and Find It, Fix It, Flog It return at midday, The Great House Giveaway at 1:10pm, a second Countdown at 2:10pm, A Place in the Sun at 3pm, The Great B&B Challenge at 4pm and Chateau DIY at 5pm, before American Pickers opens the evening at 6pm.

Channel 4 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Channel 4 primetime line-up for tonight, Thursday 27 August 2026.

American Pickers — Channel 4, 6pm

Mike Wolfe and the team spend the hour before the news picking through sheds, barns and cluttered lots for anything worth a deal (series 18, episode 13).

Renovation Rescue — Channel 4, 8pm

Eight years is a long time to live in a building site. Richard and Nangula have been rebuilding the West Yorkshire house he grew up in for most of a decade, and a family occasion finally forces a completion date on them (series 2, episode 5).

The Murder Detective — Channel 4, 9pm

Episode two of three. The team looking into Lyra McKee’s killing has finally put a name to the masked gunman, and the inquiry tips into a sequence of operations carrying real risk to the officers running them.

The Never Ending Murder — Channel 4, 10pm and 11pm

The series reaches its conclusion with episodes three and four back to back. Twenty years after Nicola Payne’s disappearance, a new detective reopens the case; a decade further on, a man comes forward with information that could finally break it.

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 Monday to Wednesday at 7pm 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’s home slot is Fridays at 9pm on Channel 4, with episodes available on the Channel 4 streaming service shortly after broadcast. The Celebrity Gogglebox spin-off turns up in other slots through the week, including some Monday nights, with a different line-up of famous faces reacting to the same shows.

What’s on Channel 4 tonight?

Tonight, Thursday 27 August 2026, Channel 4 continues both of this week’s true-crime series rather than launching anything new. Channel 4 News opens primetime at 7pm and runs its full weekday hour, then Renovation Rescue continues at 8pm. The Murder Detective returns for the second of its three episodes at 9pm, and The Never Ending Murder closes the night with its concluding double bill at 10pm and 11pm. There’s no film in tonight’s schedule.

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

Tonight is about following through rather than starting anything new. The Murder Detective returns at 9pm for the second of its three episodes on the investigation into Lyra McKee’s murder, with detectives now naming the masked figure at the centre of the case and the inquiry moving into high-risk territory. The Never Ending Murder then wraps up the Nicola Payne case at 10pm and 11pm with its concluding double bill. Renovation Rescue continues at 8pm with Richard and Nangula’s eight-year renovation up against a family-celebration deadline, and Channel 4 News takes its full weekday hour at 7pm ahead of all three.

There’s no film anywhere in tonight’s schedule.

Watch

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